he L-1B Professional Company Transfer Visa is the “sibling” of L-1A, designed for transferring employees who have specialized knowledge of the company’s products, services, research, or processes. It enables a foreign company to send an employee with proprietary or advanced expertise to work in a U.S. office (existing or new) in a role that utilizes that knowledge.
Who is it for? It’s for key staff who are not managers or executives, but who have unique company-specific knowledge that is critical to the U.S. operations. For example, a software engineer who knows the ins-and-outs of the company’s proprietary software, or a technician intimately familiar with the company’s specialized manufacturing process. It’s common among tech companies, manufacturing firms and any business with unique processes.
The employee must possess special knowledge of the company’s product/service or an advanced level of knowledge of the company’s processes and procedures.
The U.S. role doesn’t have to be managerial (though it can be, but then L-1A might be more apt). It can be any level, but it must involve employing that specialized knowledge.
L-1B can be held up to 5 years total (initial 3 years if existing office, 1 year if new, then extensions up to total of 5). After 5 years, the person must spend a year abroad to reset.
As noted, no EB-1C for L-1B. If a company wants to keep an L-1B employee permanently, they typically have to sponsor via PERM labor certification for EB-2 or EB-3.
Sometimes the company comes to us with a candidate in mind (“We want to send X because she’s the only one who knows Y system.”). Other times, the company just knows they need some skilled staff in the U.S.
If a new office, set up the U.S. entity and lease (like L-1A steps). If existing, gather evidence of U.S. operations (to show it’s doing business).
We file Form I-129 with L-1B supplement. The petition letter will outline the nature of the specialized knowledge. We often include: a detailed description of the proprietary tools, techniques, or products the company has and what the beneficiary’s knowledge is.
We can premium process L-1B too (15 days). Actually, sometimes L-1Bs get RFEs more often than L-1As, because “specialized knowledge” can be interpreted strictly. But we usually do premium because companies want the person quickly.
Once approved by USCIS, the candidate (if abroad) goes for visa stamping (same process as L-1A). If already in U.S. (perhaps on F-1 OPT or something working for a branch? That can happen if they were placed at U.S.
If it’s a new office L-1B, initial approval 1 year. We’ll need to show at extension that the U.S. company is doing okay and likely we need to show that eventually the role still requires special knowledge.
The L-1B employee may need support relocating, etc., similar to any employee – we help with orientation if needed. If the L-1B is one of many, maybe not much from our side beyond visa.
If that person eventually gets promoted to manager in the U.S., the company can file to change them to L-1A.
Our internal preparation process—which includes consultation, document collection and drafting—depends largely on how quickly the client provides the necessary information. On average, preparing a complete and well-documented application can take a few weeks.
Once the petition is submitted, the wait time for an interview varies based on the specific consulate and the time of year. Some consulates may offer relatively quick appointments, while others could experience longer delays depending on demand and backlog.
Decisions are often made at the time of the interview or shortly thereafter. Once approved, the visa is typically issued and the passport returned within a reasonable timeframe, depending on the consulate’s internal processing capacity.
While uncommon in consular cases—since the full application is presented in advance—RFEs may occur more frequently in change of status cases filed with USCIS. If issued, an RFE can introduce additional processing time. Our goal is to reduce this risk through thorough and strategic preparation.
For clients renewing from within the United States, processing times for status extensions through USCIS can vary. Average timelines tend to span several months under standard processing, depending on USCIS workload and service center.
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