This document provides general travel tips after the L-1 petition is approved.
L-1 VISA USCIS Memos & Other Resources
Other Resources
Travel Tips
USCIS Memos
USCIS Memos1
November 15, 2018 – PM-602-0167 – Satisfying the L-1 1-Year Foreign Employment Requirement
This policy memorandum (PM) clarifies the requirement that the qualifying organization employ the principal L-1 beneficiary abroad for 1 continuous year out of the 3 years before the time of petition filing (“one-year foreign employment requirement”). This clarification is intended to ensure consistent adjudications of L-1 petitions with respect to the 1-year foreign employment requirement.
Specifically, this PM explains that: 1) the L-1 beneficiary must be physically outside the United States during the required 1 continuous year of employment (although in certain cases brief trips to the United States do not interrupt, or break, the 1 continuous year); and 2) the petitioner and the beneficiary must meet all requirements, including the 1 year of foreign employment, at the time the petitioner files the initial L-1 petition.1
USCIS Memos2
December 29, 2017 – PM-602-0155 – L-1 Qualifying Relationships and Proxy Votes
This policy memorandum (PM) clarifies the 1982 precedent decision, Matter of Hughes,1 by instructing officers that proxy votes must be irrevocable from the time of filing the L-1 petition through adjudication to establish a qualifying relationship. The petitioner must file an amended petition if any changes of ownership and control of the organization occur after USCIS adjudicates the petition.
USCIS Memos3
April 14, 2016 – PM-602-0131 – Matter of Z-A-, Inc., Adopted Decision 2016-02 (AAO Apr. 14, 2016)
This policy memorandum (PM) designates the attached decision of the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) in Matter of Z-A-, Inc. as an Adopted Decision. Accordingly, this adopted decision establishes policy guidance that applies to and binds all USCIS employees. USCIS personnel are directed to follow the reasoning in this decision in similar cases.
Matter of Z-A-, Inc. clarifies that, when determining whether the beneficiary of an L-1A nonimmigrant classification will primarily manage an essential function, USCIS officers must weigh all relevant factors including, as pertinent in the instant case, evidence of the beneficiary’s role within the wider qualifying international organization.
USCIS Memos4
October 23, 2017 – PM-602-0151 – Rescission of Guidance Regarding Deference to Prior Determinations of Eligibility in the Adjudication of Petitions for Extension of Nonimmigrant Status
This policy memorandum (PM) supersedes and rescinds the April 23, 2004 memorandum titled “The Significance of a Prior CIS Approval of a Nonimmigrant Petition in the Context of a Subsequent Determination Regarding Eligibility for Extension of Petition Validity” and section VII of the August 17, 2015 policy memorandum titled “L-1B Adjudications Policy.”