Qualifying for an L Visa

 

To qualify for L-1 classification, the employer must:

 

• Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company, i.e.,  a parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate (collectively referred to as qualifying organizations);

 

• And be doing business as an employer in the United States and at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1.

 

Doing business means a qualifying organization’s regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods or services.

 

To qualify, the named employee must:

 

• Have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding their admission to the United States;

 

• And be seeking to enter the United States to provide service in an executive or managerial capacity for a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

 

Executive capacity generally refers to the employee’s ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight.

 

Managerial capacity generally refers to the ability of the employee to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization.