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L Visa & the Green Card

L visas are issued to intracompany transferees. L-1 for principal and L-2 for spouse or child. L visa allows companies operating outside of the U.S., including companies operating in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, to transfer their employees to work at their U.S. subsidiary, affiliate, branch or parent company or to start a new company in the U.S.

Qualifying Organization As Employer

The employer, in order to successfully petition an L visa for its employee(s) to come to work in the U.S., must be a U.S. company or foreign organization doing business both in the U.S. and the foreign country throughout the L visa holder’s assignment. The U.S. company can be a subsidiary, affiliate, branch or parent company of the foreign company, or vice versa. The parent-subsidiary relationship requires some stock ownership and control. Joint venture companies, with a 50-50 stock ownership arrangement, would qualify if the co-venturer claiming to be a parent can exercise negative control by veto power.

The employer does not have to be a big corporation. It can be a partnership, even a sole proprietorship. It can also be a religious, cultural or charitable non-profit organization, a labor organization, trust, unincorporated association, and the commercial instruments of foreign governments.

Qualifications of the L Visa Holder

The employee must have worked continuously for a minimum of one year out of the three years immediately preceding the petition in a capacity in the foreign company that is managerial, executive or involves specialized knowledge, and is coming to the U.S. to continue to render services to the same employer in a managerial, executive capacity or in a position that calls for specialized knowledge.

L-1A Visa

Managers and executives are issued L-1A visas, initially for a period of three years, extendible in increments of up to two years for a maximum of seven years.

Who Qualifies as a Manager?

A manager is involved in the high-level management of an essential function as well as supervising the work of other supervisory, managerial, or professional employees.

Who Qualifies as an Executive?

Executives direct the management of the organization or a major function or component of the organization, establish policies and goals of the organization, and exercise wide latitude in disrectionary decision-making.

L-1B Visa

Intracompany transferees with specialized knowledge are issued L-1B visas, initially for a period of three years, extendible up to five years maximum.

Who Qualifies as Employee with Specialized Knowledge?

An employee is considered to be in a capacity involving specialized knowledge if s/he has special knowledge of the organization’s product or other interests and their application in international markets or an advanced level of knowledge of the organization’s processes and procedures of operation such as service, research, equipment, techniques, managment. Such specialized knowledge does not have to be proprietary, exclusive, unique or narrowly held. Also, unavailability of personnel with such specialized knowledge in the U.S. labor market is NOT a requirement. Specialized knowledge, however, is not general knowledge.

Start-up or New Office

If a foreign company is sending its employee to the U.S. to start a new office, the employee’s duty requirements are somewhat softened during the start-up operation. To apply for L-1 visa, petitioner must submit proof of ownership and control, a lease or deed for the new company premises, and financial resources to sustain the operation. Particularly, the petition must include information on

—the nature of the office, including its scope, organization structure and financial goals;

—the size of the U.S investment and the foreign entity’s financial ability to pay the beneficiary and to begin doing business in the U.S.;

—the foreign entity’s organizational structure

The L-1 work visa for such employee(s) is initially for one year, renewal depending upon a showing that the foreign and the U.S. entities are still “qualifying organizations” and that the U.S. employer has been doing business for the prior year. Petition for extension must include a statement of the beneficiary’s duties both for the prior year and the period of extension, a statement of the operation’s staffing pattern, number and types of positions filled, wages paid, and evidence of the U.S. operation’s financial status.

L-1 Visa & Green Card

L-1(a) visa holders, who are managers and executives, have a “priority worker” status, i.e., a first employment-based (EB) preference, in the permanent residence selection system.

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Examples of Successful Petitions for L-1 Visas

As Managers

Case No. 1. A foreign restaurant organization transfers one of its representatives to the U.S. to oversee a business operation involving the opening of three restaurants in three years, developing the sites and managing the operations.

Case No. 2. A foreign company sends one of its employees to the U.S. to run a one-man operation in the scrap-metal business. As the president and the only employee of the U.S. company, the beneficiary is to act through subcontractors, to procure and extract scrap metal for export, and to develop real estate. His annual salary is set at $40,000.

Case No. 3. The beneficiary of the L-1 petition is the president of the U.S. operation that has only one other employee. The U.S. operation is in the business of procuring and selling aircraft equipment. Like in Case No. 2, above, the favorable decision is based on the alleged responsibilities of the beneficiary such as control of financial matters, establishing goals and policies, signing checks and contracts, and administering the sales, marketing. In both Case No. 2 and this case, negotiating deals is the key function and is to be done by the beneficiary himself.

As an Executive

A foreign company engaged in the sale and rental of sound equipment transfers its general manager to its U.S. office. The transferee is to run the N. American operations by overseeing a small, non-professional staff. He is to hire and train new personnel, negotiate contracts, manage the inventory and purchasing, insure the consistency of book-keeping with company policies, and direct expansion. He will report only to the parent company’s CEO and enjoy wide latitude in decision making. He is to be the top manager of the U.S. operations, with an annual salary of $50,000. AAU found the beneficiary to be a functional manager having “managerial control and authority over all of the functions and operations of the company” and “operating at a senior level within the organization’s hierarchy.” Petition granted.

