USA
The company side of the L-1, explained.
A company files every L-1 visa case, never the person being moved. That company is the L-1 visa petitioner: the US entity that signs Form I-129 and answers for everything in it. The person transferred is the beneficiary.
The company side runs on two tests. The petitioner needs a qualifying relationship with the foreign company that employed you abroad for one year inside the last three. And both companies have to be operating businesses, not registrations on paper.
Size is not one of the tests. A five-person startup files under the same rules as a global group; what changes is the evidence asked of it.
What is an L-1 visa petitioner?
An L-1 visa petitioner is the US entity that will employ you: it files the petition, pays the government filing fees, and stands behind every fact inside it. The everyday word is sponsor; on the forms, the same company is the petitioner.
Two support letters anchor the filing. The US company explains the offered role and the corporate relationship; the company abroad confirms the year you worked there, your title, and what the job involved.
An authorized signatory, a person with legal authority to bind the company, signs the petition. They certify under penalty of perjury that everything in the filing is complete, true, and correct.
- USCIS accepts a scanned copy of a real ink signature; a typed name or a stamp fails.
- An outside agent or attorney can sign for the company only with a written power of attorney.
- The signatory should expect to be the person USCIS contacts later, including at a site visit.
The L-1 qualifying relationship: parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate.
A qualifying relationship is the first of the petitioner's two tests. It means the US petitioner and the foreign employer are one corporate family: a parent and its subsidiary, two branches of one company, or affiliates under common control.
Ownership is the usual proof. Holding half the shares or more settles it, and a smaller stake can still work when real control comes with it, like the power to appoint the board.
A 50-50 joint venture qualifies through veto power: when neither side can act without the other, each is treated as controlling the venture.
| Structure | What it means | The control test |
|---|---|---|
| Parent and subsidiary | One company owns the other, in either direction | Half the shares or more, or less with real control |
| Branch | One company operating in two countries | No second entity; the US branch registers as a foreign company doing business |
| Affiliate | Two companies under the same parent, person, or group | Each owner holds about the same share of both companies |
| Joint venture | Two owners at exactly 50-50 | Either side can block a decision, which counts as control |
The two businesses do not have to be in the same industry.
Two companies owned by the same group of people are affiliates only while each owner holds about the same share of both. That balance has to hold: a new investor in one company alone, or an owner who exits only one side, ends the qualifying relationship.
A merger or sale on the foreign side does not end the visa. The employer you worked for abroad can be sold, dissolved, or folded into another entity, as long as one qualifying entity abroad keeps operating for your whole stay.
USCIS reads the proof in corporate paper: stock ledgers, articles of incorporation, annual reports, and tax returns naming the owners. The USCIS Policy Manual treats ownership and control as separate questions, so the evidence has to show both.
A branch has its own paper trail, because there is no second entity to show ownership of. A US branch proves the relationship with its registration as a foreign corporation, its state business license, and the tax filings a branch makes under the foreign company's name.
What counts as doing business for the L-1?
The second test is doing business: real, continuing operations on both sides of the relationship, for the entire time you hold the visa.
USCIS also uses this test to sort petitions. A US entity that has been doing business for under a year files as a new office case, with extra requirements of its own.
The rule, in the regulation's own words.
The ruleDoing business means the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization.
8 CFR 214.2(l)(1)(ii)(H)
A registered company with no activity fails this test, and so does a bare agent office. Selling only inside the group can still pass: USCIS has accepted revenue that came entirely from the foreign parent when the work itself was real.
Ordinary business records prove the activity, from either side. Tax filings, audited accounts, payroll, invoices, customer or supplier contracts, and a lease with rent being paid all count.
Closing the company back home after you move ends the qualifying relationship, and the visa's legal basis with it. Keep the foreign entity trading, staffed, and filing its accounts.
Small company L-1 sponsorship: no minimum size.
Neither test carries a size threshold: there is no headcount, revenue, or age minimum anywhere in the L-1 rules. What changes with size is the paperwork: a small petitioner proves ownership and control with more primary records.
- Stock certificates and the ledger behind them
- Operating, partnership, or joint venture agreements
- Tax returns and financial statements naming the owners
- Board minutes showing who actually decides
A title alone proves nothing, and neither does owning the company. USCIS judges whether a role is managerial or executive by what fills the working day, under the L-1A requirements that apply to the person being transferred. Specialists are read against the L-1B specialized knowledge test instead.
A sole proprietorship cannot sponsor its own owner for an L-1: USCIS clarified in 2023 that the business and the owner are legally the same person. Form a corporation or an LLC and the entity can file for you, with evidence the US assignment is temporary. USCIS wants to see the return leg: a concrete role waiting abroad, or a company document committing you to one when the US work ends.
L-1 new office visa: opening the US company first.
When the US entity is too new to pass the doing-business test, the petition runs on the new office route. The foreign company incorporates a US company, and that new entity files before it has a single customer.
USCIS approves a new office L-1 for one year instead of three, and reads the filing more closely. The required evidence differs by subtype.
- Physical premises secured, with a lease or purchase of real workspace. A home office rarely passes.
- One continuous year abroad as an executive or manager, and executive or managerial authority over the new US operation.
- Proof the office will support the role within one year: its proposed scope, organizational structure, and financial goals.
- The size of the US investment, and the foreign company's ability to pay you while the office starts doing business.
- An organizational chart of the foreign company.
