tonrob

Yes, the company needs to state their case for transferring you. Some companies do this kind of thing all the time and work regularly with immigration attorneys and so by the time they have decided to transfer you they'll pretty much know that the visa application will make the grade.

If you ignore a certain poster on this thread (who seems to be arguing with no-one but themselves) then I'd point to HarryTheSpider who made a useful distinction between skills and knowledge for the purposes of this discussion .

It's useful in that there are thousands with project management skills, specific IT skills, people management skills but it is usually specialist knowledge of company processes, systems and culture that can get someone transferred. I see this time and time again in my own company, who transfers around two or three middle/senior managers each year to the US.

The qualifications you mentioned won't hold you back - the trick is to find an employer who will employ you to use them while you build up some niche experience in that company, and where that specialist knowledge (which is what L1As are all about) become of more use to them in the US than your current location in the UK. That's a lot of ifs, and if you are serious about this as a strategy then I think you need to cast your net a bit wider than Yorkshire and research potential employers throughout the UK, as I this is currently your biggest restriction.

bigjim81

Seems like a good stategy (gaining niche experience). I think your right about our location holding us back however we own a house here and it would be costly to move, but that's a seperate issue.

Going backwards and forwards a bit doing research at the moment, not completely ruled out Canada if I can find another solution.

thanks

airways

Feel free tomignore my input. However I am telling it as it is from the perspective of currently going through this. Use semantics to your own end.

Whether you call them unique skills or unique experience the end result is the same, you will need to have something that sets you aside from a USC in order to gain an L1A or any other work visa. Whilst you only need to be employed for one year in order to get a company transfer it will take significantly longer to aquire the specialist skills/knowledge of a business in your particular field that may make you attractive. Project Managers a 10 a penny the world over. You will need to get a job with a multiple national delivering something unique.

I apologise if I am being blunt but having served a career as a Prince Project Manager I think you have your work cut out for you. My advice is aim to get your self into a niche area that is used in the US and Europe and develop the skills/experience in that field. You will also find that in reality you are going to have to be heading towards London to get the best exposure. Being a Yorkshire man myself i can't think of many multiple nationals in your field up north.

MsElui

you might want to look at the larger American merchant banks - likely in London though.