California Immigration Lawyer Details Advantages of H-1 and L-1 Visas

Navigating through the different types of US visas can be confusing, as there are visas based on employment, extraordinary ability, specialty occupation, student status, and entrepreneurship, among several other categories. Two different types of worker visas that are important for employers to understand include the H-1 visa for temporary workers and the L-1 visa for investors, entrepreneurs, and intracompany transfers. You should contact a California immigration lawyer to discuss the nuances of each of these visas and to determine which is best for you and/or your company.

In short, an L-1 visa is used to transfer an employee from a company’s offices outside of the United States to the same company, including a parent, affiliate, subsidiary or branch office, within the United States. An H-1B visa is used by employers in the United States to bring in individuals with specialized skills from outside the country. Both are non-immigrant business visas with dual intent, allowing a visa holder to enter as a non-immigrant while simultaneously seeking permanent residency (green card status). Additionally, both can be filed via a premium processing, meaning that for a fee of $1000 a review by the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services can be done within 15 days of filing.

Which visa is best for your California corporation?

The advantages of an H-1B visa for a California company include:

• Flexibility for the three-year period of validity with an extension of three more years.
• With a labor certification or I-140 petition filed 365 days or longer prior to the expiration of the sixth year, an employer can apply for extensions of the H-1B for one year at a time. The individual can stay in the country while the petition is pending.

The advantages of an L-1 visa for a California company include:

• Employer attestations are not required: Employers do not have to show the lack of available qualified individuals in the United States.
• No prevailing wage requirements.
• Blanket petitions simplify the process for approving additional L-1A and L-1B workers.
• No limits and timeframes for L-1 applications.

The various United States visa options and requirements are complicated, and each has specific details that should be discussed with an experienced California immigration attorney. Contact the Law Offices of Vaughan de Kirby at (415) 221-2345 to speak with a California immigration lawyer and to order the free e-books, The Business Owner’s Guide To: United States Residency via The L-1 Visa and Professionals-Employers: Special Report H-1 Employment Visa. Call our office today; we are here to answer your important questions and to help with the visa application process.