inevitable

Hi,

I am working as a contractor for an IT company in London which has his its headquarters in San Francisco.
The company can transfer me to the US through L1 visa but they want me to move into a permanent job and spent at least one year with them before they can
apply for the L1 visa. So i was reading the requirements for L1 and it says you need to working as for 'parent company, subsidiary or affiliate' outside US to be eligible.
Being a contractor, the recruitment agency which got me the contract with the IT company seems like an 'affiliate' to them. So my question is do i really need to move into a permanent
role and spent one year with them to be eligible to apply for L1 visa?

karenkaren1

Unfortunately, that isn't what is meant by affiliate. From what I am lead to believe there has to be a relationship between ownership/shareholders of the companies.

Noorah101

As a contractor, did you work solely for this company, or did you work for others as well? If only for this one, it might work out.

Rene

TexanScot

Yes - it's a legal requirement that you be employed outside the United States for *at least* one year with the sponsoring company, otherwise you are not eligible for L-1 classification.

SanDiegogirl

Yes, you need to be a permanent employee of the transferring company..... the agency is not an affiliate of the US company.

Can only presume you don't want to move to permanent employment with the UK company as you would earn less than self employed?

However, it's the only way to get an L1.

Pulaski

It depends on the precise relationship between the US parent, the company you are contracted to, and nature of your contract - it needs to meet the L-1 definition of "employment".

Unless you remain tied to the agency, as in you are a fee-earning asset for the agency and they manage the relationship with the company where you work, and pay you your wages/salary. the agency is irrelevant. …. Unless the agency is owned by the US parent company, which I suspect is unlikely. However if you are managed by the agency and the agency pays you, then that is not going to meet the definition of being employed for the purposes of qualifying for an L-1.