L-1 Visa Attorney In Kansas City

An L-1A visa classification allows a United States employer to transfer an executive or manager from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of the company’s offices located within the United States The L-1A classification additionally allows a foreign company who does not yet have an affiliated United States office to send an executive or manager to the United States for the purpose of establishing an affiliation with a United States organization.

Generally, to qualify for an L-1A classification the employer must:

• 1) have a qualifying relationship with a foreign parent company, branch, or a like division, and
• 2) is currently, or will be, performing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country. This must be done directly, or through a qualifying organization, and for the duration of the beneficiaries stay in the United States as an L-1.

There is no requirement that the business be engaged in international trade. The act of doing business generally means the regular and systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and does not include the mere presence of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and abroad. To qualify, the named employee is also required to:

• 1) have been generally working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States and
• 2) 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.

If a foreign employer is seeking to send an employee to the United States as an executive or manager to establish a new office in the United States, then the employer is required to show:

• 1) that they have secured sufficient physical premises to house the new office,
• 2) that the employee has been working as an executive or manager for one continuous year on the three preceding years of filing the petition, and
• 3) that the intended United States office will support an executive or managerial position within a year of the approval of the position.

The period of stay granted to qualified employees entering the United States to establish a new office is a maximum of one year initially. There is a maximum initial stay of up to three years. All requests for extension of stay may be granted in increments of up to an additional two years until the employee has reached the maximum seven years for all L-1A employees.

Family members of L-1 workers may accompany the L-1 worker if they are the spouse of the worker, or are unmarried children under the age of 21. The family members may seek L-2 admission, and if they are approved they will generally be granted the same length of stay as the L-1 holder.

For more information regarding L-1A Visas, and the process of obtaining a L-1A Visa, please contact the Law Office of Jeffery Bennett via phone: 816-759-2776 (English), 816-759-2777 (Spanish); or via email: jyb@jybennettlaw.com.