H1 to L1 - Change of Status

[sid1980]

Hi,

I am planning to start my green card process soon. My employer has asked me to move from H1 to L1 since doing so would skip the labour process. I had a couple of questions regarding this:
1) Do I need to be out of the country to apply for L1 or can I apply while staying in the US itself
2) Approx how long does it take to get L1
3) What reason do we need to specify for doing so (USCIS asks for reason as to why you are shifting from H1 to L1 and why wasnt L1 applied earlier)
3) How long does it take for dependants to get their visa (L2)

would appreciate if someone could throw some light on this .

Thanks
Sid

[txh1b]

Are you in a managerial capacity in the company with direct reports?

1. Can be done in the US.
2. 2-6 months
3. The company needs to know.
4. Same as yours as their COS is applied along with yours.

[sid1980]

H1 to L1 - Change of Status

I am neither in a managerial position nor have direct reports. Will that create problems with the transfer ?

[txh1b]

Who said L1 does not require labor then? Yours is L1b case and labor is needed. Your company is fooling around to hold you hostage on L1b.

Only EB1 and EB2 NIW cases qualify for such exemption and with perm, labor is fast and is not going to save you any time other than 2-6 months which could have been 2-6 years in the pre-perm era.

Read more here.

/perm-labor-certification/

[C4us]

You must have worked for your employer outside the US for at least 1 year of the last 3 for an L1. H1B to GC normally implies a longer time in US than 3 years.