- Physical premises secured, same as the L-1A.
- Proof the US entity is, or will be, a qualifying organization.
- The financial ability to pay you and to begin doing business in the US.
What is the L-1 visa business plan for?
You make the support-the-role case in the business plan: what the company will do, who it will hire, and how the numbers get there, backed by market research.
At the first extension, a year later, USCIS puts the plan next to what happened: staff hired, revenue earned, and whether the operation now supports a full managerial role. So promise only what the company can deliver.
The first year also runs on looser rules. A new office manager is allowed to be hands-on while the team is built; that allowance ends at the extension, when staffing has to carry the operational work.
Blanket L-1 visa: one approval for the whole group.
At the other end of the scale, a blanket L-1 is a single petition that pre-approves the corporate relationship for the whole group. Once it exists, the company stops filing individual petitions for each transfer.
It is built for organizations that move people constantly, and qualifying takes all of these:
- Every listed entity is in commercial trade or services
- A US office has been doing business for a year or more
- Three or more branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates exist, at home or abroad
- And one of three sizes: 10 approved L-1s in the past 12 months, $25 million in combined US sales, or 1,000 US employees
How does filing under a blanket L-1 work?
Under an approved blanket, the employer completes Form I-129S for each transferee instead of a full USCIS petition. The transferee takes the form and the blanket approval notice straight to a US consulate.
The consular officer decides the individual case at the interview; the blanket already answered the company question.
Specialized knowledge transferees qualify under a blanket only if the role needs a professional, degree-level background. And a refusal at the consulate closes that blanket for you: applying again as the other subtype means a fresh individual petition.
Blanket cases are refused far less often than individual petitions in the USCIS figures analysed by the National Foundation for American Policy. The reason: by the time a transferee reaches the consulate, only their own qualifications are left to argue.
An initial blanket runs three years and can then be extended. Keep the approved entity list current, because a transfer only works through an entity named on it. A newly acquired subsidiary joins the blanket through an amendment naming it, filed before anyone transfers through it.
L-1 visa transfer to another company: the group is the boundary.
Approval also fixes who you can work for. An L-1 cannot be transferred to an unrelated company: the eligibility year you worked abroad belongs to one corporate group, and the visa ends when that link ends.
An outside offer means changing status. The usual route is an H-1B or another category the new employer can support; nothing carries over from the L-1 petition. Losing the job entirely starts a grace period of up to 60 days. That window is for changing status or leaving; it does not let a new company inherit the L-1.
Inside the group, the company can move you, with paperwork first. A sibling US entity can take you on, but its own petition has to be approved before the switch happens.
The filed petition also has to keep matching reality. A changed worksite, changed duties, or a changed salary calls for an amended filing. And an L-1B cannot be parked at a client site as labor under another company's supervision, because the petitioner has to stay in control of the work.
L-1 site visits: what USCIS checks after approval.
USCIS also verifies L-1 petitions in person. Its fraud detection unit added employers to the site visit program after a 2013 Inspector General audit of the category, and a visit can come unannounced.
The visit is short, usually under an hour, and specific. The officer confirms the company exists at the filed address and that the signatory knows the petition. They will want the beneficiary's location, duties, hours, and salary to match what was filed, and may ask to speak to the manager.
- Name one person to receive any USCIS visit, and brief reception to route the officer there.
- Record the officer's name, title, and contact details before answering anything.
- Keep a copy of each L-1 petition where it can be pulled up during the visit.
- Never guess an answer. Offer to research and follow up in writing instead.
- Afterwards, write down every question asked while it is fresh.
File the amendment when a job actually changes, and keep the company's record current in VIBE, the database USCIS checks businesses against.
Common questions
Yes. A qualifying entity abroad must keep doing business for the entire period the transferee holds L-1 status. The specific company that employed the worker can be sold or closed after a restructuring, but if the group's last foreign operation shuts down, the basis for the visa ends.
Yes, through the new office route. The foreign company incorporates a US entity, secures physical premises, and files with a business plan showing the office will support the role within a year. Approval comes for one year rather than three, and the first extension tests the plan against results.
An authorized signatory of the petitioning company signs: someone with legal authority to bind the entity, certifying the petition under penalty of perjury. A scanned ink signature is acceptable; a typed or stamped name is not. An outside attorney or agent may sign only under a written power of attorney.
Yes. The Fraud Detection and National Security unit runs unannounced site visits to L-1 petitioners, usually lasting under an hour. Officers verify the workplace exists and that the beneficiary's duties, hours, salary, and location match the petition. Employers can send follow-up answers in writing when something cannot be confirmed on the spot.
Yes, as affiliates, if each owner holds roughly the same proportion of both companies. The test is that the ownership breakdown of each company matches. When one company adds or loses an investor and the other does not, the proportions split and the qualifying relationship is lost.
Sources
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2, Part L: Intracompany TransfereesU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- 8 CFR 214.2(l): Intracompany transfereesCornell Law School, Legal Information Institute
- USCIS Clarifies Policy on L-1 PetitionsU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services · October 20, 2023
- Form I-129S, Nonimmigrant Petition Based on Blanket L PetitionU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
- 9 FAM 402.12: Intracompany Transferees (L Visas)U.S. Department of State, Foreign Affairs Manual
- Implementation of L-1 Visa Regulations (OIG-13-107)DHS Office of Inspector General · August 2013
2–6 months
$10,000–$13,500
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