The intracompany transfer L1 visa allows a foreign individual who has been working for a company abroad continuously for at least one of the last three years before the application to work for an existing or a new branch/subsidiary of the overseas company established in the United States either as an executive or manager of this company or as a specialized knowledge employee.

Regarding the foreign L-1 transferee, he or she must be seeking entry in the U.S. for the purpose of taking a managerial, executive, or specialized position. Therefore, the application will have to demonstrate that this future transferee possesses the knowledge and the experience to fulfill such a position within the U.S. company, and that he or she will be actually in an executive and/or managerial position.

The executive position is defined as the capacity to “make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight.” The managerial position is defined as a supervision role towards other employees within the U.S. company. Please visit our L-1 Visa page for more detailed explanation of the L-1 Visa requirements.

To qualify as an employer, the U.S. company seeking to petition on behalf of the L1 visa applicant must “have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company”, defined as parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate.

Also, the U.S. company must be making –or intending to- “do business as an employer in the United States” AND in a least one foreign country through the company with which it has a “qualifying relationship” as previously defined. This business has to be viable, although the regulation does not require it to be related to international trade.

Finally, the company’s U.S. office does not have to pre-exist the transfer of the L1 visa employee, but in that case the visa application will have to demonstrate that the company has secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office.

Please visit our L-1 Visa page for more detailed explanation of the L-1 Visa requirements.

As long as there is an international qualifying relationship between the companies, then any company can apply for an L-1 visa.

There is a lot of documentation required for the L-1 visa. The petitioner must submit self-proving documents from the foreign company to prove all the facts required under immigration regulations. It is our job to take this burden from you and streamline the process, guiding you on the exact documents that are required for a successful applicant.

The spouse of the L1 visa holder will be eligible to work. Furthermore, your children will be able to attend private and public school within the US. The children cannot seek paid employment.

In order for an L-1 visa to be fully processed it will take between two and five months under the normal applications. If you request premium processing, then it can take only two weeks. However, much time is needed to prepare the application itself, so be sure to contact our office early if you wish to purse this option.

The premium processing is a service that USCIS offers where petitions are eligible for faster processing. It comes with a guarantee of an initial response (which can be a request for evidence) within fifteen days, but the applicant must pay a fee of $1,225. For further information on premium, processing please contact us.

As long as you continue to work for one of the companies' branches or an affiliated company, then you will be allowed to transfer. However, you must notify the USCIS. Alternatively, you can inform your Attorney who will carry out the necessary paperwork.

If you intend to work for a completely different company, then you must apply for a different visa.

Yes, this should not be a problem providing that they did not enter the US on ESTA and that they are eligible for this particular type of visa.