How to interpret the 'continuously worked 1 in 3 years' prerequisite in L1 visa?

[charrli]

Hello everyone,

My name is Charlie and I have a question like this:

I have worked for a foreign subsidy of an American multinational company for 2 years immediately prior to my admission into the U.S. I entered the U.S. with F1 visa. Now after my graduation I joined this company again in the U.S. In the middle, I haven't left the U.S. In this case, am I qualified for the L1-B VISA from the time perspective?

From the USCIS document, the time limit for L1B petition is described as the employee must work for ‘a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States’(http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-...ized-knowledge ), but I also heard another saying that, the ‘three years’ here is ‘calculated backward from the day when the L1B petition is filed’. Does anybody know if the second saying is true? Any document talking about this? I mean, if the second saying is true, I must file the L1B petition immediately. Thanks in advance for any kind of advice/suggestion!

Regards,
Charlie

[raghvi]

Hello everyone,

My name is Charlie and I have a question like this:

I have worked for a foreign subsidy of an American multinational company for 2 years immediately prior to my admission into the U.S. I entered the U.S. with F1 visa. Now after my graduation I joined this company again in the U.S. In the middle, I haven't left the U.S. In this case, am I qualified for the L1-B VISA from the time perspective?

From the USCIS document, the time limit for L1B petition is described as the employee must work for ‘a qualifying organization abroad for one continuous year within the three years immediately preceding his or her admission to the United States’(http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-...ized-knowledge ), but I also heard another saying that, the ‘three years’ here is ‘calculated backward from the day when the L1B petition is filed’. Does anybody know if the second saying is true? Any document talking about this? I mean, if the second saying is true, I must file the L1B petition immediately. Thanks in advance for any kind of advice/suggestion!

Regards,
Charlie

I dont think its calculated backward from the day when L1 is filed but rather calculated backward from the day person entered US. I would say its 3 Years prior to entry in US, so even if you entered US on H4, L2 , F1 etc it would be counted as 3 Years prior to entry in US on the current visa.

This may be a minor hurdle to overcome, the more difficult thing would be to prove how you still hold the "special" skill sets of the company in spite of not being working for them for the last few years while in F1 Status.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

[charrli]

I dont think its calculated backward from the day when L1 is filed but rather calculated backward from the day person entered US. I would say its 3 Years prior to entry in US, so even if you entered US on H4, L2 , F1 etc it would be counted as 3 Years prior to entry in US on the current visa.

This may be a minor hurdle to overcome, the more difficult thing would be to prove how you still hold the "special" skill sets of the company in spite of not being working for them for the last few years while in F1 Status.

This is my opinion not legal advice.

Thanks so much, Raghvi!

What you said is the same with what I heard from the company attorney. Some people told me that there's chance that my case will be checked by '3 years prior to filing date of the L1 petition' prerequisite, because there's difference between 'ACT' and 'regulations', depending on which the USCIS chooses. I don't know where comes this saying, but that's why I posted the question here.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Charlie

[Ricardo Bueno]

Update - What happened?!?

Thanks so much, Raghvi!

What you said is the same with what I heard from the company attorney. Some people told me that there's chance that my case will be checked by '3 years prior to filing date of the L1 petition' prerequisite, because there's difference between 'ACT' and 'regulations', depending on which the USCIS chooses. I don't know where comes this saying, but that's why I posted the question here.

Thanks again!

Regards,
Charlie

Hi Charlie,

I have the same situation now. Would you share with us what happened after this last post? Were you able to apply for a L1 visa considering your situation back then?