hannahjane86

Hi my husband’s job is in financial services. My understanding is there are certain sectors and job roles that are deemed urgent enough to warrant an emergency appointment. ( similar to the list of NIE).

I would also say we have very very good lawyers who have handled everything.

jamieB79

Hi folks
I'm new to the site - appreciate all your guidance!
I have been offered an intra-company transfer to our US parent company in the US, I appear to qualify for an L1A (hopefully the US visa officials agree!).
Have any of you had recent experience in getting an appointment in London? My company are paying to expedite the application but I appreciate that's just part of the process. They are also going to argue the role I am going to fill is critical.
Has anyone managed to get an appointment elsewhere in Europe (is this even possible?).
I'm nervous that if I cannot secure an appointment relatively quickly then the offer will be withdrawn.
Thanks so much!

destone

I saw reports on this site that, bar December, you can typically get an appointment at the London Embassy 1-2 months out as long as you’re prepared to check for available appointments multiple times a day.

Calli

We’re in a similar situation to you, L visa and moving to the parent company in the US. We’ve been told that it will likely be a spring move date. In the meantime my husband is doing the US job from the U.K. - he manages a US based team and all his internal clients are in the US. He is the only member of the team who is U.K. based.

We are making it work by him working in the evenings but it’s not ideal for us. Everyone is working from home globally until March next year anyway so it’s not been a huge issue for him work-wise so far. He’s been doing this job since February now but the move wasn’t 100% signed off until recently. Would you be able to do the job remotely?

S Folinsky

The “L” visa is one of those visas that requires a preliminary visa petition fled stateside with USCIS, an agency of the Department of Homeland Security. When the petition is approved, then visa application is filed with US Consulate which is part of the Department of State.

If immigration attorneys are involved, they might be able to determine what are the quickest ways to enter the United States. L-1A might not be the best way to go. They might also be aware of alternate consulates.

There are often unique or uncommon facts which can affect the path to admission to the United States.

jamieB79

This could potentially work in the interim and I do somewhat US hours already as my current role encompasses Canada, it's just not ideal (obviously!).
Is your visa application in?

Calli

Yes but only just!

jamieB79

Thanks for this.
Can I enter the US in the interim and attend meetings etc, for say a period of a few weeks and then head back to the UK without jeopardising my application?

jamieB79

I'd be keen to hear how you get on. Mine should be going in this week, my company are paying to expedite so let's see I guess. Will your application be sped up or standard processing?

Calli

Yes, ours is also expedited but the bottle neck is the interview I think.

hannahjane86

Hi just be careful with this. We successfully obtained our L1 visa in August. When we applied for an emergency appointment we were advised if the emergency appointment was to be declined by the embassy ANY valid visa or Esta would be void until the appointment date in the embassy was granted-we took the gamble as we were pretty confident in obtaining an emergency appointment and the travel ban meant we wouldn’t have visited USA in the interim anyway.

this may not be valid for too much longer if the travel ban is lifted in November but I just wanted to make you aware if you are filing in the interim and wanting to travel into the states.

christmasoompa

Depends on what you mean by 'meetings etc'. You can enter to attend meetings, but can't do your normal daily job, and a business trip of a few weeks could look like you're working there without a valid visa, so better to do less time IMO.

As said above, even if your company pays for premium processing, the problem is then getting an interview after that - most people are getting interviews next spring, some have been able to bring it forward by checking several times a day and getting an earlier slot, but there still a big backlog unfortunately. Ours was also premium processing (earlier this year) but we were supposed to have moved in July and no chance of that!

S Folinsky

This the type of question that should be directed to a knowledgeable immigration attorney. Answers can be extremely fact specific.

(Do note my signature block.)

christmasoompa

Worth noting that the mobile version of the site (which most people seem to use these days) doesn't show signatures.

HTH.

S Folinsky

Define “mobile.” I use an I-Pad and a Google Pixel phone. It showed up on both.