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For foreign companies expanding in the United States and wishing to transfer executives and specialized knowledge exmployees.

It is definitely the most popular visa and probably the easiest one to obtain. This visa is made for companies who wish to expand their activities in the United States by opening a branch, a warehouse or an office.
The admissibility requirements for the company are the followings:

The Canadian company must have been operating for at least one year and must remain in operation at all times after the opening of the US division.
The annual sales volume or gross revenues of the Canadian company must exceed $250,000
The Canadian company must have at least 3 employees.

The idea is to prove to the INS that the Canadian company is successful, is in good standing, is financially solid and that the expansion in the United States will not affect its performances in Canada and will create eventually jobs for US workers.
The admissibility requirements for the individuals (transferees) are the followings:

The transferee must have worked for the Canadian company for at least 1 year over the past three years.
The persons eligible are all the key-personnel essential to the success and the smooth running of the American company are admissible to this kind of visa;
Owners: Sole owner or shareholder.
Executives of the company: President, vice-president, secretary-treasurer.
Managerial staff: General Manager, Sales Manager, Production Manager etc.
Skilled workers: workers with a special knowledge specific to the product or the company.

Note: It is very important to understand that the expansion LlA visa has (almost) nothing to do with NAFTA. Which means that all the countries listed below are eligible to the expansion visa.

Analysis of each criteria

The Foreign Company must have been operating for at least one year and must remain in operation at all times after the opening of the US division.
The annual sales volume or gross revenues of the Canadian company must exceed $200 000.

First of all, no where in the INS laws it is mentioned that a company must make a certain amount of money. But by experience, we know that it is more difficult, but certainly not impossible, to obtain an L-1 visa for a company making less than $ 200 000 a year. Also, we can stretch that number by adding the gross sales of a subcontractor that would have the Foreign company as unique client.

EX: ABC Inc. wants to expand to the US. ABC had $185 000 of gross sales last year. But DEF Inc. made $85 000 last year and his only client is ABC Inc. We could add both numbers and explain to the INS that ABC Inc. made $270 000 in the last complete year.

It is important to remember that gross revenues number accepted by the INS will be the one appearing on the last financial statement of a full year of operation
The Foreign company must have at least 3 employees.

Once again, the US immigration law does not refer to the number of employees that the Foreign company should have to be eligible for an L-1 visa. But the INS requires that the Foreign company maintains its operation in foreign country even after the opening of a branch in the United States. This requirement could be very hard to meet if the foreign company does not have enough foreign employees.

Ex: Three friends have a small company doing industrial and commercial design. They do not have any employees because they are doing all the work themselves. The gross sales of the company is over $200 000, so they would appear to be eligible for an L-1A visa, however it is not that simple. If they open a branch in the US and they all obtain L-1A visas, who will keep the Canadian company active? In this particular case, it would be very hard to obtain, though not impossible, the L-1A visa for all three of them.
The transferee must have worked for the foreign company for at least 1 year over the past three years.

All employees essential to the smooth running of the American branch are eligible to the L-1 visa. If the employee has not worked a full year with the company, the INS believes that the employee is not essential to the company therefore is not eligible for an L-1 visa.

In order to be eligible for an L-1 visa, the employee must have been employed outside the United States for one (1) continuous year of full-time employment within the last three (3) years. The foreign employer must be an affiliate, parent, subsidiary or a branch office of the American Company. The employment must have been without interruptions and must have been full-time. The definition of “employee” corresponds to the control over the worker’s activity.

To calculate the one-year employment abroad requirement, one must consider the total number of days the worker has spent in the United States in the past three years because they can not be counted for the one-year requirement.

We need the income tax return (T-4) and the summary of remuneration paid to show that the employee has been on the pay roll of the company for a period of one year in the past three years.

If the employee has not been on the pay roll for a full year, there are 2 ways to qualify the employee.
The persons eligible are: Owners, Executives, Managerial staff, Skilled workers.

The persons eligible are the employees essential to the smooth running of the American company. In order to qualify as an L-1, the employee must have been employed either at the Executive, Managerial or Specialised Knowledge level. It is important to know this difference because of the various lengths of stay applicable for Executive & Managers (7 years) and Specialised knowledge (5 years).

Executives. According to INS rules, an executive employee is an employee whose primary duties are to direct the management of an organisation or major component thereof. The rules also allow an employee to direct a major function within the organisation. The duties performed correspond to establishing goals and policies, exercising a wide degree of discretionary authority and decision making as well as receiving only general supervision and direction from higher level executives, the Board of Directors and shareholders.

Generally speaking, the executive must supervise the work of other persons. However, changes to the Immigration and Naturalisation Act in 1990 do permit employees to qualify as executives even though they may have few subordinate staff.
Managers. According to INS rules, a person is considered a manager when their primary duties 1) consist of directing the organisation or a department or subdivision thereof, 2) controlling the work of other professional, supervisory or managerial employees (or managing a function of the company), 3) has authority to hire and fire personnel or recommend that these actions be taken, and 4) has discretionary authority over day to day operations. It must be stated that first-line supervisors are specifically excluded from the definition of a manager, unless the people being supervised are themselves managers or professional employees. We often summarise this rule by : “the transferee must supervise supervisors”.

