L1 and L2 Visa for US

Introduction
The L-1 Visa is a nonimmigrant, temporary visa, enabling the worker to work in the United States for up to seven years. L visa holders are exempted from the requirement of having to establish their continued non-immigrant intent, greatly smoothing the progress of the transition to an immigrant employment based visa, leading to a "Green Card".

Eligibility
L-1 visas are available to a person (and L2 to his/her family), to transfer him/her to work in the United States for an employer, who has worked abroad for 1 continuous year within past 3 years in a related business entity in a manager/executive or specialized knowledge staff capacity. The applicant must be coming to the U.S. to continue providing services for this same employer. The worker does not need to be directly employed by the sponsor. It is OK even if he/she is paid through personnel service company or an agency, or even as independent consultant, as long as the sponsor had management and control over the worker during the qualifying year. Two types of employees may be sponsored for L1 Visa: Manager/Executive: The legal definition of manager and executive role must be strictly followed and a detailed description of duties must be enclosed along with the petition. Generally, an executive or a manager should have supervisory responsibility for professional staff and/or for a key function, department or subdivision of the employer. Managers and executives plan, organize, direct, and control an organization's major functions and work through other employees to achieve the organization's goals. Individuals who primarily perform the tasks necessary to produce the product(s) or provide the service(s) of an organization are not employed in an executive or managerial capacity. The majority of his/her duties should be related to operational or policy management, not to the supervision of lower level employees, performance of the duties of another type of position, or other involvement in the operational activities of the company, such as doing sales work, operating machines, writing computer programming code or supervising those that do. However, the person is not barred from applying his professional/technical expertise to solve a particular problem. While an executive may manage a function within an organization, it should not be directly performed by an executive. Generally executives would not have subordinate staff, except for personal staff. It is not enough to have just the title of the position that indicates manager/executive position, duties also should be accordingly performed. Persons in this category get an L1A visa. The initial petition will be approved for 3 years, and can be renewed twice for 2 years each for a total of 7 years. Specialized Knowledge Staff: A person should have knowledge of the company's products/services, research, systems, proprietary techniques, management, or procedures. Knowledge which is widely held or related to common practices or techniques and which is readily available in the United States job market is not specialized for purposes of L classification. The level of knowledge required and the employment of the specific alien must directly relate to the proprietary interest of the petitioner. To be proprietary, the knowledge must relate to something which relates exclusively to the petitioner's business. Persons whose general knowledge and expertise enable them to merely produce a product or provide a service are not eligible for this visa.

InterBase Corporation USA

L1 and L2 Visa for US

Persons in this category get an L1B visa. The initial petition will be approved for 3 years, and can be renewed once for 2 years for a total of 5 years. For each of these of types of L1 visa, on completing the maximum allowable period in L-1 status, the employee must be employed outside the United States for a minimum of one year before a new application is made for L or H status. Please note that the times spent in L-1 status AND H status are added together and counted toward the total. It is allowed for a specialized knowledge worker to come to the United States as a Manager or Executive, and for a manager or executive to come as a specialized knowledge worker, provided the U.S. operation has been doing business for at least 1 year.

L-1 Process
The filing of Form I-129 and the special L supplement that accompanies Form I-129 is the first requirement to be sent directly to the USCIS Service Center in the same jurisdiction as the place of employment. By filing Form I-129, the petitioner is applying for a temporary, nonimmigrant work visa that will authorize the employee, the right to work in the United States. It should show that the prior education and training make the applicant of significantly greater value to the national labor pool than the hiring of a U.S. citizen. A letter from the U.S. employer describing both the applicant's prior duties abroad and the duties to be performed in the U.S. will be necessary for the USCIS to rule that this position may not be filled by a U.S. national. This letter must also prove that both entities are themselves meeting the guidelines of a qualifying organization. Letters must be submitted by both the foreign and U.S. entities, confirming that the applicant has met the one-year in three years requirement. The filing fee for I-129 L is $185.00. Additionally, a $500 Fraud Prevention and Detection fee must be paid. This is only for the initial petition or change of employer. Extension with same employer is not subject to this fee. In case of blanket L petition, $500 for blanket petition and $500 for each L1 employee under blanket L petition.

L2 Visa for Dependents

The petitioning company sponsors the employee for an L-1 visa for temporary employment in the U.S., but the employee's spouse and dependent minors will receive an L-2 Visa. The spouse of an L-1 visa holder (not dependent children) can get employment authorization that allows them to work freely (high tech, grocery store or restaurant or whichever legal business they want to work in.) For more information, please see E & L Spouse Employment Authorization.

InterBase Corporation USA

L1 and L2 Visa for US

How L1 visa is the best!!

H1B Disadvantage H1B Visa will be valid for 3 years and it is subject to a cap of 6 years. This extension from 3 years to 6 years is very difficult these days. After 6 years if your GC process is not initiated, then you have to stay 1 year out of the country to again get H1B visa. L1 Advantage - If you are married, then your spouse can get a work permit and work here in US if you are on L1 visa. If you are on H1B, your wife/dependent is not allowed to work. L1 Advantage - You can apply 140/485 right away. Labor certification is not needed, when you do your GC. So Green Card becomes easy and quick. L1 Advantage - As the H1B visa is processed only once a year - In October. There is a long wait. L1 is always immediate. H1B Disadvantage - H1B visa is subject to quota available - your selection is decided in a lottery process - very much depends upon your luck. L1 can be filed any time throughout the year and take only 1-2 months to process. L1 Advantage - L1 guys definitely have work rights in US than any other and more salary. Note: L1 is an IntraCompany transfer visa whereas H1 is a temporary work visa sponsored by a US company. As such, they are expected to be given a minimum allowance to meet their needs while in US and at the same time given a salary in the base country, but you do need to be employed by the company for a year (within the last three) outside the US before you can enter on an L1,

InterBase Corporation USA