Definition   

Manager   

Executive and Specialized   
Knowledge   

Branch, Subsidiary and   
Affiliate   

Blanket L-1s   

Duration   

Processing Times, Fees and   
Available Numbers   

DEFINITION
L-1 or intracompany transferee status is available to an alien who, within three years preceding the time of his or her admission to the United States, has been employed abroad continuously for one year by a corporation or other legal entity and who seeks to enter the United States temporarily to render services to a branch of the same employer, or a parent, affiliate, or subsidiary of such employer, in a capacity that is managerial, executive, or involves specialized knowledge.

Brief trips to the United States are not interruptive of the one year continuous employment abroad, but such periods are not counted toward fulfillment of the one year requirement.

MANAGER
A manager must supervise and control the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees, or manage an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization.

A manager who supervises an essential function of the organization need not supervise employees of the organization, but may work with outside contractors or other third parties. A manager exercises discretion over the day-to-day operations of the business and has the authority to hire and fire other employees.

A first-line supervisor is not considered to be acting in a managerial capacity merely by virtue of his supervisory duties unless the employees supervised are professionals.

EXECUTIVE AND SPECIALIZED KNOWLEDGE
An executive directs the management of the organization, establishes the goals and policies of the organization, exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receives only general supervision from higher level executives.

Specialized knowledge means special knowledge of the organization's products, services, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests, and its application in international markets, or advanced knowledge in the organization's processes and procedures.

The INS carefully scrutinizes claims of specialized knowledge, requiring that the knowledge be unique to the employer, rather than of a more general nature.

BRANCH, SUBSIDIARY AND AFFILIATE
A branch is an operating division or office of the same organization housed in a different location.

A subsidiary is a legal entity of which a parent owns, directly or indirectly, half or more of the entity and controls the entity, or owns less than half of the entity, but still controls the entity.

Affiliate means one of two companies, both of which are owned and controlled by the same parent company or individual.

If the two companies are owned and controlled by the same group of individuals, each individual must own and control approximately the same share or proportion of each entity.

BLANKET L-1s
A company which seeks continuing approval of itself and its parent, branches, specified subsidiaries and affiliates as qualifying organizations for multiple numbers of aliens to obtain L-1 status, may file a blanket L-1 petition.

In order to qualify, the petitioner must have an office in the United States that has been doing business for one year or more, have three or more domestic and foreign branches, subsidiaries or affiliates, and have obtained approval of petitions for at least 10 L-1s during the previous 12 months, or have United States combined annual sales of $25 million or a United States work force of at least 1000 employees.

DURATION
An individual L-1 petition shall be valid for an initial period not to exceed three years, except where the transferee is coming to the United States to open or be employed in a new office, in which event the initial period shall not exceed one year. A new office is one which has been doing business in the United States for less than one year.

An alien who has spent five years in the United States in a specialized knowledge capacity, or seven years in the United States in a managerial or executive capacity under L-1 status, may not be readmitted to the United States under L-1 or H-1 status unless the alien has resided and been outside the United States, except for brief visits, for one year.

Such brief visits do not interrupt the one year abroad, but do not count towards fulfillment of the one year requirement. A blanket L-1 petition shall be valid initially for a period of three years and may be extended indefinitely.

The five and seven year limitations of L-1 status shall not apply to aliens who do not reside continually in the United States and whose employment in the United States is seasonal, intermittent, or consists of an aggregate of six months or less per year.

In addition, the limitations do not apply to aliens who reside abroad and regularly commute to the United States to engage in part-time employment. Pursuant to a recent change in the law, the spouse of an L-1 may request work authorization.

PROCESSING TIMES AND FEES
Petitions for L-1 status must be filed at one of four regional offices of the INS in the United States and are required to be processed within 30 days of the date of filing, although the INS sometimes takes longer to adjudicate L-1 petitions.

The filing fee to the INS for an L-1 petition is $130. If the parties wish to obtain expedited adjudication of the L-1 petition, they must pay a Premium Processing fee of an additional $1,000 to the INS, which guarantees a response from the INS, but not necessarily an approval, within 15 days of the date of filing.