salted

Yesterday I was granted my L1 visa (for three years) to create a new office in the US for our UK company.

Since I found this forum to be a valuable resource during the process, I wanted to explain my story, in the hope that it will be useful for others in future.

I first applied for a visitor visa for the US last year, which was declined. (I discussed the application on this forum.) Turns out you can't work on a visitor visa. I had no idea at the time, and was very naive about the whole thing.

After that failure, I enlisted the help of J Craig Fong, based on his excellent advice regarding my initial application. His recommendation was to pursue an L1 visa, by expanding our company into the US and opening an office there.

I run a small software company, based in the UK. We have 5 employees and£~500,000 turnover. About 50% of our customers are based in the US, with the rest spread across Europe.

J put together the petition for the L1 visa. This took a few months, as there was a great deal of evidence required. We also had to set up a lease on an office in the US, and work with another law firm to incorporate the US subsidiary of our company, along with taking some tax advice, etc.

For the application itself we paid for premium processing and it was processed within a week. They didn't ask for more evidence, and it was approved for 3 years (we were expecting it to be for only one year).

I booked my interview in London and had to wait about two weeks for my appointment. After a 5 hour wait at the embassy, my number came up. The interview was incredibly straightforward. It lasted about 5 minutes. He asked a little about my business, and why we were expanding to the US. He had notes from my interview last year, so he asked me about my American girlfriend - whether we were still together. I said we were still dating. He asked where she lived and where I would live. That was about it. He told me it was approved.

I must say it's an enormous relief to have it all sorted. It's been a difficult few months, not knowing what would happen. I'm elated it's worked out so well.

I think our business must have in some way impressed USCIS, and/or the embassy officer. I feel very fortunate to have had what appears to be an unnaturally straightforward application process.

I'd also attribute my good fortune to the exceptional work of J, my immigration lawyer. Without sounding like a shill (he did NOT ask me to post this), he has been absolutely outstanding to work with, every step of the way. I really couldn't recommend him - and his firm - any more highly.

Although I'm personally excited to move the US, we also have a very strong business case to establish the subsidiary. I have every reason to believe that this will have been a good business move for the company, too.

I hope my experience is useful for other people looking to apply for visas in a similar situation to me. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions people have about the process.

Cheers!

goldenstate31

congratulations but how did you get approved for 3 years? when a new L1 office is 1 year (very interesting)
congratulations again

wizurd

Congrats! :-)

It's good to read success stories and it gives me hope.

salted

Thank you. I'm not sure why I was approved for three years. J (our lawyer) may be able to shed some light on that if he sees this thread.

My only thought is that we're already somewhat established in the US by way of having many US customers. The US company itself, however, is completely new.

goldenstate31

Yes thanks would be good if you could ask your attorney 3 years is obviously better than 1 year and we are probably going to use the L visa next year so it would be helpful to know. Thanks again