USA L-1A Permit Requirements At A Glance

A large number of skilled managers and executives live their US dreams through the USA L-1A Visa. It is a non-immigrant visa and used to transfer professionals of certain specific class, such as managers and executives, to the US affiliated, subsidiary, branch or parent company.

The US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) have specially structured the L-1A Permit for intra-company transfer of executive and managers.  Initially, the visa is issued for up to three years which can be further extended to two more years. Beyond the given period, the visa cannot be extended and the visa holder will have to come back to his abode of residence.

Given this, an aspirant cannot re-apply for L-1A until and unless he has lived and worked outside the US for at least one year. Companies/organizations, operational in the country may submit a petition to the authorized USCIS Service Center, to transfer the eligible alien to join their operational activity in the nation.

USA L-1A Permit Requirements

In order to qualify, the petitioning employer must meet the following conditions:

• The US company/organization must share a qualifying relationship with a foreign based company/organization, it is commonly known as qualifying organization. It may also include non profit, charitable organizations, and corporations, religious or nonprofit organizations.
• The company/organization in US must be doing, or willing to do business as an employer in the country and in one more nation or through a qualifying company/organization at least for the duration the beneficiary wish to stay in the country on the L-1A Visa.

At times, if the employer is well established and is a known company/organization, then the petitioner does not really have to go through the extensive documentation. However, if the company/organization is a start up or is relatively small, then the employer should be ready to go through extensive documentation it order to establish that they are eligible to apply for L-1A Visa. Therefore, it is highly recommendable to approach an immigration expert.

Following are the requirements to be meet by the employees:

• To meet the basic eligibility, the interested employee must have worked in overseas office for at least one year in the three preceding years.
• The employee must have worked for the qualifying position, i.e., executive or manager for the overseas organization/company.

Managers or Executives coming to the country to establish a new office must prove that:

• The employer in US has secured required premises to start a new office.
• He/she has been working on a similar position for one year in the preceding three years before entering the nation.
• Once the petition has been approved, the employer will support the manager or executive for at least one year.

In order to apply, your employer will file an L-1 petition on your behalf and the USCIS will approve it. The processing of your visa may take 2 to 4 months. If you are in a hurry, you can avail premium processing by paying additional fees and the possibility is that a decision on your petition will be delivered within a month.