Webinar: L-1 Visa Fast-Track for Multinational Businesses: How to Expand to the US

We’re located in Buffalo, New York, right on the US-Canada border, so we work with companies every day on US expansion, global mobility, and strategic immigration planning.

The L-1 Visa is one of the most powerful and flexible tools available to multinational businesses, but it’s also incredibly nuanced and complex, and people can get it wrong very often. So today I’ll walk you through how the L-1 works, the key eligibility requirements, some common pitfalls, and how companies can use this classification for some long-term business planning.

Okay, so as a bit of background, the L-1 visa is called the intercompany transferee category. It is designed to facilitate the transfer of employees within multinational organizations. For this reason, the L-1 is a cornerstone of global mobility. It’s attractive to U.S. employers because a U.S. entity can rely on trusted talent working for a related entity abroad who can support its ongoing business operations.

There’s also no annual cap for the L-1 visa. So this means there’s no limit as to how many people can obtain an L-1 visa per year, unlike some other visa classifications.

Additionally, there’s no prevailing wage requirement. This is also something that we see in other work visa categories, such as the H-1B.

So this is why we commonly see the L-1 being used for leadership continuity purposes, the transfer of proprietary expertise within companies, and even an initial entry into the US market.

There are two main L-1 pathways and getting this choice right early on is pretty critical. So the first pathway is the L-1A, which is for executives and managers. This category allows for a maximum stay of seven years. The second category is the L-1B, which is for employees with specialized knowledge. And this category allows for a maximum stay of five years.

Generally, applicants receive an initial approval period of three years, regardless of which path you take. But after that three initial years, you’re eligible to file for two-year extensions, as long as you still meet all of the L- requirements.

Now this is where your classification can really matter. So an individual in L-B status would only be able to file one extension before he or she reaches the five year max. Meanwhile, an individual in L-A status would be able to file two extensions before the seven year max is reached.

So it’s really important to determine early on which category the employee falls into because it ultimately affects how long they can live and work in the US.

Regardless of which pathway your employee falls into, the L-1 Visa has certain corporate requirements that must be met as a threshold in order to qualify.

First, both the U.S. company and the foreign entity must be actively doing business for at least one year. This doesn’t just mean that you have an incorporated entity. Rather, you must show that the U.S. and foreign entities are engaged in the regular and systematic provision of goods or services.

So you really have to show that there’s ongoing commercial activity.

Second, there must also be a qualifying corporate relationship between the U.S. and foreign entities. This could include a parent subsidiary relationship where the U.S. company owns the foreign entity or vice versa. It could also include an affiliates ownership structure where both the U.S. and the foreign company share the same parent company.

Ownership and control of both the US and foreign companies must be clearly documented. We commonly prove this through certificates and articles of incorporation, share registers and certificates, operating agreements, and other corporate documentation.

In addition to these corporate requirements, L-1 employees must independently meet certain baseline requirements to qualify. First, the employee must have worked for the related foreign entity for at least one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding their application for L-1 status.

And that employment must have been in either an executive, managerial, or specialized knowledge capacity.

And finally, the employee must continue to work in one of those qualifying capacities once they’re transferred to the U.S. company.

In many cases, the role that an employee carries out in Canada, for example, will be the same exact role that they carry out in the U.S. However, it’s also common for the prospective U.S. role to be entirely different from what the employee is currently doing outside the U.S.

What really matters is showing that your job duties fit within either the L-A or the L-B category.

As I previously mentioned, the L-A category is available to executives and managers, but these definitions are applied in a pretty narrow way.

Executives are senior level leaders who direct the organization or a major component of it, establish goals and policies, and operate with minimal oversight.

In practice, executive capacity is a bit harder to prove and less commonly relied on for that reason. Instead, we typically use the manager designation and there are two types.

So the first are people managers. These are individuals who supervise and control the work of other managers, supervisors, or professional employees. A professional employee is someone who holds at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field, which is a requirement for the position they hold within the company.

