Immigration Blog

The L-1 Intra-Company Transferee Visa

The "L-1" or "intra-company transfer" visa facilitates the transfer of key employees from a foreign corporation to a U.S. branch, parent, subsidiary or affiliated entity. This visa allows a U.S. company to bring in top-level managerial, executive or specialized knowledge employees for a temporary period. The employee must have worked for the foreign company for at least one of the past three years, or six months for a blanket "L" scenario, and must work for the U.S. company in a similar position. The position must be in one of the three classes: manager, executive, or specialized knowledge. However, the position need not be classified under the same status as it would be overseas (for instance, what is considered a "specialized knowledge" position overseas could be classified as "manager" position in the United States. The foreign entity may pay the employee's salary but the U.S. company must control the employee's performance of work. Authority to engage and terminate the employee is strong evidence of control. There are no numerical limits on the L visa and the spouse of an L visa holder may apply for work authorization. The L visa is initially valid for up to three years in the case of an existing business and up to one year where a new business is established in the United States. There is a five-year limit on L-1B employees with specialized knowledge staying in the United States and a seven-year limit for L-1A managers and executives.

Consular posts generally see an increase in L-1 applications after the H-1B cap is reached. However, there is no legal reason why aliens eligible for H-1B status cannot legitimately seek out other type of visas, including L visas.

Making the H1-B Visa Quota

On April 1, 2008, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) will begin accepting "H-1B" visa applications for the 2009 fiscal year. Last year, the USCIS reached its H-1B visa quota in one day. By late afternoon on April 2, 2007, the USCIS received approximately 150,000 H-1B applications and had to resort to a random selection process to select applications which fell within the quota. All applications which were not selected or applications filed after April 3, 2007 were returned.

It is likely that the USCIS will also reach its H-1B cap for the 2009 fiscal year soon after April 1, 2008. The H-1B visa program enables U.S. employers to hire highly educated foreign professional workers for "specialty occupations" - jobs that require at least a bachelor's degree or the equivalent in the field of specialty. These foreign workers provide needed specialized or unique skills, fill a temporary labor shortage and/or supply global expertise. Holders of these visas can stay in the United States for up to six years.

Prudent employers should start considering and planning their H-1B visa needs for the upcoming fiscal year. It is also advisable for employers to start making contingency plans for bringing temporary professional workers to the United States if the H-1B cap is reached.