The L-1A visa enables a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. This visa also enables a foreign company that still needs an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States to establish one.
You may be qualified for an L-1A visa if
- The US company is either a parent company, a branch, a s, subsidiary or an affiliate company to a foreign company;
- The US company is or will be doing business directly or through foreign companies in the United States and in at least another country. That means the foreign company is doing business, and the US company’s current or future business endeavors are related to those of the foreign company.
- The beneficiary must have been working for a foreign company for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding their admission to the United States and
- The beneficiary is seeking to enter the United States to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for the US company.
If the US company is a new office,
- The US company has secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office;
- The employee has been employed as an executive or manager for one continuous year in the three years preceding the filing of the petition and
- The intended U.S. office will support an executive or managerial position within one year of the petition’s approval.
The compilation lies in the terms.
What is managerial capacity?
What is executive capacity?
What constitutes doing business?
What constitutes an affiliate company?
How do you prove you will support a managerial or executive position within one year of approval?
In light of the difficulties in presenting your situation to meet those standards, the L-1A petition needs to be simplified.