The L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge nonimmigrant classification allows a U.S. employer to relocate a professional employee possessing specialized knowledge pertinent to the organization’s concerns from an affiliated foreign office to a U.S. office. Additionally, this classification permits a foreign company without an existing affiliated U.S. office to dispatch an employee with specialized knowledge to the United States to aid in its establishment.
To meet the criteria for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:
- Maintain a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (which includes a parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations).
- Currently be, or will be, doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country directly or through a qualifying organization for the duration of the beneficiary’s stay in the United States as an L-1. Doing business refers to the consistent, systematic, and continuous offering of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization. It does not encompass solely having an agent or office of the qualifying organization present in the United States and abroad.
To be eligible, the designated employee must also:
- Typically have been employed by a qualifying organization abroad for one uninterrupted year within the three years immediately before their entry to the United States.
- Intend to come to the United States to offer services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations. Specialized knowledge refers to either the unique understanding held by an individual regarding the petitioning organization’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other relevant aspects and its application in international markets, or an elevated level of knowledge and expertise in the organization’s processes and procedures.
Duration: Eligible employees arriving in the United States to set up a new office will be granted a maximum initial stay of one year. Other qualified employees will receive a maximum initial stay of three years. Extensions of stay for all L-1B employees may be approved in increments of up to an additional two years, until the employee reaches the overall maximum limit of five years.
Family Members: The employee being transferred may be accompanied or followed by their spouse and unmarried children below the age of 21. Spouses and children can apply for admission in the L-2 nonimmigrant classification and, if approved, typically will be given the same duration of stay as the employee.