By Maud Poudat | US Immigration Attorney
Posted: March 4, 2016
The L-1 Visa is given to “intracompany transferees” of high profile. This visa aims at facilitating the admission of multinational corporate executives and managers, or persons with specialized knowledge. And, a false common idea about this visa is that it’s reserved for profitable company: that is not true! The benefit of this visa is not limited to for-profit corporations or partnerships, so it may be sought by a charitable, religious or other nonprofit organization.
Except for the profile of the candidate, the main other criteria to be eligible is that the person must have been employed abroad by the parent, branch or subsidiary corporation of the company continuously for one out of the prior three years.
To be a little more specific about the “manager” requirement, the regulation defines him/her as a person who manages a function or oversees a component of a company, establishes the goal and policies of an organization, has a wide latitude in decision-making and receives only general supervision from higher-level executives.
An employee with specialized knowledge is defined as a person with “knowledge of the company product and its application in international market, or with an advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company”.
Of course, those criteria need to be interpreted in the light of each particular situation: call us today to get an extensive appreciation of your or your employee’s eligibility for an L-1 Visa from Attorney Poudat!