USCIS Ombudsman's Office Teleconference on L-1B "Specialized Knowledge"
The Adjudication of L-1B "Specialized Knowledge" Worker Petitions: How Is It Working for You?
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST
The Adjudication of L-1B "Specialized Knowledge" Worker Petitions: How Is It Working for You?
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
2:00 - 3:00 p.m. EST
I have an L-1 Blanket petition and I traveled to US for one week and used that VISA. Part of my job, I need to work in one of our offices outside USA for a year, but will just have to go to US for one week every 2 months. Will that affect my visa since I would not be fulltime working in US? I have M entries in my L-1.
As long as you work full time and on the job described in your L-1B while you are INSIDE USA, it does not matter how long you stay outside USA.
As an australian actor/singer and teacher...would an E3 work for me and could an agency act as an employer in that case?
E-3 visas are available only for those jobs that demonstrably require a bachelor's degree in the field of work you will be performing. We recently provided assistance in an E-3 visa for a Shakespearean actor and teacher who was coming to teach acting classes in USA. He would probably not have qualified as an artist under E-3 visa, because to be an actor, a bachelor's degree in performing arts is usually not required. But as a teacher, a bachelor's degree was indeed required.
I already have a USA LPN license, was just wondering if its possible to get E3 visa to work in USA, I am an Australian citizen. What are the requirements?
As far as I remember, most nurses jobs do not qualify for H-1/E-3 type visas because a US Bachelor's degree is not required for the jobs. If you can find a job where a Bach. degree is the minimum requirement, you can be eligible for E3 or H-1B.
I am Australian Citizen with Accounting Degree and looking forward to apply for E-3 Visa. Do I need to have job offer letter from the employer. How big the employer should be?
You do need a job. The company does not have to be a specific size, but it should be large enough to require a professional accountant (not just a book keeper).
I am working in US with L1B Visa from company A, now I have my H1 petition approved from the same company had applied to me before I had L1B. Now is it possible for me to change my Visa status from L1B to H1, if yes then what are the situations under which I will be able to change as I am planning to change the company.
You will need to apply for an H-1 through the employer you wish to join. You should be able to apply for a change of status as a part of that process.
I am currently on L1B in US. Could you please let me know if it is legal to resign on L1B while am in US or is it required by law that I need to return to my home country and resign? Am on US payroll and I believe am governed by US labour laws and they will supersede the Indian laws even if I signed a document mentioning that I will return to India. Could you please confirm?
What you are asking me has nothing to do with US immigration laws. This is a matter for an employment lawyer in the state where you are working. Under US immigration laws, you can resign in USA any time.
I currently have a L1-B visa and I'd like to know if the company where I work(a Brazilian company where I did work for 2 years, one of them in a managerial position before coming to the U.S in 2009) could apply to change my status from L1-B to L1-A at the same time as filing my GC application.
The company is a giant in Brazil with 600 employees but we are still starting the operations in the U.S and I'm the only employee here.
Smaller companies can have a tough time getting an L-1A.
Discussion Topics, Thursday, October 28, 2021:
FAQ: Change of jobs with an approved I-140 from employer A and Reapplying PERM through B || Impact of reportees outside the U.S. or in third countries on L-1A and EB-1 petitions || Are L-1B visa holders eligible to work remotely? || Approved EB-2/EB-3: Interfiling/upgrading to EB-2 with employers A and B || Working outside the U.S. for four months with a recently issued green card || Documents needed by and anticipated questions for green card holders at the port of entry
This is a question about after the return to normalcy from the pandemic. From an immigration perspective, are L-1B visa holders allowed to work remotely/work from home from within the U.S.? Does it matter whether the employee's house (where she will work from) is near the designated company office location or not?
And lastly, would you expect difficulty with getting the L-1B visa in the first place if the intention is to work remotely/from home (but within the U.S.)?
