2 Month L-1B Approval for IT Technicians

Applicant: Mr. Zhao
Professional skills: Electrical engineering major
Highest degree: Bachelor’s degree
Work experience: 6 years
Application Category: L-1B Multinational Professional and Technical Personnel
Company Industry: Hong Kong company and California company both engaged in the electronics industry
Processing time: 2 months for approval (including additional documents)

BACKGROUND

Mr. Zhao graduated from a university in Hong Kong, majoring in electrical engineering, and has been working for a Hong Kong company since 2011, from junior engineer to senior engineer. The U.S. company needed technical staff for its development and wanted to transfer overseas employees to work in the U.S. Mr. Chiu performed well and was selected by the U.S. company. After several communications with Tsang & Associates Law Firm, the U.S. company decided to entrust Joseph Tsang’s team to handle the L-1B petition on behalf of the client. On August 24, 2017, USCIS requested a supplemental petition (RFE), which was prepared within three weeks and approved by USCIS in early October.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

How to prove that the beneficiary holds a professional and technical position in a Hong Kong company
Mr. Zhao worked for a Hong Kong company right after he graduated from university and worked for six years, participating in all aspects of product design, production, use and marketing. Due to the wide range of work, it is easy to be questioned that he is not in a professional or technical position. For this reason, we prepared a large number of materials, such as work certificates, payroll records, organizational charts, training experience, employee data, letters from employers, work awards, etc., to prove that although Mr. Zhao’s work is extensive, but the core nature of the work remains the same, with the promotion of the position, the technical content of the position and the degree of professionalism gradually increased, the position of senior engineer fully meets the requirements of professional and technical nature.

Demonstrate that the beneficiary has sufficient Specialized Knowledge
Although Mr. Zhao has a bachelor’s degree with the right major, the USCIS still questioned the beneficiary’s professional competence and considered that the documentation of his original education and work experience alone was not sufficient to prove it. For this reason, a lot of additional information was also added, including Mr. Zhao’s continuing education, projects he was in charge of at work, contracts, explanation of work content, contribution to the company, close connection to the U.S. company’s project, and letters of recommendation, thus proving that Mr. Zhao fully possesses the professional knowledge ability required by the L-1B.

How to prove that the beneficiary will hold a professional and technical position in a U.S. company
The position that Mr. Zhao will hold at the U.S. company is that of an application engineer. This position sounds very specialized, but USCIS is not satisfied with a “specialized” job title and a general description of the job duties and requires proof that the job content requires specialized knowledge to perform. This is similar to the H-1B petition. By supplementing the U.S. company’s data with an organizational chart, a description of the company’s products & services, a letter from the employer, and a business plan, Mr. Zhao was able to prove that the job he was going to do in the U.S. was a professional position.

OUTCOME
After the L-1B petition was filed, a supplemental notice was received 1 week later, over 120 pages of information was prepared and submitted back to USCIS within 1 month, and USCIS approval was granted 3 weeks later.

Lawyer Joseph Tsang commented:
The L-1B is a non-immigrant visa issued by the USCIS to a professional employee of a multinational corporation who is transferred to work in the United States. It requires that the employee possesses knowledge and skills in a specialized field, has worked for the company overseas for at least one year in the first three years of the application, and must continue to work for the same company or organization after coming to the United States.

“Specialized Knowledge” (Specialized Knowledge) means:
1. Specialized knowledge possessed by an individual about the products, services, research, equipment, technology, management, etc. of the multinational corporation that is the applicant and their use in international markets.
2. a high level of knowledge of the operations and procedures of the multinational company and other special knowledge or expertise that would be beneficial to the company’s business.
3. When it comes to special knowledge of the company’s products, services, and other matters, the transferee must have knowledge that is difficult to find in the U.S. labor market, and not just be a skilled worker.

In 2015 USCIS issued an updated memorandum for L-1B visas that relaxed the L-1B review criteria to.
1. clearly defining L-1B petition eligibility as a criterion for USCIS officers to determine whether to issue a visa.
2. relaxation of the “expertise” criteria for applicants.
3. remove the requirement that “expatriates must have knowledge and skills that are difficult to find in the U.S. labor market”.
4. L-1B visas are available for any industry/position (provided the employer describes in detail in the L-1B petition that the job requires “specialized knowledge”).

Previously, the L-1B review criteria were relaxed and the denial rate dropped, but now there is a trend of tightening and making it more difficult. If you wish to apply for an L-1B multinational professional and technical visa, you are welcome to contact Tsang & Associates, PLC.

*To protect privacy, the names of the parties involved in the case are pseudonyms.