L-1 Visa to the US: Transfer Employees and Open a US Office
For companies worldwide moving key staff to the US or opening their first US entity — with attorneys based in Frankfurt advising clients internationally.
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The L-1 visa lets a company anywhere in the world transfer a key employee to a related US office — or send someone to build a first US entity from scratch. It comes in two forms: L-1A for managers and executives, and L-1B for employees with specialized knowledge. The employee must have worked at least one continuous year within the past three years for the related company abroad. The petitioner is always the company, never the individual. There is no annual cap and no nationality requirement, and the L-1A carries a clear path to a green card (EB-1C).
This page sets out who the L-1 fits, how the process runs step by step, what the qualifying corporate relationship and a new office require in practice, where the common pitfalls lie, and what government and legal fees to expect.
- L-1A: managers and executives, up to 7 years, path to the EB-1C green card
- L-1B: specialized knowledge, up to 5 years, no automatic green card path
- New office: one year first, extension after the operation is shown to run
- No annual cap; spouses (L-2) work-authorized by status
- The petitioner is always the company, not the individual; nationality plays no role
This page is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. We assess the governing requirements against your own situation.
Who is the L-1 visa for?
The L-1 is for existing companies with a genuine qualifying relationship between the foreign and US entities — either to move an executive (L-1A) or an employee with specialized knowledge (L-1B).
The decisive factor is the qualifying corporate relationship: the US petitioner must be a parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate of the foreign employer, and both sides must keep doing business throughout the stay. A mere contract partner, distributor or a pure licensing arrangement is not enough — a genuine ownership or control link between the companies is required.
Just as important is classifying the person correctly. L-1A requires a managerial or executive role: a manager directs an organizational unit or an essential function and usually supervises others; an executive makes wide-ranging decisions with little oversight. L-1B requires specialized knowledge that goes beyond skills generally available in the industry and is specific to the company’s products, processes or systems. This distinction is not a formality — it often decides between approval and a request for evidence.
For companies expanding into the US, the new-office L-1A is often the cleanest route: you transfer a proven leader rather than hiring locally from scratch, and you keep control of how the operation is built. The L-1 has no treaty or nationality requirement — what matters is the corporate link, not the passport.
Here is what that looks like in practice: an established company with no existing US operation transferring a proven leader to open its first office.
- Situation
- A mid-sized mechanical-engineering GmbH from Baden-Württemberg wanted to open its own US sales office for the first time and transfer its long-serving sales lead — with no existing US operation and a holding structure that ran through a Swiss parent.
- Approach
- Set up as a new-office L-1A: the qualifying relationship traced through the Swiss holding down to the GmbH and up to the new US subsidiary, business plan with revenue and staffing projections prepared, real office space evidenced by a lease, I-129 filed with premium processing.
- Outcome
- Approval for one year initially after one request for evidence on the ownership chain through the Swiss entity. For the extension, the launch of the US operation was evidenced — first hires, revenue and a real leadership structure under the transferred manager.
The core question is not the employee alone but the link between the companies. Once that holds, the role — leadership versus specialized knowledge — decides between L-1A and L-1B.
Our practice in numbers
When is a different visa the better choice?
Not every US transfer is an L-1 case; depending on the ownership structure and the role, another program often fits better. The following routing helps identify the right path early.
- No year of prior employment, but a treaty-country passport and capital to invest: For founders who hold a qualifying passport, the E-2 investor visa is often faster. It requires no year of group employment, but a substantial, active investment in a US business you run yourself.
- No qualifying corporate relationship, but extraordinary personal achievement: Those with international recognition can use the O-1 without any group link — and its evidence overlaps with the EB-1A green card.
- The goal is permanent residence from the outset, not a temporary posting: For managers and executives with a year of group employment, the EB-1C green card leads directly to permanent residence, without the detour through temporary L-1 status.
- A highly qualified specialist with no group connection: Without a related foreign entity, the capped H-1B or an employment-based green card (EB-2/EB-3) is the usual route instead of the L-1B.
The L-1 itself has no nationality requirement — any company with a qualifying US–foreign relationship can use it. The E-2 alternative is different: it depends on your passport. The US maintains a public treaty-country list at travel.state.gov, and many European countries appear on it. If the E-2 is on the table, we confirm your specific treaty eligibility against the official list.
