Calli

Sell27

Thanks for your sharing your experiences.. do you just need to work in one of the listed industries to get an nie? My husband works in finance but not in a critical investiture project, although it is critical for his company just not for the country.

Calli

Sorry that should have been “infrastructure” — I’m too late to edit the post 🤦‍♀️

christmasoompa

It's not a case of 'just' working in one of the listed industries, the job must also be critical. It's been tightened fairly recently.

But even with a NIE I don't think L1's are likely to be moving anytime soon. My husband does qualify for a NIE (he works in energy), but our move was pushed back to spring next year due to the backlog, and now with all visa appointments being cancelled I can't see any way we'll make it out there before this time next year at the earliest.

Calli

My husbands job is critical for his company in the US but he’s just doing it in the U.K. he’s in charge of a major system that is only used by the US office.

His boss is American, he manages a team of Americans, all of his internal clients are American and he broadly works American hours. He just works from the U.K. office and pays taxes to the U.K. gov.

It’s a nightmare for us personally but I can see why the American authorities might not care too much if he can theoretically do the job from the U.K.

Sell27

Happy to share. Yes you do need to work in one of the listed industries or some how show the work is linked to the criteria set. The attorney assisting in your case, should be able to advise definitively.

This website is quite useful: https://en.usvisaservice.de/us-visa/...est-exception/

1. individuals who make a "vital support to critical infrastructure or critical infrastructure-related supply chains in the U.S."
2. journalists (I visas)
3. certain academics and exchange visitors (J-1 visas)
4. students (F-1 / M-1 or J-1 visas); these may continue to enter the U.S. or apply for F visas / M visas regularly at the U.S. consulate without an official National Interest Exception having to be officially granted in advance; special conditions apply as mentioned for travelers from Brazil, China, India, Iran, or South Africa
5. persons traveling for humanitarian or medical emergencies
6. health professionals working on COVID-19 containment / persons working in the health care sector
7. persons traveling for U.S. national security reasons
8. harvest workers
9. service providers for U.S. authorities (e.g. military)
10. pilots / aircrew (C-1D visas)
11. immigrant or fiancé visa applicants (K-1 visas)

GaleOfWind

Reading through this thread because my partner is planning on a move with the L1B visa, however the immigration process hasn't really gotten started (yet to fill out the DS-160 and book an interview). Am I correct to assume that it's looking like next March/April at the earliest for an interview slot, even if there's a NIE? Or is it possible that the consulate opens up more slots as the Covid restrictions are (touch wood) lifted?

Another thought - has anybody looked into travelling to a third country for an interview? I've heard that certain countries do allow this.

Sell27

If you qualify for an NIE, they will give you an appointment at the consulate now. You will not need to wait.

destone

NIEs may take “several days to several weeks to review” according to InfoUnit London.

Sell27

Having personally gone through this process a couple of times now, the longest they ever take to respond was 10 days to confirm the NIE approval.

The first time we needed to get a visa approved too, and they were very responsive through email and organizing with going into the embassy too.

I heard more recently they have been much quicker to give approval for the NIE for others.

destone

I’ll let you know about my experience. Applied again for one today as I had to travel LAX-LHR and now back.

GaleOfWind

I see. And if my partner doesn't qualify for the NIE, then..is it looking like next April or something around then?

destone

Depends. Could be up to 12 months backlog at the London Embassy.

GaleOfWind

Understood, thanks. Any possibility of going 3rd country or does one usually need a tangible link to that third country to do that?

hannahjane86

Hi - I just thought I would give up to date timescales for L1 London emergency appointments as I had asked questions on different threads.

Our lawyers initially submitted an interview request and obtained a date in March2022 ( I have seen others say they are unable to book appointments so I don’t know how the lawyers secured this date). The lawyers then submitted a request for an emergency appointment for at the end of July. We were granted an emergency appointment 4th August ( other colleagues are booked in for the end of September so I think we were very lucky!).

We were approved for L1 at the embassy interview but the NIE had to go to a separate department for approval. We were notified later that day via email that the NIE had been approved. We waited 3 working days and received our visas/passports in the post.

On the actual visa there is an annotation to say NIE is valid for multiple entries for 12 months.

We hopefully travel next week.

I appreciate everybody’s journey is different so this is just our working example of what we experienced but it seems there is hope if you are in the right industry!

scolley82

hannahjane86

Hi,

Without being too personal would you be able to tell us what qualified you for the emergency appointment, such as industry you work in or if its an A or B L1.

The reason I ask is because I'm about to submit one for my self. I work for a global plastics manufacturer that provides packaging for everything from dairy to household cleaning products. I've been given a date for my L1 in Feb next year, the problem is I'm needed to set up a new facility there and by this point I'll have missed a lot of the critical parts related to my job. I did have an NIE but that expired at the beginning of this month and would rather enter the country on my L1 next time than have to be restricted to the 90 days.

Any help is much appreciated.