L-1A visa is a non-immigration visa option for foreign executives to be transferred to another existing or new office in the United States. L-1A visa allows US nationals to transfer their non-US employers working at executive or managerial level, to another office in the US. The L-1A visa also allows US nationals to bring foreign employer to the US with the purpose of establishing a new branch or office in the US of an existing parent company. The visa requires the employee to be in the role of executive or managerial position in the US office. What defines the executive or managerial role of the employee? Are there any conditions for the employer as well? This article will cover all your questions.
Why go for an L-1A Visa?
Before coming to the prerequisites of L-1A visa, the first question is: why choose L-1A visa over other options? There are a number of benefits linked with L-1A visa, including freedom of travel in the US. L-1A visa holder can legally travel in the United States without any conditions. Moreover, the holder can be accompanied by a spouse and his/her dependents under the age of 18. L1 visa holder can also apply for permanent residency in the US. As for the key characteristic of this visa, the L-1A visa allows establishment of a branch in the US of any non-US parent organization. Lastly, the employee can stay in the US for a maximum of 7 years.
Who Qualifies for an L-1A Visa?
After covering the benefits, the question arises: who qualifies for this visa?
As mentioned earlier, L-1A visa requires a US national hiring a foreign employee in managerial or executive role only. The US employer must clearly define the role and tasks of the employee when filing a petition for an L-1A visa. The role of foreign employee is judged on the following parameters:
Executive Role should:
- Be tasked with daily management of the organization.
- Make key decisions of the office
- Establish policies, goals and targets for the office
- Communicate key instructions to the office from the stockholders and directors of the organization.
Managerial Role should:
- Manage the manpower, daily tasks & functions of the office.
- Have authority over office staff
- Supervise daily operations of the office
Based on these roles and functions, the executive and managerial positions are considered for the L-1A visa application. The employer needs to prove these functions by clearly defining the duties of the foreign employee.
Requirements for US Employer for L-1A Visa
In addition to the requirements for the employee, the US employer filing a petition for an L-1A visa is also required to fulfil some requirements. There are 2 scenarios where the US employer can file for an L-1A visa: to transfer a foreign employee to an established office in the US or to transfer the employee to the US to establish a new office. Conditions for the employer differs in both cases.
If the Employee is being transferred to an already established office
The employer must be working for the parent organization to which the employee is being transferred to.
The employer must be working with the parent organization for the period of time for which the employee is being transferred to stay in the US on the basis of L-1A visa.
If the employee is being transferred to establish new office
The employer must prove that he/she has acquired space for establishing a new office.
The employer must prove that the foreign employee has been working for the parent organization for at least one year in the past 3 years.
The employer must prove that the new office or the parent organization in the US will be supporting the foreign employee for at least the first one year of the L-1A visa.
Process of Application
Once the employer and employee have established that the requirements are fulfilled, the petition for L-1A visa can be filed. Both the employer and employee need to participate in the visa application. The application starts filling of Form I-129. A US employer fills this form on the behalf of foreign employee. After filling the form and its fee, the receipt for approved form I-129 is collected by the employer in the US. Then Form DS-160 is filled online. Next the visa interview of the employee is conducted.
Dependents of L-1A visa holder
One of the benefits of L-1A include that the foreign employee can take their spouse and dependents (under 21 years of age) along to the US. The spouse and dependents need to obtain an L2 visa, which has its own requirements. After obtaining the L2 visa, the spouse and dependents can accompany the L-1A visa holder.
How long can the L1 visa holder stay?
The L-1A visa allows the foreign employee to stay in the US initially for one year, if the employee is coming to the US to establish a new office for the parent organization. On the other hand, if the employee is being transferred to an already established office in the US, a maximum of 3 years stay is allowed initially. However, in both the cases, the foreign employee, L-1A visa holder, can stay for a maximum of 7 years in total. After the first year in the former case or after 3rd year in the latter case, extension of up to 2 years may be obtained until the total stay reaches to 7 years.
Final notes
L-1A visa is the perfect option for an employer to bring a non-US employee into the US to establish a new office or to join a running office at managerial or executive position. The US employer needs to prove the role of the employee as an executive or managerial position. The employer also needs to fulfil some conditions in order to qualify for filing the petition on behalf of foreign employee.
After fulfilling the requirements of employer and employee, the L-1A visa is accepted. The visa allows a maximum stay of 7 years for the L-1A visa holder, during which, the spouse and dependents of the L-1A visa holder can accompany the visa holder through L2 visa.