L1B visa to Green Card (for British citizen)

[dibmme]

Hi there,

I was hoping someone could help me out with a couple of queries regarding the L1B visa to green card process. My employer is currently in the process of obtaining an L1B visa for me to transfer to their US office.

At risk of getting ahead of myself, I want to plan in advance for the long-term, as I know this visa will initially be valid for three years, so will be asking my employer to file a green card petition for me.

It’s my understanding that as I will be on an L1B visa, I would be in either the EB2 or EB3 category for the green card (I have an advanced degree in my professional field plus five years’ experience, but I’m not sure if those would qualify me for EB2).

I’m a British citizen, and looking at the Visa Bulletin for February 2015, EB2 is current and EB3 is up to January 2014 (last month they were up to January 2013, so they’ve jumped a whole year in a month). Based on this, it seems as though the wait would not be terribly long in either case.

So my questions are…

a) Am I correct in my above interpretation of the Visa Bulletin?

b) How soon after arriving in the US on the L1B visa should I begin the green card process?

Any help would be enormously appreciated, and I hope I’m not repeating a question that’s been asked too recently - I scoured the forums, but a lot of the questions about L1B visa/green card seemed to be from countries with their own separate wait times on the bulletin.

Thank you!

[me_shaan]

1. Yes, your interpretation of the VB is correct. But don't get too much optimistic about it as well, you saw how it jumped a year in a month's time .

2. You can apply around 18 months before expiration of your L1B/I-94, whichever is earlier.

These are my individual suggestions, not any legal advice.

[dibmme]

Thanks very much for the advice! Haha, yeah I had a look through several visa bulletins and the progression seemed a bit inconsistent on EB3! The immigration lawyer dealing with my L-1B says that I would probably qualify for EB2, but they couldn't guarantee at this stage.