Intracompany Transferee (L) Visa for the U.S.

The Intracompany Transferee visa (L) is applicable for those who work in an international company and transferred from the foreign office to the U.S. branch office, subsidiary, affiliate, or parent company. There are several types of L visa:

• L-1A: This visa is applicable for managers and executives and valid for 1-3 years with seven years' maximum.
• L-1B: This visa is applicable for specialized knowledge employees and valid for 1-3 years with five years; maximum.

The applicant must meet up with some general criteria to obtain the L visa. These criteria are as follows:

• The applicant should work as an employee in another country at least one year in the last three years, except for the U.S.
• The applicant must work at the company as a specialized, knowledgeable staff, or a manager or executive position.
• The applicant should have a transfer offer to work at the U.S company as a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledgeable staff.
• The applicant must register for a full-time employee. But the applicant can able to work part-time in the U.S.
• The applicant company must have a subsidiary, branch, affiliate, or parent company in the U.S.

There are some working criteria for the manager position. These duties are the following:

• In the absence of a supervisor, the manager should have the authority to hire and fire employees. The manager should have the jurisdiction to recommend people to hire or fire people if there is a human resource supervisor.
• Manage the whole company or a division of it.
• Control the supervisors and employees of the company. 

There are some working criteria for the executive position. These duties are the following:

• Control and organize the management of the organization or part of it
• Prepare  policies of the organization or one of its parts
• Takes broad unrestricted administrative authority
• Obtains only general supervision  from higher-level executives, a board of directors  

Specialized knowledge employees are those who gain their knowledge through the years of experience within the company and maintain the product quality of the company the same as before. They provide education about different product operating condition, and without them, company production would not be the same.

The following professionals are eligible for specialized knowledge employees visa L-1B:

• Surgeons 
• Physicians
• Engineers.
• Lawyers.
• Teachers.
• Professors.

 This visa is eligible for those persons whose company can show their importance for a company function.

There are some steps to apply for The L visa. These are the following:

A valid transfer offer: The applicant should have a transfer offer to work at the U.S company as a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledgeable staff.

Fill up the form I-129: There are two ways for filling up this form.

Individual Petitions:

• It means that one employee applies for the visa. This includes –
• Fill up form I-129, 
• A nonimmigrant Worker petition. 

This petition must be approved by USCIS for further application at the U.S. Embassy. After the approval of the appeal, the employer will get Form I-797.  

L-1 Blanket Petitions: This is for large companies to get one approval from USCIS and transfer many employees to the U.S. under an L-1 visa. For this they should meet up the following criteria: 

• The company should be involved in commercial trade or service business.
• The company should have a U.S based office for one or more years.
• Company in a foreign country and its branches in the U.S should have acquired at least 10 L-1 approvals in the last 12 months.
• Company in a foreign country and its divisions in the U.S should have at least $25 million combined annual sales or have at least 1,000 employees in the U.S branch office.

File Form DS-160: The applicant can fill up the visa form online. After submission, they will get a confirmation page, and they have to save it for the future.

Pay The L-1 Visa Application Fee: The applicant has to pay the fees for further process of visa application

Schedule a Visa Interview: The applicant must attend the interview at that specific time. They will get an interview confirmation letter after they schedule a meeting. The confirmation letter will have the date, time, and location of their interview.

Submit Supporting Documents: The applicant will need these following documents:

• Valid passport for travel to the U.S
• A Photograph that fills up visa requirement
• DS-160 visa application confirmation page
• Visa application fees paid receipt
• The legal confirmation letter of the interview:
  • Individual petitions:
    • Form I-129 and one copy.
    • Form I-797.
  • Blanket petitions:
    • Form I-129S and two copies.
    • Three copies of Form I-797.
• Transfer confirmation letter and job duties description from the employer.
• A valid working certificate for at least one year in the past three years from the employer.
• Supervisors contact information and motivational letters from previous employers.
• Two co-workers contact information from current and former job positions.
• The inside and outside Photographs of the workplace.
• CV or resume.

Appear the interview: The visa interview will be regulated by authorized U.S Embassy official. You must be present on the schedule and take your documents. The assessor will ask queries about your background and aim for going to the U.S. You must deliver correct information since if the authorized official feels that you are not giving them any particulars, they will reject your visa request.

L visa holders are allowed to bring their dependents along with them to the U.S. These dependents should obtain an L2 Visa to be allowed into the U.S. L visa holders spouse can able to and/or study and their children can study without an F1 visa who is under the age of 21.