L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge

The L-1B nonimmigrant classification enables a U.S. employer to transfer a professional employee with specialized knowledge relating to the organization’s interests from one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United States.  This classification also enables a foreign company which does not yet have an affiliated U.S. office to send a specialized knowledge employee to the United States to help establish one.  The employer must file Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker with fee, on behalf of the employee.

General Qualifications of the Employer and Employee

To qualify for L-1 classification in this category, the employer must:

• Have a qualifying relationship with a foreign company (parent company, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate, collectively referred to as qualifying organizations); and
• 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.  While the business must be viable, there is no requirement that it be engaged in international trade. 

To qualify, the named employee must also:

• Generally have been working for a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States; and
• Be seeking to enter the United States to provide services in a specialized knowledge capacity to a branch of the same employer or one of its qualifying organizations.

L-1B是跨國公司派特殊技術人員來美國工作的一種工作簽證。

申辦這種簽證對跨國公司和L-1B受益人的要求如下：

對公司的要求：

1. 海外公司正常運作，業績良好；
2. 海外公司有必要在美國設立分公司、子公司或者合資公司，並開展國際性業務；
3. 在美國開設的分公司、子公司或者合資公司必須與海外公司存在業務上的聯繫；
4. 必須在美國當地僱用當地人，以創造就業機會；

對L-1B受益人的要求：

1. 必須在過去的3年內在海外公司連續工作1年以上。
2. 受益人必須臨時派到美國為同一公司工作。
3. 受益人必須對本公司的產品或服務有特殊專門技術知識，而且這種專門技術知識在美國無法獲得。

該類簽證沒有名額上限，不受法定流行工資的限制，對專業技術人員的教育背景或持有學位沒有要求。如果公司在美國發展需要從海外派遣精通公司產品或服務的專業技術人員來美國工作, 跨國公司就可以申請該類簽證。持L-1B簽證的人數應與公司的規模相當。

持L-1B簽證的專業技術人員可申請職業移民。移民申請需要通過勞工部的認證的勞工紙申請程序，在勞工紙申請通過後, 遞交I-140申請。因為受移民 排期的限制，持L-1B簽證的專業技術人員必須等待自己的移民優先日期排到之後,才能遞交I-485申請。