L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Old Jun 20th 2019, 11:55 am
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Default L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Hey all,

Just a quick one as I can't find much about it online. My husband has applied for an L1 visa, and myself and our children L2 visas. If we get approved for these how soon could we enter the US?

I know with some visas you can't enter the US until 10 days before the job start date. Is that the same with L1/L2?

Thanks
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Old Jun 20th 2019, 1:31 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

As soon as you have the Visa in your passport returned to you. I moved 11 days before the contractual switch.
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Old Jun 20th 2019, 3:12 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

As noted as soon as you get your passport back you can fly, you don't need to be employed by the US employer on the L as far as I recall, although it makes it easier for tax and benefits. As you have a family you may want to consider timing more in terms of when health insurance starts, school years and finding a place to live. You may want to consider going alone first, becoming a local employee, getting having healthcare coverage in place, opening a bank account, finding a place to live, getting your SSN etc and then having your family join you.
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Old Jun 20th 2019, 3:50 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by tht
As you have a family you may want to consider timing more in terms of when health insurance starts, school years and finding a place to live. You may want to consider going alone first, becoming a local employee, getting having healthcare coverage in place, opening a bank account, finding a place to live, getting your SSN etc and then having your family join you.
Joining US payroll as an international transfer is a qualifying event for out-of-cycle enrollment in healthcare - you can sign up on day one.
I had to escalate up the HR chain several times until I found someone willing to reiterate that it was legally permissible me to signup without having an SSN, but that was an internal process issue rather than a legal one.

Bank of America had no problem opening an account for me without an SSN - apparently here in Texas they "do it all the time"
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 6:37 am
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Thank you so much everyone, that's helpful to know on the healthcare front. Will have a chat with my husbands HR team. Unfortunately we aren't really going to have the timescales for one of us to move over first and the rest after as our interview is the middle of next month and the company want us to move over summer (mid August time) so we can enroll our 7 year old in school in the new year so the transition is easier for her. But thank you for the advice.
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 3:53 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by LDavies
Thank you so much everyone, that's helpful to know on the healthcare front. Will have a chat with my husbands HR team. Unfortunately we aren't really going to have the timescales for one of us to move over first and the rest after as our interview is the middle of next month and the company want us to move over summer (mid August time) so we can enroll our 7 year old in school in the new year so the transition is easier for her. But thank you for the advice.
This is the reality for most people these days.
Hopefully, you will get some relocation assistance to get you up and running quickly. BE is a good source of information (invaluable to me before I moved with 3 kids). Just keep coming back and asking the questions.
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 6:08 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Getting the move done to line-up with the School year will be a big plus - it took a Semester for our children to catch-up and we moved mid September. It's not just finding your feet weeks after everyone else has started, it's getting used to a different learning method in most cases. On the plus side, kids adapt quickly, by and large.
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 9:28 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by TexanScot
Joining US payroll as an international transfer is a qualifying event for out-of-cycle enrollment in healthcare - you can sign up on day one.
I had to escalate up the HR chain several times until I found someone willing to reiterate that it was legally permissible me to signup without having an SSN, but that was an internal process issue rather than a legal one.

Bank of America had no problem opening an account for me without an SSN - apparently here in Texas they "do it all the time"
not sure what your sample size is for your experience, but it my understanding having setup an employer plan that employers can legally make people wait up to 90 days before allowing them to join their plan. Also on a more practical level while it is possible to backdate enrollment to the employees start date, that could mean them paying cash and claiming back eligible services until it is in place. For emergencies it’s probably worth having the employer pay for travel insurance to cover any emergencies until all the paperwork is done and coverage / cards are in hand for local coverage.
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 10:59 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

