goingtoUS

Hello, I have some questions on the educational qualifications required for an L1B visa.
I have been working for my company, a multinational, for over 6 years now and have an offer to move to NY. An attorney will be handling my case. I have read all about the requirements from the alien's and the company's point of view and I qualify.
I have a professional accounting qualification, which is unrelated to my role in sales, and unfinished university studies.
I know the L1b does not require educational qualifications, but I have been reading this forum and checked other sources and people still mention them?
My questions are:
_Are certificates etc part of the documentation you need to supply when the company files your case with USCIS?
_In case qualifications are needed, for the company to prove your case I expect, will they need the ones directly related with your role (which is not my case)?
_Does anybody know what documentation I myself will need to supply to the attorneys initially for them to apply for my visa?
Any feedback you can give me will be greatly appreciated. I am very nervous about being turned down.
Cheers

ian-mstm

Yes, if those certificates support your claim to having specialist knowledge.


Yes, otherwise they aren't much good.


That'll likely be specific to the job you're going after... probably best to ask the attornies what they require.

Ian

bobbedford

When my company was going through the initial phases, the lawyers sent me a form that they had put together themselves which asked for:

Copy of Passport

Copy of Previous USCIS Approval Notices, if applicable

Copy of Updated Resume and Educational Documents (sent GCSEs, A-levels, degree and professional qualification)

Copy of Marriage Certificate

Copy of Birth Certificates for all children accompanying you to the US (for completeness I sent my birth cert and my wifes though)

Copies of one year of paystubs, proving employment abroad (we will obtain translations, if applicable) - this was a pain in the arse, I had lost a couple so had to get duplicates - i think this was to prove 1 year of continuos employment that you have to show

Copy of organizational chart, showing position abroad.

Not to concern you, but I believe that the L1b is increasingly being scrutinised - i.e. proving specialised knowledge is tough, and there is clearly going to be more scrutiny now the H1B is filled. In essence, US Immigration was trying to get us to explain basically why I was the only person in my company that could do the role, why it is specialised and no-one in the US could easily pick it up and why the company would be significantly disadvantaged if I wasn't employed. I got an RFE, and we are submitting the response very shortly. I would advise that you keep on top of and push the company to make sure that the initial proposal is as watertight as possible. Anything you can think of that makes you stand out above your current colleagues, and that makes you indispensible to the company needs go into the submission. The more you can get it there the better.

Now I know that the US team needs me - not being big headed, but they do, and I am in a very specialised industry and have tonnes of experience and evidence. But still not sure the way this is going to go.

Before Ian says it, "the lawyers are the company lawyers, and not yours" - but I don't see why any half sensible company would not want you to be involved - because you know best about yourself, your skill set etc.. In fact, my company gave me permission to just liaise directly with the lawyers on my concerns and how we could best manage the submissions.

Hope that helps.

BMP

I supplied my BSc and MSc to the attorney as he requested them - they were quite unrelated to my area of specialist knowledge..

goingtoUS

Thanks very much everybody