Senior Associate Attorney Gabriella Agostinelli recently had yet another successful L-1B application submitted to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Peace Bridge port of entry located just a few miles away from our Buffalo, NY office. This client was applying for a renewal L-1B, seeking to obtain the remaining two years of validity she has available in L-1B status. There is a five-year validity period cap on L-1B visas. The L-1B visa is specifically for intracompany transferees who possess specialized knowledge of a company’s operations, processes, or products. This case did present one small challenge.
CBP has recently changed the rules surrounding renewal L-1 applications at the border. It was previously understood that any L-1 renewal could apply directly at the border. However, this has recently changed so that only intermittent border crossers renewing their L-1 status may now apply at the border.
An L-1 who lives permanently in the U.S. and seeks an extension must file their petition through the mail with USCIS. In this case, we were able to prove that our client was indeed an intermittent border crosser by providing a travel log detailing all of her time spent in the U.S., as well as utility bills showing her residence in Canada. Our client was successfully approved for a full two-year period.
