LonSea

Has anyone been through the L visa process recently? My husband is about to be offered a transfer to the NY office. I need to understand the timelines, is it going to take 6 weeks or 6 months?

The company has done this before but we have no clarity at the moment on anything as they have yet to put the offer in writing. There is lots of talk of moving “soon” but no indication so far of what that means. Any advice on how quick things can move? I need to prepare our lives for this change. Any help from this board would be really appreciated, I’ve been tearing my hair out looking at US govt websites!

Thanks!

karenkaren1

much depends whether or not the company pays for premium processing. If so, it can be very quick. (assuming no complications with inadmissibility).

LonSea

And what about the uncertainty L1A or B and not being a manager for an L1A Visa? Does that matter as much as it seems?

Fred16

What visa is the company suggesting?
L1A or L1B
If L1a is your husband a manager of people or manager of a function

Are you hoping for Green Card during your future in USA
If you have children and I presume they will be joining, what are their ages

hmvsdog

What’s the uncertainty? If your husband isn’t a manager, then he won’t be petitioned for an L-1A.

LonSea

The uncertainly is that they haven’t said to us which one they will be going for, so I’m left scratching my head. There seems to be an internal assumption as they moved a member of staff a few years ago that it will be just as simple. I’ve been getting the impression during my research that it’s not.

No children currently and very very unlikely to go for a green card, but things may develop, I suppose.

hmvsdog

If the company pays the extra $1225 for Premium Processing, it can be very fast. My company’s attorneys were instructed in October 2015, petition was submitted on December 7 2015, my petition was approved (with Premium Processing) on December 23, visa interview at the embassy on December 30, passports received back on January 9 and I moved on January 16 2016.

LonSea

He isn’t a manager of a team or individual. Does that means it’s automatically L1-B? That seems much harder to get. I saw a posting a few days ago on here of someone who had theirs rejected.

I’m annoyed at the company, currently insisting that it will happen quickly but not really substanciating.

hmvsdog

Is your husband a manager now?

hmvsdog

Not necessarily. Does he manage a function? It’s all about his job role. If he doesn’t manage (either a team or a function) but knows a significant amount about the company’s internal processes and products, it’s going to be L-1B

LonSea

Are L1B visas stricter or more time consuming to receive?

Thank you all for all your responses. It’s been very helpful.

hmvsdog

The timeline would be the same as L-1A. As for being stricter, again not necessarily as it’s all about how the petition is put together. If your husband meets the criteria, it’s likely he’ll be approved. The “burden of proof” is on your husband’s employer to prove he is eligible for that type of visa. His company don’t have to use an attorney, but I assume they would be.

My L-1A petition was ~400 pages of the I-129 form itself, letters, job descriptions, US and U.K. company details and other supportive evidence.

CA-NY

My husband's company uses premium process so the approval process takes around 2 weeks. However the time consuming part is the information gathering and actual preparation of the application. I think our timescale for that for the first application was around 6-8 weeks, so from instructing attorney to the application being submitted. It depends how efficient your attorney is and how quickly everyone can gather the necessary paperwork, documents etc needed to support the application.

Then once you get word that the visa has been approved, you need to turn your attention to the actual move and readying yourself to sell your home or prepare it for renting out, sorting out furniture, researching places to live in the US and just generally start bringing your life in the UK to a close and getting ready for the US. I guess an average timescale might be around 6 months for that part as many people have a house to sell but it could be done much quicker depending on your circumstances with housing, furniture etc.

yellowroom

I was an L-1B for a large corporation with robust processes and they moved people all the time. They had a blanket petition already approved, so my individual application was very straightforward - weeks not months.

I did find though that individual HR personnel were useless when it came to understanding the immigration and visa application process, so what your husband needs to do is get HR to put him in touch with the immigration lawyers that they use.

People here are very knowledgeable, so keep coming back here if you need any other support. It can be a very exciting but overwhelming time - we’ve all (well, most of us) been through it at some point.

GeneralPowerpoint

I'm L-2. My wife went through the L-1A process last year.

The "job offer" was made in June 2016. I think the next 6 months were spent putting the petition together which was submitted at the beginning of December.

The company paid for premium processing and the petition was approved 23rd December 2016.

Visa appointments were on 4th of Jan 2017 I think, we received passports with visas in them about 3 days later and she moved in mid-Jan 2017. I followed a couple months later.