First, the L-1 employee must have been employed abroad full-time for one continuous year within the preceding three years before the transfer and must be coming to the United States to work temporarily (part-time or full-time) after the transfer in one of three capacities, defined as follows:

An L-1 executive 1) directs the management of the corporation or a major component of the corporation; 2) establishes the goals and policies of the organization; 3) exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making; and 4) receives only general direction from the board of directors.

An L-1 manager 1) manages the organization or a department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization; 2) supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees or manages an essential function within the organization, or department or subdivision of the organization; 3) has the authority to take personnel actions or if no other employee is directly supervised, functions at a senior level within the organization or with respect to the function; and 4) exercises discretion over day-to-day operations of the activity or function for which the employee has authority. A first-line supervisor is not a manager, unless the employees supervised are professional.

An L-1 with specialized knowledge has special knowledge (“proprietary knowledge”) of the L-1 petitioner's product, service, research, equipment, techniques, management, or other interests and its application in international markets or has an advanced level of knowledge or expertise in the petitioner's processes and procedures.

Second, the L-1 employee must have been employed abroad by a business entity which has a qualifying relationship in one of three principal ways with a business entity in the United States.

Although the precise definition is much more complicated, a subsidiary exists in general when a foreign legal entity owns at least fifty percent of and controls a legal entity in the United States or owns fifty percent of a 50-50 joint venture and equally controls and has veto power.

An affiliate exists when two subsidiaries are owned by and controlled by the same parent or owned and controlled by the same group of individuals (each individual owning and controlling approximately the same share or proportion) or in the case of certain partnerships providing accounting, managerial, and/or consulting services. A parent is simply a legal entity which has one or more subsidiaries.

A branch is an operating division or office of the same legal entity housed in a different location.

Third, the foreign business and the U.S. business must both presently be doing business or must both intend to be doing business, which means "the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods and/or services," and not merely having an agent or office. They must both be "doing business" for the duration of the foreign national's stay in the U.S. If the transferee is coming to perform services for a new office (an organization which has been "doing business" for less than one year), then certain specified requirements must be met to show USCIS that the "new office" will be "doing business" by the end of the first year after the L-1 transferee comes to the United States. Then after one year the L-1 employer will have to prove not only that it continues to qualify in general, but it will have to provide specific information about its staffing and its financial status to ensure USCIS that it is in fact now "doing business."

Except for L-1 transferees who are coming to be employed in "new offices," intracompany transferees can come to the United States for an initial three-year period. Although L-1 transferees in a specialized knowledge capacity can remain in the United States for only five years, L-1 transferees in managerial or executive capacities can remain for seven years. Then the L-1 transferee must remain outside the United States for one year (not counting brief visits for business or pleasure) before another L-1 (or H) petition can be approved for their return to the U.S. There are exceptions to these limitations on residency for persons who do not continually reside in the United States and whose employment consists of an aggregate of six months or less or who reside abroad and commute for part-time employment. There is also a relatively new exception to the time limit for L-1 transferees whose U.S. employers have filed papers with the Department of Labor or with USCIS that will lead to permanent resident status.

Intracompany transferees may bring their spouses and unmarried, minor children with them to the U.S. These family members will have L-2 visa status, which allow spouses to be employed with permission from USCIS and allows the children to attend school here.

If the L-1 employer and an "executive" or "manager" decide that the L-1 transferees permanent residence is desirable and if the business is in fact "doing business," the employer may file a petition on the employee's behalf for immigrant classification leading to lawful permanent resident status. In a qualifying situation, it is relatively easy for an L-1 "executive" or "manager" to become a permanent resident. It is not so easy, but not impossible, for L-1's with specialized knowledge to become lawful permanent residents. Additionally, a person abroad who qualifies in all respects as an intracompany transferee and who is to be employed by a U.S. employer that is already "doing business" may immigrate to the United States, rather than come temporarily in L-1 nonimmigrant status. Obviously, that person would have already formed "immigrant" intent - that person would want to remain in the United States permanently, rather than temporarily.

By regulation, since approvable L-1 petitions must be decided within 30 days of filing, L- 1 intracompany transferees and their families may come to the United States relatively quickly. On the other hand, immigrant petitions for intracompany transferees may take much longer to be decided. And then it may take several more months for consular processing of immigrant visas or many more months for adjustment of status to permanent residence in the United States.

Because this is such a complicated area of law and because timing can be critical to success, any international business desiring to transfer an employee from abroad should consult an immigration attorney well before the transferee's services are needed in the United States. Also, where the situation is not presently qualifying, it can often be made qualifying for future transfer possibilities

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