In general, unless a person
has the right of abode or right to land in the United States, he/she requires a
visa permit for work in the United States. The foreigners who wish to take up any
short-term or long-term employment (whether paid or unpaid) in the United
States, he/she must obtain an employment visa/permit from the United States
Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) before take-up the employment.
The
L non-immigrant visa category is one of the most useful tools available to
international companies needing to bring foreign employees to the United
States. The L-1 non-immigrant classifications enables a U.S. employer to
transfer an executive or manager or an employee with specialized knowledge from
one of its affiliated foreign offices to one of its offices in the United
States. This classification also enables a foreign company that does not yet
have an affiliate U.S. office to send an employee to the United States with the
purpose of establishing one.
Family
members of the L-1 non-immigrant are entitled to admission in the L-2
non-immigrant category. Included in this category is the spouse of the visa
holder, as well as minor unmarried children under the age of 21. Family members
are admitted for the same period of time for which the principal family member
is admitted.
Upon receipt of
confirmation of engagement, we will issue an invoice and email it together with
detailed wire instructions to you. Because of the nature of services, we
require full payment in advance. In addition, once service is commenced, no
service fees will be refunded. We currently only accept check, cash or TT and
credit card payment through PayPal. If invoice is settled by PayPal, an extra 5%
service fee will be charged.
If
Taiwan uniform invoice is required, a Business Tax at 5% of the invoiced amount
will be charged and collected.
The U.S. employer must file
a petition with USCIS in order to obtain permission to transfer a foreign
national for a temporary period. Once the petition is approved, the approved
petition is sent to a U.S. consulate where the transferee can obtain an L-1
visa to enter the United States. If the transferee is already in the United
States in a different nonimmigrant category, his or her status must be changed
to L-1 category. As of February 2021, the processing time for L-1 petitions is
approximately 5 months. Please be noted that in the case USCIS finds the
submitted documents to be insufficient, it may request for additional evidence
that the application time shall be extended. Under the impact of the COVID-19
outbreak, the U.S. Consulate General Hong Kong and Macau continues to offer L-1
visa service but there is likely to be increased wait times for completing such
services due to substantial backlogs.
Upon entry into the United
States, the L-1 visa holder shall timely assume his or her position at the U.S.
entity as specified in the submitted business operation plan.
All documents submitted
must be in English or Chinese or translated into English or Chinese by a
certified translation body.
*The Immigration Department
reserve the right to demand further documents from the applicant or employing
company as and when necessary.
Unless otherwise indicated, the work visa application
stated in this quotation refers to non-immigrant petition for Intra-company Transferees
(Managers or Executives and Transferee with Specialized Knowledge) under the
United States Immigration and Nationality Act.
1. United
States L-1 Work Visa Application Fees
Our fees for handling the
application for L-1 visa to enable a foreigner to work in the United States is
USD15,980. An extra USD2,500 will be charged for each dependent visa. If new
office set up is involved, an additional fee of USD1,500 will be applied. In
particular, our fees cover the following services:
Note:
2.
Payment Term and Method
3. Eligibility Criteria
In order to apply for work visa,
the following eligibility requirements need to be applied:
The above-mentioned eligibility criteria may be
subject to change from time to time by the Immigration Department without prior
notice. Please consult with Kaizen Consultants for more
information.
4. Procedures and Timeline
5. Documents and Information Needed
Foreign Entity:
U.S. Entity (New
Office):
U.S. Entity (Acquisition
of Business which has commenced business for at least one year)
Transferee/Beneficiary:
Dependents:
6. Application Procedures
The whole application
process would take about 6-10 months. The table below shows the estimated time
frame for each of the steps for the registration process.
Step |
Procedure |
Responsible Party |
Processing Time (estimated) |
1 |
Interview with our immigration expert. |
Client |
Client’s Schedule |
2 |
Sign and return retainer agreement along with retainer fees. |
Client |
Client’s Schedule |
3 |
Complete questionnaire and prepare the documents specified in the checklist. |
Client |
Client’s Schedule |
4 |
Upon receipt of the aforesaid documents, our firm will prepare the immigration filing package. |
Kaizen |
14 Days |
5 |
Sign back immigration forms and letters to our firm. |
Client |
Client’s Schedule |
6 |
Submission of immigration petition package to the USCIS. |
Kaizen |
2-3 Day |
7 |
Receive response from USCIS. |
USCIS |
Avg USCIS Processing Time: 5 Months |
8 |
If the case is approved, the case will be forwarded to National Visa Centre, and we will prepare the visa application and schedule an interview appointment. If USCIS requests further evidence, we will prepare for the response. |
Kaizen |
14 Days |
9 |
Receive response from USCIS. |
USCIS |
Up to 84 days |
10 |
Obtain L-1 visa at the consulate and travel to U.S. to assume position. |
Client |
Client’s Schedule |
Average Total Processing Time |
|
6-10 Months |
|
Note: |
|
|
|
|
7. Validity of Work Visa |
||
|
An individual may be admitted to the United States in L-1 status for the period of time required by the employer, up to a maximum initial period of stay of three years. An L-1 extension of stay may be authorized in increments of up to two years. The total period of stay may reach seven years for L-1A managers and executives, and five years for L-1B specialized knowledge personnel. No further extensions may be granted once the maximum period of stay in L-1A or L-1B status has been reached.
A special one-year initial period of stay applies when the transferee is coming to the United States to open a new office. In this case an extension must be filed in one year, as a part of which the company must establish that it has been doing business both in the U.S. and abroad during the year, before additional periods of stay can be approved.
Transferees admitted under the visa application scheme which are mentioned in this quotation who are on employment condition shall only take up such employment as approved by the USCIS. In case the visa holder decided to change of job, they must seek prior approval from the USCIS even the work visa still not yet expired. Such applications may be favourably considered if the applicants continue to fulfil the eligibility criteria under relevant visa application scheme. |
If
you need any assistance or wish to obtain more information, please browse our official
website at www.kaizenvis.com or contact us through the following means:
T: +852 2341 1444
M: +852 5616 4140, +86 152
1943 4614
WhatsApp/WeChat/Line: +852 5616 4140
Skype: kaizencpa