Lady11

Hello Members,

I have been working at headquarters of my company for last 3 years. My company plans to permanently transfer me to US on L1. However, my company is asking to resign from home country and accept offer letter from US based subsidiary. I will be on US payrolls with no payment in home country.

HR at US is telling me that to get L1, I should get a letter from headquarters supporting that I will return back to headquarters after few years.

I plan to file for Greencard once in US.

Is permanent transfer to US an issue for L1. Has anyone got his/her L1 approved without showing that the person will move back to home country.

An attorney will be involved at a later stage but need opinion from experienced people.

Regards,

AlphaTangoMike

Welcome to the forum.

I will start by saying that an immigration attorney is one of the 'experienced people' that you mentioned and that you should start with one first (rather than by taking advice from random strangers on the internet).

You should not make any changes to your current position/role (resigning) without the advice of your company immigration lawyer. It's not likely that you can be 'employed' by the US subsidiary without first having the correct visa in hand.

The L1 visa is a nonimmigrant via and therefore not a visa for a 'permanent' move to the US. The L1 is valid for a number of years and can be renewed for a few more years. The only way for your move to be permanent from the outset would be to have the company sponsor you for an immigrant visa.

Also, it's not your choice to file for a green card or not, this is something that your employer has to petition for. It is definitely recommended that you get this in writing.

To sum up, the entire process is driven by the company, you are merely a willing/unwilling passenger.

Owen778

Mike, that is mostly true, but not all.

While the L1 visa is a non-immigrant visa, it is a dual-intent non-immigrant visa. This means you are allowed to have immigrant intent while using it. That said, the L1 visa itself does not provide a direct path to permanent residence.

The piece that needs correcting is that immigrant visas are for people who live outside the US. Someone living in the US on an L1 visa would need their employer to petition for an adjustment of status (to permanent resident). The requirements for an employment-based green card overlap with those for an L1 visa but only partly.

Since it's entirely up to the employer's discretion, it's common for potential employees to negotiate in the job offer that their employer will sponsor a green card within a certain time period, along with other expat items, like repatriation costs.

http://www.uscis.gov/green-card/gree...ough-job-offer

Lady11

As with L1, I am allowed to have immigrant intend so I assume immigration office should not be concerned weather at a later stage I plan to move back to headquarters or not. Not sure why HR in US is asking me to get the assurance from headquarters..

Also, My company is OK with filing for my green card.

Noorah101

Get that in writing, with a specific date they will file.

Rene

SanDiegogirl

I transferred over on an L1A and the job was taken on the understanding that it was going to be a permanent transfer - no moving back to UK as some stage or another, or me being regarded as a long term "temporary"

I had the company state in the contract that they would support my Green Card application and that is would be started within 12 months of arriving in the US (the company started the process at the 6 month mark)

Certainly there was no company letter saying I would return to the UK, so this is not necessary.

The only thing in the contract which referred to a return to the UK was that, if I was made redundant, the company would pay for my and family repatriation.

JAJ

If the intention is a permanent move, why are you not planning to apply for an Immigrant Visa? (instead of an L1)

SanDiegogirl

..... because she has no other criteria for applying for an Immigrant Visa i.e spouse, fiancee, parent?

Everyone I know who is a British immigrant in the US came over on a work visa.

S Folinsky

My eye was caught by the reference of the UK company saying that HR people of the US company says what needs to be done.

On the lawyer chat boards, there is often expressed a degree of frustration at what HR people have done when a simple phone call to the lawyer would have avoided the problem.

I do know that there is a general aversion to paying lawyer fees and that may enter into the fray. [BTW, there is a proposition on the California ballot for November and the "anti-" campaign is along the lines that it is bad for lawyers to get paid. But I digress].

Noorah101

An employer can also submit a petition for an Immigrant Visa, if they are willing to hold the job open long enough for the applicant to receive the visa (years, I believe).

Rene

JAJ

Every case is different, but a first preference employment based Immigrant Visa could be issued in a matter of months. Not years. Most second preference cases takes somewhat longer, due to labor certification, but 12-15 months is not an unrealistic timescale as long as the applicant is not subject to a country-specfic quota backlog. Third preference cases are the ones that can take years.

Noorah101

Thank you for the clarification.

Rene

Lady11

thanks everyone...