In the first consultation we tell you plainly when a different program is the better fit, rather than forcing an L-1 case that later fails on the structure.
How does the L-1 process work, step by step?
The process follows a fixed pattern: the US company files a petition with USCIS, and once approved the employee applies for the visa at the US embassy.
- 1
Case and structure review
We check the corporate relationship, the one year of prior employment, and whether the US role is leadership (L-1A) or specialized knowledge (L-1B).
- 2
I-129 petition with USCIS
The US employer files Form I-129 with the L supplement, documenting the corporate relationship, the role, and — for new offices — the business plan and premises.
- 3
USCIS decision
USCIS approves, issues a request for evidence (RFE), or denies. Premium processing secures a decision within 15 calendar days.
- 4
Visa application at the US embassy
After approval, the employee files the DS-160 and attends the interview at the US embassy or consulate in their country of residence.
- 5
Entry and start of work
With the L-1, the employee takes up the approved role at the US site. Spouses (L-2) can work from entry.
For a new office, the L-1A is granted for one year first; to extend it, USCIS expects proof that the US operation has actually started. For an existing office, up to three years is possible, with extensions to a maximum of seven years (L-1A) or five years (L-1B).
For new-office cases the first year is an evidence period. A viable business plan, real premises and a credible build-out plan decide the later extension.
What evidence does an L-1 case require in practice?
An L-1 case stands or falls on documentation — of the corporate relationship, the employee’s prior role, and, for new offices, the planned US operation. What matters in practice goes beyond the forms.
For the qualifying corporate relationship, USCIS requires solid evidence that the two companies are genuinely connected: commercial register extracts, shareholder lists and ownership records, group organizational charts, and where relevant proof of the capital flow when the US entity was formed. In more complex structures with holding companies or several intermediate entities, the chain must be traceable without gaps.
For prior employment, you must show that the employee worked at least one continuous year abroad for the related company within the past three years. Here the employment contract, payslips, the job description and an account of the work actually performed all count — not just the title. A “manager” on paper who supervises no one and directs no function will not carry an L-1A petition.
For new offices an additional layer of proof applies. USCIS wants to see that the US operation is realistically planned and financially equipped:
- a viable business plan with revenue, staffing and profit projections for the first years,
- proof of suitable, physical premises (a lease or purchase agreement — not just a mailing address),
- evidence of how the US operation is funded and of the parent company’s investment,
- a staffing plan showing that the transferred manager will build an organization within the first year that they then lead.
Gather the corporate evidence and the business plan before the petition is written. Supplementing during a request for evidence (RFE) costs weeks — in new-office cases, often the decisive weeks before the planned US launch.
How specialized knowledge is documented convincingly in an L-1B case is shown by the following example from an existing US team.
- Situation
- A Berlin-based SaaS GmbH with an existing US subsidiary needed a developer with deep, company-specific knowledge of its own platform on site in the US team.
- Approach
- L-1B with detailed proof of specialized knowledge: the company's own process and system knowledge clearly distinguished from generally available developer skills, supported by project history and internal architecture documentation. Filed with premium processing.
- Outcome
- Approved inside the 15-day premium processing window; entry and start of work at the US site. The spouse was work-authorized by L-2 status and took up employment shortly after.
Common pitfalls
Most L-1 requests for evidence and denials trace back to a few recurring weak points. Knowing them lets you avoid them from the start.
- The corporate relationship is asserted, not evidenced. A reference to “affiliated companies” without ownership and control records is the most common RFE trigger. The relationship must be documented through ownership or common control.
- L-1B specialized knowledge is described too generally. If the knowledge is not clearly distinguished from ordinary industry skill, USCIS treats it as “merely” skilled work — and denies. The link to the company’s own products, processes or systems is decisive.
- The L-1A role is really operational, not managerial. Someone who mostly produces, sells or codes rather than directing a unit or function does not meet the manager definition. The job description must carry the leadership role.
- A new office lacks physical substance. A mere mailbox address, no lease, no traceable capital deployment: in new-office cases this is the classic denial ground.
- The first year goes undocumented. Failing to evidence the US operation’s launch in the first year (hires, revenue, contracts, premises) puts the extension at risk — even if the initial petition was clean.