If you don’t directly supervise a team of managers, supervisors, or professional employees, you may still qualify for the L-1A as a function manager. These are individuals who manage an essential or core aspect of the organization at a very senior level.

A function manager must exercise discretion over the function and have significant decision-making authority in their role. The role also has to be primarily managerial in nature, so if you’re spending half more than half of your time performing hands-on operational tasks, then this category would not work for you.

All right, we can move on to the L-1B.

So the L-1B categories for employees with advanced or proprietary knowledge of the organization’s products, services, equipment, or processes and procedures that aren’t easily found in the US labor market.

The L-1B is often misunderstood and an individual’s background in the field and education alone are not going to qualify someone as a specialized knowledge employee for L-1 purposes. Rather, immigration officers will look at several factors.

One of the most common being that the employee holds in-depth knowledge that is specific to the company and is not easily transferable to another within the same industry, without significant cost or inconvenience to the U.S. company.

So it’s not enough to say that someone is highly skilled. You need to clearly articulate what the employee’s specialized knowledge is pertaining to your company and why another U.S. worker in your industry could not be easily hired or trained to perform the same role.

If it takes a lot of resources and several years to recruit, hire, and then train another U.S. worker to carry out the role, then the L-1B is probably a good fit.

So although the L-1A and the L-1B pathways are distinct, they can also intersect and work together strategically to fit your business needs.

A very common scenario that we see is that an employee initially enters the US in L-1B status as a specialized knowledge employee, and then they are later promoted by the US company into a managerial role.

In some cases, the individual would be able to change his or her classification to the L-1A. If you’re able to successfully do this, your maximum approval time doesn’t reset altogether, but you are able to then access the full seven year maximum that’s reserved for the L-A category.

So this approach is a great way to optimize talent for the U.S. entity and adapt to your changing business needs.

All right. So although the regulations generally require a company to be doing business in the U.S. for at least one year, there are some instances where a foreign entity is seeking entry to the U.S. market for the first time or a U.S. company has gone dormant but would like to revive its U.S. operations.

So in these scenarios, a U.S. company can file what is called a new office one petition. This permits an employee to enter the U.S. to work in an executive managerial or specialized knowledge capacity to help get that U.S. business up and running.

The U.S. company must submit a comprehensive business plan outlining its hiring and growth strategy. The company must also show that it has secured sufficient physical premises to house the U.S. operations. This is usually in the form of a lease or an executed purchase agreement for office space.

Beyond this, a clear explanation of what the employee will be responsible for during the development phase and how he or she will contribute to the U.S. operations is critical for this case type.

An employee seeking an L-1 visa for a new office will generally receive an initial approval period of one year. The employee can then seek an extension if he or she can show that the U.S. company has really been growing and hiring during that initial one year and that the related foreign entity has continued to do business abroad as well, and that the employee will continue to be working in an executive managerial or specialized knowledge role in the US.

On the other hand, L-1 blanket petitions are designed for very large established multinational corporations that have a frequent need to transfer employees across global operations.

To qualify, a U.S. company must first file a blanket petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, or USCIS. And this would demonstrate the corporate relationship and active business operations of all of its foreign entities.

So once the U.S. company has received that blanket approval, it can then streamline and expedite future L-1 applications for its employees. Essentially, the company’s blanket approval determines at the outset that the corporate requirements have been satisfied for the L-1 visa.

All that remains then is proving that the employee also individually qualifies for the L-1. Although there’s more documentation and scrutiny upfront, the process is often much more efficient for high volume transfers later on.

So if you’ve determined that you meet the L-1 requirements for the company and the employee, and you’re ready to apply, there are a few different ways that you can do so.

For most employees, you will first need to file a form I-one twenty nine with USCIS. Once approved, the employee will need to attend an interview at a U.S. consulate or embassy in their home country before they can actually enter the U.S. in L-1 status.

Right now, about eighty percent of cases are being processed by USCIS within six to seven months. So you may choose to expedite the process by filing your application with premium processing.

