L1B to L1A
 

Hi everyone, I've been in the US for nearly 3 years now and my visa is to expire soon. My company is planning to extend me another 2 year L1B visa but I want to know if I can ask them for an L1A (well... if I'm eligible for one).

I do not supervise anyone but do a very specific technical job in banking, something that not many people could walk into to it's quite skilled. I thought the L1A only covered anyone supervising but I just want to check this out before I give up and take another L1B.

Thanks

Re: L1B to L1A
 

Certainly you can ask them.


It is a common mistake that "manage" refers only to people... it doesn't.

Ian

Re: L1B to L1A
 

Yes you can providing you meet the criteria needed for L1A. I was able to transfer from L1B to L1A based on job responsibilities even though I did not have people directly reporting to me.

There are some links you might find useful in this thread

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=544826

Re: L1B to L1A
 

Thanks for the info. Do you know too if I can apply for a green card on L1B status or if I would definitely have to move to L1A?

The situation is that my company (or maybe just my area of the company) are very reluctant to give anyone L1A status or help with Green Card applications because they fear people would just use them to take another job. This stems from their treatment of Visa'd employees. I feel quite secure in my job and wouldn't start looking around as soon as a green card arrived but this is not the way they see things.

Re: L1B to L1A
 

The employer can petition for a green card for an L1B employee - there is no reason you have to be on L1A. The reason most people see there being an advantage to L1A is because the requirements are very similar to the EB1C green card category, but it is possible to do this with an L1B visa. Also someone on an L1B visa might fit the requirements for an EB2 or EB3 visa, although one thing to think about here is the time involved for processing the various steps might exceed the time remaining on the L1B.

In your position I would talk to your employer and make sure that they understand that if they do nothing, you have two further years on the L1B and would then have to leave the US. I had to push my employer a lot regarding the green card application because they had an attitude of thinking there was plenty of time to consider it further down the line and a lack of understanding of how long it was likely to take. I also had the same issue you mention of them being concerned about it increasing the chances of me leaving to go and work for someone else. I ended up signing an agreement that commits me to reimbursing the fees to the company if I leave within 2 years of getting the green card (something I don't plan to do anyway).

It might also be good to try to talk to an immigration attorney before renewing the L1B because if you would qualify as a 'functional manager' this might be a good reason to switch to L1A at this point and it would also give you the option of a further 2 year renewal (for a total of 7 years rather than 5) should you end up needing it.

Re: L1B to L1A
 

Great, thanks very much for the good advice. I'll get started on this first thing tomorrow :)

Re: L1B to L1A
 

we also used the point that to renew the whole families visas (L1a and three L2's) we would incur a lot of renewal fees and flight/hotel expenses going back for interview in London etc. A GC would actually be a cheaper cost for the company in some cases.