L1b for non-IT person

[HJVNL]

Hi there!

I just want some advise, and hope you can help me out! Currently living in the Netherlands, and got a job offer at my current employer - a large technology firm - for our headquarters in the USA. However, our immigration team is not whether I’m eligible for the L1b “specialized knowledge” visa - and hope you can share your experiences with me.

My background:
* 8 Years of fulltime professional work experience, of which five in marketing, communications, project coordination & 3 in Talent Acquisition HR.
* Almost finished my bachelor degree (planning end of March ‘19) in business economics and marketing. Minor in psychology and lots of training in cognitive/AI, HR, Talent Acquisition;

The role: an employee engagement role in which I combine my extensive marketing, communications, psychology knowledge with project organisation. Goal: increase engagement in a global team. I think my knowledge is specialized enough for this, since I have step by step build up my knowledge and experience - which is not that easy to teach someone else because it is the experience with multiple projects under different circumstances that got me to my current level. Our immigration team says there are enough HR professionals and also enough marketing professionals. Only an HR professional couldn’t do what I hope to get a visa for, and same goes for a marketing professional - since I have advanced knowledge of both. However, to what extend it is true that you need to be a patent-holder or and IT professional to get a L1b visa?

I have read multiple sources on USCIS and other websites and the definition of “specialized knowledge” as well as the situation under which it may be considered specialized knowledge, remain a bit vague to me. We have a follow up call in the new year, and I want to be prepared well... Hope you can advise me on this!

Looking forward to hear!

[Libra_14]

Hi there!

I just want some advise, and hope you can help me out! Currently living in the Netherlands, and got a job offer at my current employer - a large technology firm - for our headquarters in the USA. However, our immigration team is not whether I’m eligible for the L1b “specialized knowledge” visa - and hope you can share your experiences with me.

My background:
* 8 Years of fulltime professional work experience, of which five in marketing, communications, project coordination & 3 in Talent Acquisition HR.
* Almost finished my bachelor degree (planning end of March ‘19) in business economics and marketing. Minor in psychology and lots of training in cognitive/AI, HR, Talent Acquisition;

The role: an employee engagement role in which I combine my extensive marketing, communications, psychology knowledge with project organisation. Goal: increase engagement in a global team. I think my knowledge is specialized enough for this, since I have step by step build up my knowledge and experience - which is not that easy to teach someone else because it is the experience with multiple projects under different circumstances that got me to my current level. Our immigration team says there are enough HR professionals and also enough marketing professionals. Only an HR professional couldn’t do what I hope to get a visa for, and same goes for a marketing professional - since I have advanced knowledge of both. However, to what extend it is true that you need to be a patent-holder or and IT professional to get a L1b visa?

I have read multiple sources on USCIS and other websites and the definition of “specialized knowledge” as well as the situation under which it may be considered specialized knowledge, remain a bit vague to me. We have a follow up call in the new year, and I want to be prepared well... Hope you can advise me on this!

Looking forward to hear!

First of all L1B visa is not for only technical roles - non-tech professionals are also eligible.

Secondly, this visa is for candidate with "Specialized" knowledge - which is rare to find in USA, hence companies are asking foreign employees to move to USA.

If you think your ER role is specialized & no substitute is available in USA to fill that position - then you are certainly eligible.

[HJVNL]

First of all L1B visa is not for only technical roles - non-tech professionals are also eligible.

Secondly, this visa is for candidate with "Specialized" knowledge - which is rare to find in USA, hence companies are asking foreign employees to move to USA.

If you think your ER role is specialized & no substitute is available in USA to fill that position - then you are certainly eligible.

Thanks for this; so if I’m right, it is about the scarcity and availability of the needed skills in the market? They indeed asked me, since they believe I could steward the same transformation in Europe when getting back.

[Libra_14]

it is about the scarcity and availability of the needed skills in the market?

If you think on the other side, its difficult to find a person in whole USA, who understand "your" company's ER policies & way to handle employees - hence you are eligible, even though there are thousands of ER experts available in market.

[RichardRich]

As a non-IT person, navigating the L1B visa process seemed daunting.

[duff4]

A degree isn't required for individual petitions but the denial rate is a lot higher if the applicant doesn't have one, as the company would need to show the position requires specialized skills. Due to the higher denial rate, some companies won't even try as it costs thousands of dollars to do so.

Nobody can tell you if you can get it until the company applies for the position with your profile, as USCIS reviews on a case by case basis. They will scrutinize both the skill requirements of that position, and your work experience/education.

The visa (as with most work visas) has specialized skills requirements because the US wants to protect the job market for their own citizens, especially for low-skilled jobs. They want to avoid companies bringing in foreign workers if it is possible to find a US resident to fill the job.

[Atty_Divij_Kishore]

Ultimately, the issue of whether you have "specialized knowledge" or not comes down to two factors:

1. Whether you have a skill-set that is rarely found in the US and global markets in general
2. Whether your skill-set is scarce within the group of companies that you are employed with

No one is better equipped that you to speak about the complexity of your skills and your expertise. It is easy to think of "specialized knowledge" as the level of knowledge that someone with a patent would hold. However, the law references a set of complex skills that are rarely found among other comparable professionals in your field. It is down to you to explain your specialization (and how it applies to your current role as well as the one you are being offered in the US) to your lawyers, and then it is up to them to explain your qualifications convincingly.