The L1B visa checklist below provides a general idea of what is usually needed for professionals with specialized knowledge who are transferring from an overseas office to a U.S. office or are coming to the United States to start a new office to obtain their L1B work visa. To have a better understanding of this list, please read the L1B visa overview for the big picture and then please review L1B visa requirements and documents to get the details of what is usually included or not included as evidence for L1B visa petitions.
Please click to download the L1B visa checklist for professionals with specialized knowledge that are employed by multinational companies.
CONCLUSION (TLDR)
The overall emphasis on the documents and requirements/criteria of an L1B visa petition is that the knowledge possessed by the L1B visa worker must be unusual and specific towards the organization that the person works for. The L1B visas are specifically for multinational companies to send their professional employees who have specialized knowledge of the company to work at an already existing U.S. office or to start a new office in the United States.
The requirements for an L1B visa petition are extensive and while ticking the boxes of requirements sounds simple enough, figuring out what items should be included and strategizing how the petition is presented is not. It is common practice and strongly encouraged to obtain an attorney for employment-based nonimmigrant visa petitions.
Alternatives to the L1B Visa Petition
For people who do not qualify for the L1B work visa petition yet, the closest alternatives would be filing for an L1A visa petition (for managers or executives), or an H1b visa petition (Australians can file for E-3 visa petitions) or TN visa petition (for Canadian or Mexicans) to work in the United States.
Another possible alternative to filing an L1B visa petition would be to file for a green card petition which is a permanent immigrant visa and not a temporary work visa like the L1B visa. For more on green cards gained through work, please read the overview for employment-based green cards.
HAVE A L1B VISA IMMIGRATION QUESTION? CONTACT US
If you have an L1B work visa (Specialized Knowledge Professionals for Multinational Companies) immigration question, please fill out our contact us form or send us an email with some basic information about your background and your immigration needs. We will do our best to respond within 48 hours.
How we can help?
Kylie Huang Law’s immigration attorney will help identify whether the L1B visa is the appropriate nonimmigrant visa category for the client’s (or the client’s beneficiary’s) professional background and if there are other visa options for the client (or the client’s beneficiary). We will work closely with our client to prepare a convincing case for their (or it’s) L1B visa petition and we will also strategize on how the L1B visa petition should be presented to achieve the best chances of approval. It is strongly advised and common practice to retain an immigration attorney for an L1B work visa petition due to the complexities in the immigration process and visa requirements.
What does the typical process look like to retain (hire) us?
- Step 1:
- Step 2:
- Step 3:
- Step 4:
- Step 5:
- a.
- b.
- c.
- Step 6:
- Step 7:
- Step 8:
- Fill out the form (with some basic information on what your immigration needs are)
- Sign up and log into the client portal to schedule an appointment online
- Attend scheduled appointment (typically a phone call or zoom meeting)
- Retainment (signing a contract to hire us)
- Start processing case
- Gathering required documents
- Preparing paperwork
- Confirming contents of documents that will be submitted
- Filing the case
- Following up on the status of the case
- Close the case when a final determination is issued
- Step 1:
- Step 2:
- Step 3:
- Step 4:
- Step 5:
- a.
- b.
- c.
- Step 6:
- Step 7:
- Step 8:
- Fill out the form (on what your immigration needs are)
- Sign up and log into the client portal to schedule an appointment
- Attend scheduled appointment (typically a phone call or zoom)
- Retainment (signing a contract to hire us)
- Start processing case
- Gathering required documents
- Preparing paperwork
- Confirming contents of documents that will be submitted
- Filing the case
- Following up on the status of the case
- Close the case when a final determination is issued
- Step 1:
- Step 2:
- Step 3:
- Step 4:
- Step 5:
- a.
- b.
- c.
- Step 6:
- Step 7:
- Step 8:
- Fill out the form (on what your immigration needs are)
- Sign up and log into the client portal to schedule appointment
- Attend scheduled appointment (typically a phone call or zoom)
- Retainment (hire us)
- Start processing case
- Gathering required documents
- Preparing paperwork
- Confirming content of documents that will be submitted
- Filing the case
- Following up on the case status
- Close the case when a final determination is issued
RELATED ARTICLES
- L1B Visa Requirement & Documents
- L1B Visa (Specialized Knowledge Transferee)
- L Visa Overview (Intra-Company Transferee)
- L1A Visa (Manager / Executive Transferee)
- L1A Visa Requirement & Documents
- L1A Visa Checklist (Manager / Executive Transferee)
- H Visa Overview (Specialty Occupations)
- H1B Visa (Specialty Occupations)