Understanding the L1 Blanket Visa: A Comprehensive Guide

It takes so much time, energy, and resources for large companies to apply for many L1 visas for their executives, managers, specialists, or even regular employees. The L1 blanket visa makes it easier to accomplish this, as explained in the following points.

L1 Individual vs. Blanket Petition

In most cases, for an L1 Individual Visa, the company or the employer to have its employee move to a branch in the United States, then they must petition the USCIS. In the L1 Blanket Visa, the organizations based in the US can facilitate several employees instead of a sole employee from other country for the particular company just by filing only one visa petition.

It saves time in that a company does not have to prepare and file numerous L1 petitions for each qualified employee that the company wishes to transfer to the United States. The beauty of the L1 blanket visa is that once it is approved, the company can transfer people to the US on short notice and by simply using a copy of the approved Blanket L1 petition, I-129S, and other supporting documents as to the qualifications of the transferees.

Blanket L1 Visa Requirements for US-based Petitioner

To qualify for L1 classification in this category, the employer must:

Possess a qualifying connection with a foreign firm; in other words; the firm must be connected to a qualifying organization, which includes parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate.

Soon or at the moment is/or/will be conducting business as an employer within the United States and in at least one other country either directly or through a qualifying organization for the period of the beneficiary’s immigration to the United States as an L1.  However, it may make a profit, but there is no condition that the business is involved in international trade.

Doing business here means carrying on the systematic and continuous business of selling and supplying goods and or services to a qualifying organization, it does not mean the mere having of an agent or office of the qualifying organization in the United States and in foreign countries.

Additional requirements of the Petitioner include:

1. The Petitioner and each of the qualifying organizations must be involved in commerce and trades or services.
2. Must have an office that was operating in business for one year and above.
3. Requiring at least domestic and foreign three branches, affiliates, or subsidiaries
4. Must meet one of these three criteria:
5. Met L1 petition approval thresholds of at least 10 approvals within the last 12 months
6. Must have own US affiliate or subsidiary; with gross sales of at least $25 million per year;
7. Employ over 1000 employees in the United States.
   

Blanket L1 Visa Requirements for Employee

As a general rule relating to the provisions of the L1 blanket visa option, the transferred employee must abide by the same conditions as the L1 individual applicant. The requirements are that the employee:

1. Must have been employed with a qualifying organization outside the United States for one consecutive year within three years prior to the immigrant’s admission into the United States.
2. While there is no universally agreed definition of Executive capacity it can be defined as the employee’s capacity to make decisions of a wide scope with a relatively low degree of supervision. While, managerial capacity is normally used to measure the employee’s efficiency in supervising and coordinating the work of other professionals and in managing an organization, or a division, unit, or section of an organization.
   

Executive capacity generally refers to the employee’s ability to make decisions of wide latitude without much oversight. On the other hand, managerial capacity generally refers to the ability of the employee to supervise and control the work of professional employees and to manage the organization, or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization.

Validity and Extensions for L1 Blanket Visa

For the on View L1 visa, the initial approval is granted for a period of three years. In some cases, the visa can be renewed for a two-year period for no more than seven years for those who are managers or executives (L1A) periods and, for a total of five years for L1B visa holders who come to work in the United States using their specialty knowledge.

For an organization to file for the extension of an L1 blanket visa for an employee, a new I-129S form must be filed on behalf of the employee. The petitioner must submit the renewal petition for an L1 employee with the following documents:

1. The prior L1 approval notice
2. Most recent I-94
3. A copy of the L1 visa
4. Confirmation of the W-2 form
5. Recent pay slips
6. A cover letter written on an L1 blanket visa extension indicating the general employment terms and the need for the employee’s more time of stay in the United States.
   

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My name is Khawaish Goyal and I’m a U.S. immigration Expert and the founder of usl1avisa. As an immigration expert, I help families, professionals, investors, and entrepreneurs get visas, green cards, and citizenship to the United States.  If you have any questions about the L1 Blanket visa Petition or any other immigration-related questions, feel free to schedule a free consultation by clicking this link.