I work with international transferees all the time. Getting them on the health insurance from day 1 of work is par for the course. Normally, the first day is HR orientation with information about the plans because usually they have to decide HSA or FSA. some kind of emergency insurance is usually in place for the first few days in any case.
You don't need the SSN to sign up for the insurance. Although once you have it, the employee will have to get the number to HR.
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Old Jun 27th 2019, 11:49 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by petitefrancaise
I work with international transferees all the time. Getting them on the health insurance from day 1 of work is par for the course. Normally, the first day is HR orientation with information about the plans because usually they have to decide HSA or FSA. some kind of emergency insurance is usually in place for the first few days in any case.
You don't need the SSN to sign up for the insurance. Although once you have it, the employee will have to get the number to HR.
not sure where all the talk of SSN came from, they can take a few weeks to come. The last 6 employees I setup/onboarded via a [NYSE listed] PEO did not receive the benefits enrollment email till a few days after setting them up on the system and doing the I9, then they had a week or so to decide on what benefits they wanted. That was a mix of USC/GC and H1b’s. So how the process works will likely vary by employer and their setup.
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Old Jun 28th 2019, 3:43 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by tht


not sure where all the talk of SSN came from, they can take a few weeks to come. The last 6 employees I setup/onboarded via a [NYSE listed] PEO did not receive the benefits enrollment email till a few days after setting them up on the system and doing the I9, then they had a week or so to decide on what benefits they wanted. That was a mix of USC/GC and H1b’s. So how the process works will likely vary by employer and their setup.
I think the concern was some employees might think that you NEED to have an SSN to enroll for benefits, since in many cases they have never onboarded an employee that didn't (yet) have one.

This is obviously nonsense, but at least in my case I needed to escalate up the HR chain to find someone who was willing to enroll me in the benefits system without having an SSN yet. My primary worry was the unlikely (but non-zero) possibility that I could become sick or get into an accident before having healthcare coverage, and that was a possibility that I just wasn't willing to countenance.

There's more than enough people that think you need an SSN to start a job or enroll for healthcare, so it's clearly a myth that's persistent enough.
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Old Jun 28th 2019, 3:47 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by tht
on a more practical level while it is possible to backdate enrollment to the employees start date, that could mean them paying cash and claiming back eligible services until it is in place. For emergencies it’s probably worth having the employer pay for travel insurance to cover any emergencies until all the paperwork is done and coverage / cards are in hand for local coverage.
I was explicitly told by our HR team that I would be able to enroll for our healthcare coverage on day one.

Unfortunately the HR person that handled the visa was different from the HR person who handled the relocation, who of course was different from the HR person who handled the benefits and hence why I had to escalate things on my first day.

HR also told me that I would receive my relocation allowance via wire on day one as well, only to be told by yet another person in payroll that they could only process this during a normal payroll run. Since I needed the money to pay for a car, apartment downpayment and so on that was yet another thing that we had escalate until our VP told payroll to initiate a wire the next day.

I got there in the end though!
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Old Jun 28th 2019, 4:03 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

We had healthcare coverage from day 1. That was one of the conditions hubby made. Soit can be done, it depends on how far the company is prepared to go for you.
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Old Jun 28th 2019, 8:02 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Thank you for all the replies, there's certainly a lot for us to discuss with the HR team to work out the best way of going about it. But I'll be sure to make sure we have some sort of coverage in place from day 1.

We're hoping starting school at the beginning of the year with everyone else will help our daughter to settle easier. As you say children are very adaptable and we've moved a couple of times (although nothing of this magnitude) and she's always handled it wonderfully, so we're hoping she'll take it in her stride. Although I'll certainly be prepared for the possibility of it taking a while for her to adjust and settle.

I'll definitely be back with more questions, I've already found this forum so helpful and can't thank you all enough.
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Old Jun 29th 2019, 2:32 pm
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Default Re: L1 and L2 Visas when can we move.

Originally Posted by Jerseygirl
it depends on how far the company is prepared to go for you.
Not all of us have the benefit of being senior enough to demand something like this. I think all of my US jobs have involved some kind of wait for insurance to kick in. Sometimes it's just until the start of the next calendar month, sometimes it's the start of the calendar month after your first complete calendar month. This has been for jobs that sponsored a visa, and then afterwards on a GC - it doesn't seem to have anything to do with immigration.

Fact is, employment visas are not only for top-ranking positions. Often, we are 'rank and file' employees, brought in simply because it is an international field; we are not in a position to take any kind of stand. Not because the employer is trying to take advantage of our visa situation, but just that it is how the company treats all 'normal' employees.

I would advise the OP to try for Day 1 coverage, but if it doesn't work out, there are regularly threads in the US general forum asking about health insurance to cover such a gap.
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