L-1B holders, unlike H-1B employees, are not geographically tied down. You can work from anywhere. Further, if you work and report in-house and not to a client, you should even be able to change locations without any amendments to your L-1B petition. Only L-1B visa holders who work at third-party sites are subject to certain limitations; the most important one is that you continue to be an "employee" under the company's control that petitioned for you. I can see no reason why the location should interfere with a visa at the consulate.
Note: Where transcribed from audio/video, this is a verbatim transcript of the referenced audio/video media delivered as oral communication, and, therefore, may not conform to written grammatical or syntactical form.
I am married to a permanent resident of America, and have filed for a spouse visa (I130) in Sept 2010. Is it possible for me to apply for the E-3 visa with the spouse visa being processed, or does it demonstrate dual intent?
E-3 is not a clear dual intent visa. BUT, govt. tends to lean in the direction that they will permit dual intent as long as you clearly intend to leave if not permitted by law. My suggestion would be to avoid testing the E-3 limits in our current environment.
The Department has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs.
The E-3 visa allows for the admission of an alien who is a national of the Commonwealth of Australia and who is entering the U.S. to perform services in a “specialty occupation.” The E-3 visa has many advantages over the other types of working visas, including the ability for spouses of E-3 recipients to apply for work authorization.
The Department has posted new Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs.
To view FAQ please check the attachment.
H-1B, H-1B1, E-3 Helpful Resources:
The Department has posted a contact list for the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs to assist employers with their applications. To view or download a PDF copy of the Helpful Resources for the H-1B, H-1B1 and E-3 Programs, please click the attachment below.
Substantial transcription:
7th July 2012 at 05:16 PM
9.59 Minutes
What do we do when our visa gets denied under section 214(b) of the Immigration and Nationality Act? Basically, this means that if the consulate doesn’t believe you are going to come back, they deny the visa, saying that you have an immigrant intent which you have not been able to rebut. So the idea is whenever somebody goes for a visa stamping, they actually are presumed to have immigrant intent unless they prove otherwise. Of all the visas A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H all the way to V, some visas are immune to this problem.
What are the visas that are immune?
H-1 as well as H-4, L-1 as well as L-2, and O-1 and O-1 derivative visas are immune by law almost. H and L are clearly immune by law and O by implication. With these visas, if you have a green card going, the consulate is not going to deny your visa for that reason.
On the other hand, there are notorious visas that are very susceptible to this problem:
B-1, B-2, F-1 as well as F-2 (which are for students), and J-1 as well as J-2 are susceptible. A lot of physicians on J-1’s have had a visa denial on 214(b).
TN visa holders strictly not going for visa stamping but can be stopped at the border if their green card has been filed. So bear in mind that when TN holders apply for a green card, they should be careful about this particular factor.
The biggest problem with 214(b) is it is extremely difficult to fight it. I have recently taken a case in which an F visa was denied on 214(b), and I think we have a fighting chance because the visa applicant has come to the U.S. many times and she has left within her time permitted. So she’s been a frequent traveler on a B visa. Her F visa denial is extremely unjustified, in my opinion.
Let me just very quickly go through the visa alphabets.
A visa (diplomats) will have no problem. They have no issues of a green card being denied.
B visa will have a problem.
C, D, and E visas will usually not have a problem.
The only thing you have to establish for E-3, especially for Australians (E-3 is kind of equivalent of H-1), is that you do have an intention to come back but not to the same degree. In other words, if you have a home in Australia, the degree of proof is not very high so it is very easy to meet that degree of proof.
G visa is ok.
H visa is ok.
By the way, H-2B visas can have a major problem with immigrant intent. These are people who are coming to U.S. for to perform skilled labor.
I, which is international journalists/media representatives, may or may not be ok.
J visa will definitely be a problem.
K -1 and K-3 are no problem because they are fiancés or spouses of U.S. citizens and are obviously meant to go into green card.
L visa is no problem.
M, which is folks who are doing vocational training, can have this problem.
