L-1B Visa

The L-1B Intra-Company Transferee classification allows a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge regarding the organization's issues from a foreign office to an office in the United States. This classification also permits a foreign company that does not have an existing office in the U.S. to send an employee with specialized knowledge to the U.S. to assist the organization.

To meet the criteria for the L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:

1. Maintain a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (including the parent company, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations).

2. The beneficiary must be doing or intend to do business as the employer in the United States and in at least one other country, directly or through a qualifying organization, during the period of stay in the United States as an L-1. Doing business means the consistent, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization. This does not only include having a representative or office of the qualifying organization located in the United States and abroad.

To be eligible, the designated employee must also:

1. Typically have been employed by a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding their entry into the United States.

2. Have the intention to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations upon entering the United States. Specialized knowledge refers to the unique understanding that an individual has of the product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other relevant aspects of the petitioning organization and its application in international markets, or a high level of knowledge and expertise in the organization's processes and procedures.

Duration: Initially, employees meeting the conditions to establish a new office in the United States will be granted a maximum stay of one year. Other qualifying employees will be granted a maximum initial stay of three years. Extensions of stay for all L-1B employees can be approved in increments of up to two years until the employee reaches a five-year total maximum limit.

Family Members: The transferred employee's spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 may accompany or follow them. Spouses and children may apply for L-2 nonimmigrant status and, if approved, generally have the same length of stay as the employee.