As Employee with Specialized Knowledge

Characteristics of Specialized Knowledge Employee are:

with knowledge that is valuable to the employer’s competitiveness in the marketplace;

qualified to contribute to the U.S. employer’s knowledge of foreign operating conditions;

has been utilized as a key employee abroad and has been given significant assignments which have enhanced the employer’s productivity, competitiveness, image or financial position;

with knowledge which can be gained only through prior experience with that employer.

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EB-5 Immigrant Investor

Visa Description

The fifth employment based visa preference category, created by Congress in 1990, is available to immigrants seeking to enter the United States in order to invest in a new commercial enterprise that will benefit the US economy and create at least 10 full-time jobs. There are two ways to invest which you may use within the EB-5 category and they are: creating a new commercial enterprise or investing in a troubled business.

Eligibility Criteria

New Business Enterprise

To qualify you must:

1. Invest or be in the process of investing at least $1,000,000. If your investment is in a designated targeted employment area (discussed further below) then the minimum investment requirement is $500,000.

2.Benefit the U.S. economy by providing goods or services to U.S. markets.

3.Create full-time employment for at least 10 U.S. workers. This includes U.S. citizens, Green Card holders (lawful permanent residents) and other individuals lawfully authorized to work in the U.S. (however it does not include you (the immigrant), or your spouse, sons or daughters).

4. Be involved in the day-to-day management of the new business or directly manage it through formulating business policy-for example as a corporate officer or board member.

Targeted Employment Area is defined by law as “a rural area or an area that has experienced high unemployment of at least 150 percent of the national average.” For further detail click on the Laws section of this website and access section 203(b)(5)(B) of the Immigration Nationality Act (INA).

Troubled Business

To qualify you must:

1.Invest in a business that has existed for at least two years.

2.Invest in a business that has incurred a net loss, based on generally accepted accounting principles, for the 12 to 24 month period before you filed the Form I-526 Immigrant Petition by an Alien Entrepreneur.

3. The loss for the 12 to 24 month period must be at least equal to 20 percent of the business’s net worth before the loss.

4.Maintain the number of jobs at no less than the pre-investment level for a period of at least two years.

5.Be involved in the day-to-day management of the troubled business or directly manage it through formulating business policy. For example as a corporate officer or board member.

6.The same investment requirements of the new commercial enterprise investment apply to a troubled business investment ($1,000,000 or $500,000 in a targeted employment area).

Regional Center Pilot Program

To qualify you must:

1.Invest at least $1,000,000 or $500,000 in a regional center affiliated new commercial enterprise or a troubled business located within the area of the USCIS designated Regional Center. Regional Centers are defined and discussed further below.

2.Create at least 10 new full-time jobs either directly through the capital investment.

A Regional Center is defined as any economic unit, public or private, which is involved with the promotion of economic growth, improved regional productivity, job creation, and increased domestic capital investment. The organizers of a regional center seeking the regional center designation from USCIS must submit a proposal showing:

— How the regional center plans to focus on a geographical region within the U.S., and msut explain how the regional center will achieve the required economic growth within this regional area.

— That the regional center’s business plan can be relied upon as a viable business model grounded in reasonable and credible estimates and assumptions for market conditions, project costs, and activity timelines.

— How in verifiable detail (using economic models in some instances) jobs will be created directly or indirectly through capital investments made in accordance with the regional center’s business plan.

— The amount and source of capital committed to the project and the promotional efforts made and planned for the business project.

A complete list of currently designated “Regional Centers” can be found at the link on the right hand side.

Application Process

Acquiring lawful permanent residence (“Green Card”) through the EB-5 category is a three step self-petitioning process. First the successful applicant must obtain approval of his or her Form I-526 Petition for an Alien Entrepreneur. Second, he or she must either file an I-485 application to adjust status to lawful permanent resident, or apply for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate or embassy outside of the United States. The EB-5 applicant (and he or her derivative family members) are granted conditional permanent residence for a two year period upon the approval of the I-485 application or upon entry into the United States with an EB-5 immigrant visa. Third, a a Form I-829 Petition by an Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions must be filed 90 days prior to the two year anniversary of the granting of the EB-5 applicant’s conditional Green Card. If this petition is approved by CIS then the EB-5 applicant will be issued a new Green Card without any further conditions attached to it, and will be allowed to permanently live and work in the United States.

Contact Us today to find out how we can assit your application.

Form I-526 Petition for an Alien Entrepreneur

Evidence that you have established a for profit new commercial enterprise.

Evidence, if applicable, that your business has been established in a targeted employment area.

Form I-829 Petition by Entrepreneur to Remove Conditions

You must submit Form I-829 within the 90-day period immediately before the second year anniversary of your admission to the U.S. as a conditional permanent resident.

Dependents

Your spouse and unmarried children under the age of 21 may be admitted to the U.S. with you on a two-year conditional period. If your I-829 petition to remove conditions is approved, then the conditions will be removed from your spouse and children’s Green Card status. As a lawful permanent resident (Green Card holder) your spouse and children will be authorized to work or attend school in the U.S.