L1B Work Visa for Specialized Knowledge
The L-1B visa allows U.S. employers to transfer foreign employees with specialized knowledge from affiliated offices abroad to U.S. offices.
Are you a foreign employer looking to send your employee to the U.S.?
The L-1B allows U.S. employers to transfer an employee from a foreign branch, subsidiary, affiliate, or parent office to their U.S. company. Commonly known as an L-1B Intracompany transfer, this visa classification allows employees who have specialized knowledge and have worked for their foreign company for at least one year, to transfer to the U.S. to work for the U.S. employer.
Specialized knowledge means either special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
To avoid delays in your start date in the U.S., we recommend applying for this type of nonimmigrant visa early, as application processing times with the government vary from three to seven months.
You and your employee may be eligible if you can demonstrate:
- Your company has a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate); and
- Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in 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. While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade.
In addition, the employee must also:
- Generally have been working for your company abroad for one continuous year within the last three years; and
- Be seeking to enter the United States to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to your US company.
Specialized knowledge means either special knowledge possessed by an individual of the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
Our Services:
We provide an easy to use platform to gather the necessary information for your specific situation, combined with Immigration expert guidance, preparation and review of your application.
Our team will review your eligibility submission and provide you with confirmation of your ideal immigration program prior to payment of any fees. Once you decide to proceed, our platform guides you through a series of questions and helps you gather all the necessary documents. Our immigration experts will then prepare your case and complete the necessary forms, while reviewing the application to ensure it presents the best possible case. As the applicant, you will file the final application yourself.
Your dedicated case manager will provide end-to-end review and communication throughout the life of the application, including assisting with responses to any USCIS requests, to maximize your chances of success. The SuperVisas platform tracks key dates and expirations to ensure deadlines and renewal dates are not missed.
Additional Services:
We also offer our clients supplemental visa and application services which may be required by the U.S. Government as part of an application filing, or which may improve an application’s success rate.
For example, if you are not comfortable handling the communications with the government and filing your own application, then we can help you use an immigration lawyer to represent you as an Additional Service with additional fees. We have a network of qualified U.S. attorneys and legal experts if you want the added peace of mind in knowing that your application is being represented by a licensed immigration attorney before the U.S. Government.
SuperVisas provides the following Additional Service for this visa:
- Attorney Representation - In addition to our preparation of your application, you will be represented by a licensed immigration lawyer throughout the entire application process. If you chose this Additional Service, your case will be submitted by a licensed immigration attorney who will also respond to any additional requests from USCIS on your behalf. You can enjoy peace of mind knowing that an attorney is handling all communications with USCIS.
- Business Plans - A Business Plan is a document that outlines how an applicant's business or past successes will succeed in the U.S. by focusing on applicant investments, intentions, and their prior work experiences.
- Quick and easy online application
- Preparation of submission package
- Expert review and representation
- $1 million in insurance
- Secure encrypted document storage
How It Works
- 1Create An Account
Do an eligibility check, or pick a visa, or just sign up directly to create an account. Then you can see all the documents needed, questions you must answer, and fee payments for our services and to the government. If you have any questions, it is easy to contact our sales team or to schedule a call.
- 2Eligibility Confirmation Before Payment
First you will answer a few questions to ensure you are eligible for the visa. Only if you are eligible will the payment unlock. Making payment assigns an immigration lawyer or regulated consultant to your application. We are transparent in our process and pricing, and clearly list all the fees and processing times for your visa. Read our Transparency Pledge. We use Stripe for credit or debit card payment processing, which is secure and encrypted.
- 3Complete Your Application Online
You can complete as many of the application tasks you wish before payment. Take your time. Some visas require a lot of information, which requires answering questionnaires and uploading of documents. Our system ensures everything necessary is gathered depending on your situation - preventing errors and omissions - and saving you time.
- 4Visa Preparation and Submission
Once all the tasks are completed, our experts will review your answers and start preparing your application so that the best case is best presented. Government fees are also due once the application is completed and we can correctly calculate the government fees due. After a final review by you, and by our experts, your application will be submitted! You will have peace of mind that only comes with an accurate application.
- 5Approval and Renewals
We notify you when your visa is approved! If there are any questions or rejections from the government, we will answer them and resubmit without any further fees from us. We securely store your immigration documents for 7 years and provide alerts well before any expiry dates. Renewing or taking the next step toward citizenship is easy when all your immigration history is in one place.
Required Documents
Some documents you will need to provide, and some documents we may prepare for you.
- Abroad Company Corporate Tax Returns
- Abroad Company Lease Agreement
- Abroad Company Organization Chart
- All tax returns from the past two tax years
- Articles of incorporation for all entities
- Canadian Incorporation
- Current I-94
- Destination Company Corporate Tax Returns
- Destination Company Lease Agreement
- Destination Company Organization Chart
- Duties Percentage Chart
- Employment Agreement
- Employment Agreement of Managed Employees
- Employment Verification Letters
- Passport Biographic Page
- Pay Statements of Managed Employees
- Pay stubs for the past 12 months
- Prior I-797A approval notice
- Recent promotional or marketing materials
- Resume
- Resumes of your employees