Changes in 1990 greatly liberalised the notion of “manager” by allowing employee to manage an important function within the company and not only personnel. The factors that will guide the Immigration Examiner in determining whether the individual manages a function are the following:
- The worker must not be primarily performing the work necessary to produce the product or service of the organisation. Are other employees or subcontractors producing the product?
- Are the main duties of the employee related to the operational activities or to management activities?
- Does the worker occupy a senior position within a complex organisational hierarchy?
- Does the worker manage an important function in terms of economic importance to the company even though there are few employees in that division (e.g.-R&D Manager)?
- Does the company have the financial ability to pay the people performing the work as well as the manager?
- What is the salary of the Manager and does it reflect managerial status?
Example. A Marketing Director is eligible if the core duties are establishing a marketing strategy, setting operational directives and supervising the work of market researchers. A Marketing Director is not eligible if he is involved primarily in conducting the market survey.

Specialised knowledge. According to INS rules, an employee serves in a capacity involving specialised knowledge if the worker 1)has special knowledge of the product and its application in international markets, or 2) has an advanced level of knowledge of the processes and procedures of the company. What one must remember about the specialised knowledge category is that the role of the employee within the organisation, which must be unique.

A foreign worker can be admitted to the United States in L-1 status for the length of time needed by the employer up to a maximum initial stay of three (3) years. The total continuous amount of time that can be spent as an L-1A (Executive & Manager) is seven years and five years as an L-1B (Specialised Knowledge). After that period, the alien must leave the United States for at least one year (1) before being admitted again as an L-1 transferee. Any length of time spent in the United States during that year is added to the one year abroad requirement. To ensure compliance with the one (1) year requirement, the INS requires that the employer prove where the employee worked during that year, the employee’s place of residence and the dates and purposes of each trip to the U.S. during that year.

Example. A Specialised Knowledge employee is in L-1B status for three years and returns to foreign country for eleven months before being transferred back to the United States. The individual can only stay in the United States for two years before having to return to foreign country. If the employee had stayed in home country for thirteen months, he would then be eligible for a brand new five years.

Example. A Manager is transferred to the United States for seven years and returns to home country for one year. During that time, the employee is present in the United States as a business visitor for twenty days. The employee can only be transferred back to the United States after one year and twenty days.

In the case of an employee having been transferred to the United States in L-1B status but whose job duties change to those of an executive or manager, the seven (7) year limit applies to them as long as they can demonstrate that these duties began at least six months before in order to obtain extensions of stay beyond the five (5) year limit. This change of status must be documented to the INS through the filling of an amended L-1 petition.

However, if one can document intermittent U.S. employment in L-1A status (less than six months per year) usual time limits do not apply. Proof will have to be given to the INS of this fact so we recommend that any documents which can verify this fact be kept (plane tickets, home country and American income tax statements, statements of remuneration paid, etc.…) It is therefore important to keep travel ticket, charge card receipts, foreign employment proof (T-4) and income tax payments in order to obtain intermittent L-1 status beyond the seven (7) year limit.

So, the main differences between the L-1A and the L-1B visa are:
- First of all, the L-1A category is for the Owners, Executives and Managerial staff. The L-1B is strictly for skilled workers. By skilled workers, the INS means an employee with a special knowledge specific to the product made or the machinery used. This category of worker usually has many years of experience with the company and has knowledge so specific that no American worker could do the job in short term.
- Secondly, the L-1A is valid for a total period of 7 years and the L-1B is for a total period of only 5 years.
- Thirdly and most importantly, with the L-1A visa it is much easier to obtain a Green Card than with a L-1B visa
Does the worker occupy a senior position within a complex organisational hierarchy?

The employee with an L-1 visa has the same rights as an American business wise. According to the INS, the transferee is allowed to do only what he said in the job description of the supporting letter. It is very important to understand, because you will meet a lot of people who will be, for instance, interested to enter the United States under an L-1A visa as Sales Manager, but in fact their real intent is to sell or be a distributor. But that is not permitted, because the transferee is suppose to manage the sales and hire one or many salespersons to do the direct sales. The other case you will encounter quite often, is the case of an entrepreneur in construction who will want to get in the United States under an L-1A as President and V-P of the company, but they are not interested in hiring any Americans. Instead, they want to do the work themselves. That also is forbidden.
The application process

In virtue of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the granting of visas may be done directly at a U.S. Port of Entry having a Free Trade Specialist ( for TN, B and L1A, L1B only) However, once the transferee is in the United States, extensions of stay may be filed with the Service Center having jurisdiction over the place of employment of the transferee.

Once our main office has all the documents in hands, it takes about 2 weeks to obtain the visa at the Port of entry or 4 to 12 weeks if we file to the INS service center in the United States.