Tweet
I have a masters’ degree from a US univ with a work exp of 3 years and 9 months (3 years on H1 and 9 months on OPT). Now, I am working in India for a small software startup company as the Vice President of Operations for the past 6 months without any pay since the company’s revenues are currently negligible. Their parent company is in US with revenues of about 3 million USD per year. Now the US parent company wants to apply for my L1A after 6 more months, since I would fulfill one of the basic requirements of L1 visa by then.
My specific questions include:
1. What documentation would I need to request from my US company to judge the suitability of applying for an intra-company transfer? I know that a parent, a branch, a subsidiary or an affiliate can sponsor L1, but I want to be certain that my case belongs to L1. In Section 1 of L classification supplement form to I-129, Points 9 and 10 ask for details on stock ownership and managerial control between the two companies. Obviously these are confidential documents from the company’s perspective, but if I know what specific forms to ask for then it will be up to them to share those docs with me or not.
2. Would I qualify for an L1A since I am working as the Vice President of Operations? I do not have any direct reports to me as there is one Chairman & CEO of the Indian company, one Vice President of Human Resources and I am the Vice President of Operations managing the Indian office. As per the L1 manual, my job belongs to the Manager of Essential Function (Operations) category, but I read that there are very stringent documentation requirement for L1A.
3. Is my US parent company with 3 mil annual revenues eligible to support for L1A visa? What is the lowest revenue limit for a company, if it wants to successfully transfer intra-company employee(s)? What kind of supporting documentation would I require to go for an L1A?
4. Will the revenues of Indian operations, my salary history be considered during the L1A visa approval and/or visa interview? As of today, US company’s operations are stable and growing at the rate of 10% a year, but the Indian operation is declining and I am working without pay!
5. The biggest advantages of L1A are the EB1 category in GC and EAD for the spouse. Since L1A is tough to obtain (?), can I go for H1 (I am already counted in the cap) and apply for GC in EB1 category (since by then I would have worked as a manager in the Indian company for at least one year)? Of course, even if EB1 is possible with this route, my spouse will have to wait for EAD for at least a year or so. But that’s fine as long as my application belongs to EB1 category [There is a prediction that even EB1 will retrogress in near future for Indian nationals, but I am hoping that it will not be as much as EB2 and EB3].
Everything is legit here, but all I am worried about is the probability of success of L1A visa in my case. Sorry for such a long post, but any pointers regarding my case would be deeply appreciated. Thanks for your time.
Sameer
My specific questions include:
1. What documentation would I need to request from my US company to judge the suitability of applying for an intra-company transfer? I know that a parent, a branch, a subsidiary or an affiliate can sponsor L1, but I want to be certain that my case belongs to L1. In Section 1 of L classification supplement form to I-129, Points 9 and 10 ask for details on stock ownership and managerial control between the two companies. Obviously these are confidential documents from the company’s perspective, but if I know what specific forms to ask for then it will be up to them to share those docs with me or not.
2. Would I qualify for an L1A since I am working as the Vice President of Operations? I do not have any direct reports to me as there is one Chairman & CEO of the Indian company, one Vice President of Human Resources and I am the Vice President of Operations managing the Indian office. As per the L1 manual, my job belongs to the Manager of Essential Function (Operations) category, but I read that there are very stringent documentation requirement for L1A.
3. Is my US parent company with 3 mil annual revenues eligible to support for L1A visa? What is the lowest revenue limit for a company, if it wants to successfully transfer intra-company employee(s)? What kind of supporting documentation would I require to go for an L1A?
4. Will the revenues of Indian operations, my salary history be considered during the L1A visa approval and/or visa interview? As of today, US company’s operations are stable and growing at the rate of 10% a year, but the Indian operation is declining and I am working without pay!
5. The biggest advantages of L1A are the EB1 category in GC and EAD for the spouse. Since L1A is tough to obtain (?), can I go for H1 (I am already counted in the cap) and apply for GC in EB1 category (since by then I would have worked as a manager in the Indian company for at least one year)? Of course, even if EB1 is possible with this route, my spouse will have to wait for EAD for at least a year or so. But that’s fine as long as my application belongs to EB1 category [There is a prediction that even EB1 will retrogress in near future for Indian nationals, but I am hoping that it will not be as much as EB2 and EB3].
Everything is legit here, but all I am worried about is the probability of success of L1A visa in my case. Sorry for such a long post, but any pointers regarding my case would be deeply appreciated. Thanks for your time.
Sameer
