L-1 Visa Lawyer USA | L1 Visa for Executive, Manager and Specialized Knowledge Employee

As L1 Visa Lawyer in Miami, Florida USA, we have experience on the subject and share our knowledge regarding L1 Visa for the United States for all those interested in applying and obtaining one, with the help of an experienced L1 Visa Lawyer. The L1 visa is not limited to individuals with certain citizenships and our L1 Visa Lawyer can assist with understanding and getting an L1 visa for Executives, Managers and Specialized Knowledge Employees, including for qualifying Entrepreneurs and Investors.

“As L1 Visa Lawyers in Miami, Florida USA, we use our expertise to advise you on all aspects of business immigration and visas, capital raising and daily business operations to business growth strategies.”

The L-1 Nonimmigrant Visa allows a U.S. employer to transfer an executive or manager or an employee with specialized knowledge relating to the company’s business interests from one of the employer’s affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. For the foreign companies that do not have an affiliated office in the United States, the L-1 Nonimmigrant Visa allows the foreign company to send an executive, manager or a specialized knowledge employee to the United States for the purpose of setting up a new U.S. office. The foreign company can invest in an affiliated office in the United States and send a foreign employee to work for the new U.S. office on an executive, managerial or specialized position, including the Investor or Entrepreneur.

There are two types of L-1 Visas – L-1A for executives and managers and L-1B for employees with specialized knowledge. The L-1A classification is for foreign citizens coming to the United States temporarily to perform services in a managerial or executive capacity and L-1B  classification is for foreign nationals coming to the United States temporarily to perform services that require specialized knowledge. Specialized knowledge is either: (a) special knowledge of the petitioning employer’s product, service research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets or (b) an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the employing organization’s processes or procedures.

What Is The Best Advice that an Experienced L1 Visa Lawyer Is Giving His or Her Clients?

The L-1 Visa was initially intended and designed for large corporations to help facilitate easy transfer of employees from abroad to the United States. However, our experienced L1 Visa Lawyers in Miami, Florida USA explain clients that the L1 Intracompany Visa also provides small and medium-sized companies with an opportunity to expand their business and service to the United States and transfer their foreign executives and managers to the Unites States, which are often the owners of the foreign company, or bring their foreign talent to the US, the workers with specialized knowledge, to assist them in developing the business in the United States. For small to mid-sized businesses, the presence of an experienced L1 Visa Lawyer to assist with the case is almost mandatory especially because these cases are a lot more scrutinized when compared to the L1 visa petitions filed by large corporations and companies. Our best L1 visa lawyer advise to our clients is that L1 visa is appropriate when key employees can contribute executive, managerial or specialized knowledge skills to the U.S. business and companies can ensure that their international operations are aligned in objectives and processes.  

In order to be eligible to apply for an L-1 Visa for Executive, Manager or Specialized Knowledge Employee, the U.S. employer must meet certain minimum requirements including:

What Qualifying Relationship Does the U.S. Company and the Foreign Company Need to Have to Apply For an L1 Visa for USA? 

• The US-based employer must have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company. The foreign company must be a qualifying organization including a parent company, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the U.S. employer.
• The employer must be doing business or will in the future conduct business in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the L-1 employee’s stay in the United States.

What Is the Best Advice That Our Experienced L1 Visa Lawyer can Give Clients Regarding Employment as Executive, Manager or Specialized Knowledge Employee?

• The foreign company must have been employed the executive, manager or specialized knowledge employee for at least one (1) year within the three (3) years preceding his or her admission to the United States. Our L1 Visa Lawyers in USA point out that the continuous employment requirement has some flexibility. If the individual to be transferred visited the United States in lawful status, either for business while employed in the foreign country or for pleasure, then those visits to the United State do not break the continuous nature of the employment.

What Additional Requirements Does A Business Executive or Manager of A Foreign Company Need to Meet to Establish a New Office in USA and Qualify for An L1 Visa? 

In addition to the requirements above, foreign employers seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to set up a new office, must also meet the following requirements:

• The employer must have secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office.
• The employee was employed abroad as an executive or manager for one (1) year within the three (3) years immediately preceding the application.
• The intended U.S. office will support an executive or managerial position within one year of the approval of the petition.

In terms of the benefits of the L1 visa, our L1 Visa Lawyers point out that the beneficiary of an L1 Visa can move to the United States to live and work temporarily together with their spouse and children. The spouse is eligible to work in the United States and children can attend school.

Qualified employees entering the United States on an L-1 Visa to establish a new office can be granted a maximum initial stay of one (1) year. All other L-1 Visa qualified employees are allowed a maximum initial stay of three (3) years. After the initial period if over, the L-1 Visa can be renewed for two years at a time. The maximum period of stay on an L-1 Visa status for a Manager or Executive is seven (7) years, while for a Specialized Knowledge Employee is five (5) years.

The L-1 Nonimmigrant Visa is a dual intent visa and L-1 Visa holders can pursue lawful permanent resident status (Green Card) during their stay in the United States.

What Is the Best Advise that Our Experienced L1 Visa Lawyers Give Clients Regarding the L1 Visa Process? 

How to apply for L1 visa? Our L1 Visa Lawyers USA explain that to apply for an L1 visa, the company must file the application with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) together with all credible evidence to show that the company and the employees are eligible for L1 visa. If USCIS approves the L1 visa petition, it will issue a notice of action that can be used to apply for a visa at the US Consulate or Embassy in the employee’s home country. If the beneficiary of an L1 visa application is in the United States, then he or she does not need to go through consular processing but instead has to apply for change of status with USCIS while on US territory.  

The processing time for L1 visa at USCIS varies depending on USCIS service centers that processes the L1 application – the California Service Center or the Texas Service Center – which in turn depends on the petitioning company’s primary office location. For example, if the primary office of the company applying for L1 visa is in Miami, Florida, then the application must be sent to the California Service Center. Generally, regardless of the service center, standard processing time for L1 visa is 4 to 6 months, with many attorneys accounting for 6 months when considering processing time. 

In addition, L1 visa applications are eligible for premium processing. With premium processing, the processing time for USCIS to review and make a decision on the L1 visa application is 15 calendar days (instead of an average of 6 months) from the date the application was received. The premium processing service for L1 visa is available to applicants for an additional fee. 

Canadian citizens, who are exempt from applying for the L1 visa with USCIS, may present the completed application form and supporting documents to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officer at certain ports-of-entry on the United States-Canada land border or at a United States pre-clearance/pre-flight inspection station in Canada, in connection with an application for admission to the United States in L-1 status.

Why Should You Work With An L1 Visa Lawyer in USA?  

Our L1 Visa Lawyers in Miami, Florida USA can assist with the complexities of applying and obtaining an L1 visa, including advising on the L1 visa process and requirements, proactive steps to take and courses of action, preparing the necessary documentation for the L1 visa and communicating with USCIS and U.S. Embassies. For more information about the L-1 Visa for Executive, Manager or Specialized Knowledge Employee or to speak to our experienced business immigration lawyers in Miami, Florida, USA contact us now, your Miami L-1 Visa Attorney. We speak Romanian, Bulgarian, Russian and Spanish. 

Malescu Law P.A. – Business & Immigration Lawyers