Investor Visa
L Visa
Eligibility
L-1A and L-1B visas may be issued when an employer files a petition to obtain authorization for qualified employees to be allowed to work and live in the United States.
- The L-1A visa is for intracompany transferees who work in managerial or executive positions in a company that is located outside the United States.
- The L-1B visa is for intracompany transferees who work in positions requiring specialized knowledge.
The L-1A nonimmigrant classification 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 classification also enables a foreign company that does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send an executive or manager to the United States to establish one.
To qualify for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:
- Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
- Currently, be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.
To qualify, the named employee must also:
- Generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
- Be seeking to enter the United States to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.
Executive capacity generally refers to the employee’s ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight.
Managerial capacity generally refers to the ability of the employee to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization. It may also refer to the employee’s ability to manage an essential function of the organization at a high level without the direct supervision of others. See section 101(a)(44) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended, and 8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii) for complete definitions.
Can you apply for L1A visa if you are setting up a new office?
Yes. For foreign employers seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to establish a new office, the employer must also show that:
- The employer 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.
Qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office will be allowed a maximum initial one-year stay. All other qualified employees will be allowed a maximum initial stay of three years. For all L-1A employees, requests for an extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to an additional two years until the employee has reached the maximum limit of seven years.
