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 Nandini
Nair informs that managers, executives and employees with specialised
knowledge qualify for L-1 visas
I wanted
complete information about L-1 visa applications. What kind of visa
is this and who can qualify?
—Satish
Krishnamoorthy
An
L-1 visa is used by multi-national companies who wish to transfer
“managers”, “executives” or employees with “specialised
knowledge” to their US branch, subsidiary or affiliate.
General
requirements for L-1 visa:
(i)
The L-1 applicant who is being transferred to a US company must
have worked in the overseas organisation in a managerial or executive
position. (ii) He or she should be coming to the US to fill the
same type of position they held in the overseas company. (iii) There
must be a relationship in ownership of the overseas company and
the US branch, subsidiary or affiliate. (iv) The L-1 applicant must
have the intent to return to his/her home country after a temporary
period in the US.
There
are two categories under the L-1 visa—L-1A and L-1B. An L-1A
visa is for executives and managers. There are certain factors used
to evaluate whether an L-1A applicant is an “executive”
or “manager”. These include the following:
a)
Whether an applicant has been, and will be, primarily performing
the tasks necessary to produce the product or provide the services
of the organisation.
b)
Whether the applicant has occupied and will occupy a senior position
within a complex organisational hierarchy.
c)
Whether the applicant has managed and will manage an important function
within the organisation.
d)
Whether the employer has the financial ability to pay the executive
or manager and other workers who will perform the tasks necessary
to produce the product or provide the services of the company.
e)
Whether the evidence presented by the employer is sufficient to
establish the applicant’s eligibility for an L-1A visa as an
executive or manager.
f)
Whether the petitioner is a new entity.
L-1B
visas are for employees with “specialised knowledge”.
This means that L-1B applicant possesses special knowledge of the
company’s product, service, research,
equipment,
techniques, management, or other interests and its application in
international markets, or has an advanced level of knowledge or
expertise in the organisation’s processes and procedures.
I
have acquired an H1-B approval from a company in the US. I had gone
for stamping in February 2002, but due to some reasons could not
go. Now the company has finally decided to take me in. What additional
documents should I present? Also, I have relatives in Chicago, but
my employer is in California. Can I travel to Chicago first?
—Sanjit
Thapar
I
advise you to reach your employer first and then after things are
settled you can take a domestic flight to visit your relatives.
At the airport the immigration officer may try to contact your employer
to verify your credentials. Things will be much easier for you if
you land in the city where your office is, in case additional information
or documents are required during the verification. Your employer
should also send you a recently dated job letter stating that they
have a project for you. In addition, you should carry all your educational
documents, H1-B approval notice and the various documents that were
used to file your petition. You should be ready for intense security
checks and many questions about you and your company and why you
did not enter before. You should always be prepared for the possibility
that they can deny you entry and send you back, especially in light
of the September 11 attacks.
My
brother had applied for an H1-B visa but he was rejected due to
Section 221(g). What is Section 221 (g)? Now, he is planning to
apply for a business visa, can he do so?
—Saurabh
Vazirani
Section
221(g) is very broad and a rejection based on it can be for many
reasons, but the two usual causes are:
1.
When the consulate either spoke with the applicant or reviewed his
documents and did an assessment, the officer felt that the applicant
could be a potential immigrant, meaning that it seemed that the
applicant had an intent to remain in the United States beyond the
validity period of the visa.
2.
It appeared to the consular officer, from statements in the application,
or in the papers submitted, that the alien is ineligible to receive
a visa. The actual reason for your brother’s H1-B being rejected
cannot be ascertained. However, he can apply for a business visa.
I
have done BE (Instrumentation) and have two years of experience
in the IT field. Currently, I am working for a small company in
India, I joined them because they said that they would send me to
the US. Initially, they told me that it would take three months
to get H1-B visa papers and go to the US. After two months, they
told me it would take one more month because my papers needed an
education evaluation to answer a simple query. Again, after three
months, the company told me that they were still trying to get an
educational evaluation and the delay was due to economic slowdown
in the US. Now, it has been six months and the company has just
completed the education evaluation and has forwarded the papers
to the INS. They are telling me that due to the September 11 attacks,
it will probably take another three-four months before I get my
approval and probably about two weeks before I get the INS number.
These are my queries:
1)
How much time does education evaluation take?
2)
Time taken for the evaluation papers to reach the INS.
3)
Considering the situation in the US, when will I get the INS number
and when will the visa papers reach India?
4)
Is there any way to find out whether the company has filed the papers
or not?
—Sudhakar
Singh
Here
are the answers to your queries:
1)
Any company that does an education evaluation will take a maximum
of one-two weeks to complete it. I have never heard that they take
six months.
2)
It really depends on when the employer sent it to the INS. If the
education evaluation was submitted in response to a query from the
INS, an employer has 60 days to submit the additional information.
Once it reaches them, it takes about a month or two to get a decision
on the case. 3) You should have got the INS number three weeks after
filing the original petition. Your case will probably take at least
another two months.
4)
No, there isn’t.
Note:
There has been a significant backlog in processing all types of
immigration petitions with the Immigration and Naturalisation Service.
One reason for the delay is security checks. The Vermont Service
Centre of the INS indicates that all files must now undergo a security
check. As of April 17, 2002, there were approximately 40,000 cases
that required security clearance. This will have a substantial impact
on the approval or denial of a case, probably resulting in at least
an additional month in sending out approval notices.
(Nandini
P. Nair is a US Immigration Attorney based in Stamford, USA.
E-mail: dininair@aol.com)
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PEOPLE
