Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

I am 21 in August and am hoping to apply for an L1-b visa through my company after my 21st.

I work for a financial services firm (revenue around $20mm) which is based in the US but has an office in the UK (Where I work). I've been working for the company for 3 years and did not go to university but I'm just finishing off some financial qualifications my company put me through.

I asked my company last week if there would be an opportunity for me to work in the US and they said yes but they have never sponsored an employee visa before so they are as blind as I am.

I've been looking at the different types of visas and the L1-b stands out to me the most. The L1-b visa asks for "special knowledge" as a requirement, I've been speaking with someone who went though a similar process but with Australia and they told me that the "special knowledge" would be my London experience.

We also have our own systems and I'm involved in the pre-sales process on a technical level - product demos, answering tech questions in meetings. We have multiple, complex products that need to be learnt, so I think this classes as specialised knowledge??

I know this is all pretty vague but I'm just looking for some advice as I'm not 100% sure that an L1-b visa is appropriate. Any help is welcome.

Thanks

Re: Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

I would set up an appointment with the immigration lawyer that your company uses/will be using. With in-depth knowledge of what your job entails and what skills you possess, they would be the best ones to advise.

I'm curious as to why the US? Do you have any connections here? It's possible you may have an easier route here if you have family or a love interest here.

Re: Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

For sure. You hit the nail on the head, I have a girlfriend over there. Met her when she was working in London her Visa ran out so It's now my turn, I'm not too sure how it will be easier if I declare that I have a love interest as I'm not intending to get married yet.

Thanks for your help btw.

Re: Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

I'm on an L1-B and work in the IT sector. Dont let the university part shine doubt on you - I've never been to uni in my life and have relevant vendor qualifications for my work.

My specialized knowledge that my attorney's focused on was the previous year long project where i flew around to all our offices across the globe running a migration project, a similar project was coming up in our US offices, and they wanted to re-use that information - which was all valid.

Specialized knowledge is broad, this is what the USCIS lists it as:

"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"

So you could fall within that description, but the only way you'll know is by getting your firm to hire an immigration attorney who can assess that information.

If your firm go ahead - be prepared for a long process, mine took 4 months, and that was with Premium 10 day processing, it was the information gathering that took my attorney's a while!

Also, as your firm haven't done this before - don't be shocked if your they turn around and reject your request once they find out how much attorney fees & visa application fees will cost for them to run the application. A friend of mine had this happen recently to him.

Hopefully you'll fit in to that category and your firm say yes! Good luck

Re: Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

It would only be easier if you're considering marriage. Otherwise makes no difference in your L visa case.

Rene

Re: Confused with what VISA I should be going for as I circumstances
 

If you're adamant you don't want to get married then L1-b seems the way to go. They may feel that 3 years experience does not constitute specialist knowledge - my husband did not have a degree but had 10 years of industry experience and was told by the immigration attorney that that was really the lower end of what they looked for - but of course your own immigration attorney can advise better.