P visa (performers, athletes, etc.) can have a problem but usually won’t.
Q visa (exchange visitors) can have a problem.
R visa usually won’t.
S, T, and U visas won’t usually have a problem because they are done within the USA and are usually either victims of crime or people who are assisting in criminal investigations.
So what do you do if you get a 214(b) denial?
Normally there isn’t much we can do but, if you have been to USA before or else there is something unique in your case, we can ask the consulate to reconsider and if they are not willing and able, then we can ask the visa office in Washington, D.C. to intervene. You can also contact your family or employer in the U.S. to contact the local Congressmen to seek their intervention. This typically is not helpful but you can try. If anybody from the bar or a lawyer tells you he or she can fix it, be mindful because they may not be able to. Especially be careful when you talk with lawyers in your own country. This makes me very nervous because we have had some cases where local lawyers in other countries did some strange stuff. They had some hook ups with consulates and ultimately got caught.
The biggest problem is with fraud or misrepresentation. If you make a misrepresentation in attempting to get any immigration benefit, you can be barred from entering USA forever.
Going back to 214(b) denials, you can ask the consulate to reconsider. Reapply if you have a case that begs for a special consideration, like you’ve been to the U.S. many times. For example, one of my friends asked me that, if his girlfriend is refused a B visa, is it okay to bring the lady in on a K-1 (fiancé visa)? My take is do not use the fiancé visa in lieu of B-1 or B-2 visa, because if you do not have the intention to get married, the government can consider it to be fraud. So make sure you want to get married within 90 days after they enter the U.S.
One more point -- there is a legal fiction created in U.S. immigration law about ties to your home country that says you can overcome 214(b) denial if you have ties to your home country. That in my mind is a legal fiction. To demonstrate ties is very difficult. Of course, if you have family in your home country, that’s a good example of ties but to say you have property, but property can be sold, so I don’t think that’s really ties. Having business is also not really a tie as a business can be sold. Hence demonstrating ties to your home country is usually a difficult thing to do.
This issue has come up several times recently. Feel free to ask me specific questions on the website, in a forum, or on a community conference call.
Do we need to send an LCA for H-1B1 Singapore quota?
Yes, you do. E-3 visas for Australia and H-1B1 for Singapore and Chile, all require an LCA.
If I have 3 years of college from the UK and 7 years of professional experience, can they give me E-3 visa? The employer has given me a job offer in USA. All degree and work is in IT systems
If the degree and at least three years of professional experience are in the same field, E-3 should be available.
We were retained to assist with re-filing a complex L-1B petition. The case had various intricate issues regarding the beneficiary's eligibility for L-1B classification. One prominent issue was that the petitioner wanted the beneficiary to operate from the client site instead of the premises of the petitioner. The earlier petition, processed in-house by the employer, was denied by USCIS on the grounds that the petitioner failed to satisfy eligibility criteria for L-1B classification.
What kind of problems can employment-based nonimmigrants (H-1, L-1, E-1, E-2, E-3, TN) face during reentry?
I think this question is most relevant for H-1 holders, but other employment-based nonimmigrants may also note the general principles here.
On August 13, 2010, President Obama signed Public Law 111-230, which contains provisions to increase certain H-1B and L-1 petition fees. The law, which already in effect, requires the submission of an additional fee of $2,000 for certain H-1B petitions and $2,250 for certain L-1A and L-1B petitions.vUSCIS has clarified certain matters that employers should bear in mind.
Questions and Answers
Q. To which petitioners does the new fee apply?
I want to thank Mr. Rajiv Khanna and his team for taking care for my L1B visa application during the summer of 2010. By now (dec 2010) this is all history and I have the visa in my passport. At the time, it was quite a stressfull period with much uncertaincy of the outcome. My Khanna and his team kept faith in a good result and steered the application through rough seas, until the final approval by USCIS. Thanks very much for the professionalism. Theo Borst