$4,500 if the employer employs 50 or more in the U.S., more than 50% of those employees are H-1B, L-1A or L-1B nonimmigrant visa holders, and if the petition is filed before Oct. 1, 2025. The L-1B visa enables a U.S. employer to transfer professional employee with specialized knowledge from one of its foreign offices to an existing office in the U.S. An L-1B also enables a foreign employer to send an employee with specialized knowledge to set up an office in the U.S.
For an employer to be eligible to sponsor an L-1 visa, a qualifying relationship must exist between the U.S. Company and foreign company abroad, as a branch, parent, subsidiary, or affiliate. For the entire time the U.S. employee is employed, both the foreign company and U.S. company must remain operational and maintain their relationship with each other. The L-1 visa and H-1B visa are both employment-based non-immigrant visas with recognition as dual intent, or allowance to enter the U.S. while simultaneously seeking a green card. The L-1 visa is an internal permit for a foreign employee of an international company. The H-1B visa allows foreign workers to work in specialty occupations for qualified sponsoring employers in the United States.
An L-1 principal is solely authorized to work for the sponsoring multinational firm. Dependent spouses of L-1 principals however, are entitled to apply for open market employment authorization pursuant to which they may work during the validity of the principal’s authorized period of stay. The intended United States operation, within one year of the approval of the petition, will support an executive or managerial position as defined in paragraphs or of this section. The top-rated business immigration attorney at Columbus, Ohio-based Porter Law Office, LLC has in depth experience with securing L1 visas.
It does, however, provide the employer with the flexibility to transfer eligible employees to the United States without having to file an individual petition with USCIS. In order to qualify under the blanket petitioning process, the employee having specialized knowledge must also be a professional. The application required forms are form I-129 petition for a nonimmigrant worker, and form I-129L classification supplement to form I-129. For the company that the position you will fill requires specialized knowledge.
Have three or more U.S. and foreign branches, subsidiaries, and affiliates. Demonstrate that if the employee will be primarily at the worksite of another employer, then the employee will not be controlled or supervised by that employer and that the work is not considered labor for hire. Possesses knowledge, which can be gained only through extensive prior experience with the employer. You must have a file with the above-mentioned documents to submit for your application to be considered. l1a interview questions must be in the commercial trade or service business. If the person must report and is supervised directly by another person, with the exception of stakeholders and the board of directors, then they do not meet the criteria of being an executive.