A common mistake is to let the transferred manager effectively work as the sole operational employee during the first year. For the extension, USCIS expects the leadership role to have produced a real leadership structure with additional staff.
Blanket L: a framework petition for larger groups
Larger corporate groups that transfer several employees regularly can use the blanket L route — an advance approval of the corporate relationship, under which individual transfers then move faster.
With a blanket L, USCIS confirms once that a qualifying relationship exists among the participating entities. After that, individual L-1 candidates no longer each need a separate I-129 petition with USCIS; eligible employees can apply for L-1 status directly through the DS-160 and the consular interview. This shortens the path for every single transfer considerably.
The blanket L route is tied to thresholds (such as size, US revenue and the number of L visas the group has already obtained) and pays off mainly where transfers are frequent. For a first, single transfer, the regular individual petition remains the norm; whether a blanket L fits your group is something we assess against the corporate structure.
What happens to spouses and children?
Spouses and unmarried children under 21 travel in L-2 status; spouses are work-authorized by status and may work for almost any employer.
L-2 status for spouses includes work authorization without the former wait for a separate work-permit document — following an administrative change, L-2 spouse status itself counts as work-authorizing. Children in L-2 status may attend school and university in the US but may not work. L-2 validity is tied to the principal’s L-1 status: if that status expires or is not extended, the family’s derivative status ends with it.
From L-1A to a green card: the EB-1C route
For managers and executives, the L-1A is more than a temporary work visa — it lays the groundwork for the EB-1C green card, one of the clearest employment-based immigration routes.
The EB-1C is the immigrant category for multinational managers and executives and largely mirrors the L-1A requirements: a qualifying corporate relationship, one year of prior employment abroad within the past three years, and a genuine managerial or executive role. Someone already working in L-1A status who meets these criteria has often already made much of the substantive case. Unlike the NIW or EB-1A, no labor market test (PERM) is required.
- L-1A and EB-1C share the same core criteria: corporate relationship, one year of prior employment, managerial/executive role
- No PERM labor market test for EB-1C — unlike most EB-2/EB-3 routes
- L-1B does not lead automatically to EB-1C; a change of category is usually needed
- The US operation must generally have been established for at least one year by the time of the EB-1C petition
How the move from a temporary L-1A to a permanent EB-1C green card works in practice is shown by the following case.
- Situation
- An executive transferred from a German parent company had worked in L-1A status for about two years and led the now-established US operation; the goal was permanent residence for the family before the L-1A's extension came up.
- Approach
- EB-1C petition built on the existing L-1A basis: qualifying corporate relationship, one year of prior employment and the actual leadership role evidenced — with no PERM labor market test — and timed so the EB-1C filing overlapped the current L-1A validity rather than racing it.
- Outcome
- Approval of the EB-1C immigrant petition; transition from the temporary posting to permanent residence without a category-change detour.
What does the L-1 visa and the consultation cost?
Government fees for an L-1 case run from roughly USD 2,485 upward; the legal fee is a flat rate agreed after the first consultation, depending on case complexity and starting position.
The government fees are made up of the I-129 filing fee ($1,385), the Fraud Prevention and Detection Fee ($500) and the Asylum Program Fee ($600) — $2,485 in total. Smaller employers with 25 or fewer employees pay a reduced I-129 fee ($695) and a reduced Asylum Program Fee ($300); the exact amount depends on company size. Premium processing costs an extra $2,965 and is optional. The legal fee is a flat price covering the whole process from filing to approval — no hourly billing, no hidden costs. You receive the full cost breakdown before any work begins.
The consultation costs EUR 75 (plus VAT) for 30 minutes and is credited in full toward your fee if you engage us. In it we clarify whether L-1A or L-1B fits, whether the corporate relationship holds, and what documents a new-office case needs.
Kari Foss-Persson, US-licensed attorney in Frankfurt: “In new-office cases it rarely comes down to the employee and almost always to how the corporate structure is documented. Getting the qualifying relationship clean early saves the request-for-evidence loop with USCIS later. If your structure runs through a holding company or a second country, bring the full chart to the first call — that is where I most often find the gap.”
Frequently asked questions
Quoted before work begins
Every company visa case is quoted at a flat rate — one fee that covers the entire process from petition to approval, including RFE support. No hourly billing. We send you the full cost breakdown before any work begins.
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