This guarantees some type of response from the government within fifteen business days for an additional fee. It doesn’t guarantee an approval per se, but it does help expedite the process exponentially and provide some peace of mind.

So Canadian citizens are unique in that they are called, they’re considered visa exempt. So this means Canadians can apply for the L-1 directly at a US port of entry, including at designated airports and land border crossings on the US Canada border.

Because of our proximity to Canada, our clients apply directly at land border crossings on a weekly basis. And this is a great opportunity because an officer will adjudicate your case right there and provide you with a decision on the spot.

This effectively bypasses the long USCIS processing times that I was just talking about.

If a company has a valid blanket petition, employees can also bypass the USCIS processing times by applying directly at a U.S. embassy or consulate in their home country using form I-.

As I mentioned earlier, the blanket requires a lot of work upfront, but can really help to save time and money in the long run when you are transferring employees within your network on a regular basis.

So once your application has been submitted to USCIS, the government may issue a request for evidence or an RFE if they need more information or documentation for your case.

Although this can be alarming at first, it’s important to note that RFEs are common in L-one cases. It’s reported that about sixty percent of L-1 applications receive an RFE. So it really just comes down to the particular officer reviewing your case and can vary with each application. The good news is that RFEs are often avoidable with proper preparation.

For L-1A cases, USCIS commonly questions managerial authority. You can clarify this from the get-go using personnel charts clearly demonstrating the chain of management or the resumes and degrees for direct reports to show that they are professionals.

Even something as simple as email printouts showing you exercising senior level authority can go a long way.

Now for L-1B cases, the focus is almost always on whether the role truly involves specialized or advanced knowledge.

You will want to provide internal documentation explaining the company’s proprietary products, services, or equipment that the employee has knowledge of. It’s also beneficial to add any documents produced or prepared by the employee for the company.

On the corporate side of things, USCIS expects proof of real business activity and not just a legally formed business entity, like I said before.

So we generally include evidence in the form of corporate tax returns or audited financial statements, but we’ve also used contracts and invoices over the course of a year.

There are a couple of other things to keep in mind with the L-1 Visa for long-term planning purposes.

The first being that spouses and children under the age of twenty-one may accompany L-1 employees in the US as their dependents.

So spouses will receive an L-2S designation and they are authorized to work in the US incident to their status. In practice, this means that spouses do not need a separate work permit. They’ll just need evidence of their L-two-S status in order to work.

Children will receive the L-2Y status designation. They may attend school, but they’re not permitted to work in the US.

Either way, a dependent spouse or child status is linked to the L-1 employee, so they will receive the same approval period as the principal applicant.

Finally, the L-1, like I said, is a key tool for long-term planning because it permits for dual intent. This simply means that the L-one employee can pursue permanent residence without jeopardizing their temporary work authorization.

This differs from many work visas that require the intent to depart the US at the end of their temporary stay.

So L-1A managers and executives are a little bit different than L-1B employees because they may qualify for the EB-C green card category, which can be a much more direct and efficient path to permanent residence in the US.

L-1B employees, on the other hand, typically pursue permanent residency through the PERM labor certification process, which is a less direct path and can take several years.

If you don’t have the desire to remain in the U.S. as a permanent resident, then that’s okay, too. We have many Canadians who remain intermittent border crossers.

They spend less than half of each year working in the U.S., and then they return to Canada where their permanent residence is. You just need to be sure that you depart the U.S. at the end of your authorized period of stay.

So overall, the L-1 is both a temporary work visa and a long-term planning tool that is essential to multinational businesses.

Successful cases depend on early planning, strong documentation, and aligning your visa strategy with your business needs and goals.

When used the right way, the L-1 can be a really powerful driver of US growth.

So this concludes today’s session on the L-1 visa. Thanks so much for joining.

If you have any follow-up questions, we’re happy to help. My contact information is up here on the screen, but you can also find Berardi Immigration on all major social media platforms.

Thanks again and have a great rest of your week.