L-1 visa for employees and owners of companies

L-1 Regular

The L-1 Regular visa is a non-immigrant work visa, providing an opportunity for employees working abroad to transfer to a company branch in the United States.

To obtain an work visa, you need to find an employer-sponsor in another country that has a branch office in the USA. This visa is intended for highly qualified specialists or for persons working in a company with a manager position. In addition, the candidate must also work in a company outside the United States for 1 year before applying for an L-1 visa. The validity of this visa is 3 years.

It is also important to note that L-1 visa holders can bring their spouses, who are given the opportunity to work on L-2 visa. The main difference between L-1 visa and H1-B visa is that an L-1 visa holder is not allowed to change an employer.

L-1 Blanker

Visa L-1 Blanker allows employers, company owners, the opportunity to open a branch in the United States and the right to reside in the United States for up to 7 years.
If there is an alternative branch in the United States for a period of at least 1 year, the holder of L-1 visa is given the opportunity to apply for permanent residence or a green card. The process of creating an alternative branch of a company in the United States includes the provision of documentation confirming the existence of your company, renting premises, confirming the financial condition of all operations of the company, as well as documentation confirming the position of candidate for L-1 visa. Also, to confirm the existence of your company in the United States, you need to open a bank account in the United States in the amount of 25 to 50 thousand dollars.

The process of obtaining

The process of obtaining L-1 visa begins only after an applicant submits an I-129 form and several required documents to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). An applicant residing outside the United States must contact the US Embassy in his country, but if the applicant lives in the United States, then he must request to change his status.

The main reason for the refusal of you in L-1 visa may be the grounds identified by the US consulate that you or the company do not meet certain requirements, or the company seems fraudulent

Also you can read the interesting information about Changing of Status: