L-1 and Blankets
When a business owner wants to expand the business into the U.S. — and wants to have non-U.S. workers be transferred to the U.S. on a long-term basis — and the owner has formed or is about to form a U.S. entity for this, L-1 is the most commonly used visa option.
To get an L-1, there must also be an abroad entity that has been doing business for a sufficient number of years — and there must be sufficient support from the abroad entity to the U.S. entity — and there must be a qualifying relationship between the two entities.
When the U.S. entity is ready to transfer a non-U.S. worker to the U.S., it must first file an L-1 petition with USCIS. The petition can be either an L-1A (for a manager or executive position) or L-1B (for a specialized-knowledge position). The non-U.S. worker must have worked for at least one year out of the three years immediately before the filing of the L-1 petition. Any time that the non-U.S. worker travels during that one-year period will be subtracted in considering whether the requirement has been met.
After the petition is approved, the non-U.S. worker can apply for an L-1 visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad and then enter the U.S. with the L-1 visa stamp in their passport. The worker's spouse and children under the age of 21 qualify for a related visa called an L-2.
If the U.S. entity can qualify for a "Blanket L" approval, it does not have to go through the expensive, time-consuming process of filing a separate L-1 petition with USCIS each time a non-U.S. worker is transferred into the U.S. Instead, a petition for each worker is filed directly with the applicable U.S. Consulate, and each of those workers goes through a Blanket L interview at the Consulate, conducted by a U.S. Consular officer.
To get a Blanket L, the U.S. entity must have three or more branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates, whether domestic or foreign, with combined annual sales of at least $25 million. Companies that qualify typically find that having a Blanket L is worth the effort.