L1 Executives and Managers

L1 Executives and Managers.

The L-1 visa permits a U.S. employer to transfer certain employees from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States. One of the key L-1 visa requirements is that the employee is coming to the U.S. to provide services in an executive, managerial, or specialized skills role. 

Managers must have e certain degree of control and power over the company and its decisions to be able to qualify for an L1A visa for transferring to the US. An example of a manager could be the Head of the Marketing Department, or the Head of Operations of a company. A supervisor who sees day to day operations and has another supervisor to whom he or she reports to, cannot state that they are a manager. This person would be considered as staff of the company, since they have no decision making power and must ask for approval from their superior.

One difference between  executive and manager roles to keep in mind is that an executive makes broader decisions over finance, manufacturing legal, research, purchasing, engineering, etc, while managers would generally make limited decisions. Executives may generally sign legal documents on behalf of the company.

The L1 visa process is quite different from the H-1B visa application process. Whereas H-1B visa applicants need to go through the US Labor Department, have prevailing wage certifications, and prove that no available US workers can fulfill the job position, L1 visa applicants do not need these

What is the L1 Visa Processing Time?

The L1 visa does not take too long to process. Individual petitions however, take a bit longer than blanket petitions, but the reduction in time is very small. In general, an L1 visa is processed for around 3 to 4 months from the time the application was submitted. Since there is an option for premium processing, employers who pay it can get the answer to whether their petition is approved or denied in 1 to 3 weeks.