EB-1C STATUS APPROVAL WITHOUT RFE REQUEST

• Nationality: China
• Case: EB-1C Multinational Manager or Executive Classification
• Challenges:
  1. Mr. Lee was applying for an immediate EB-1C filing without holding a previous L-1A visa
  2. Mr. Lee was more of a factory supervisor as opposed to an executive
  3. Affiliation was difficult as there were multiple subsidiary companies in between the China Company and the U.S. Company

BACKGROUND

U.S. Company sought to file a petition for EB-1C classification on behalf of Mr. Lee*, who had been serving as Vice President of the China Home Furnishings Company. Mr. Lee was to be transferred to U.S. Company in order to facilitate the company’s growth and lead its success in its upcoming years, especially in regards to international aspects. If Mr. Lee would be unable to come to the United States, U.S. Company’s supposed growth would be hindered tremendously. As such, U.S. Company and Mr. Lee came to Tsang and Associates seeking assistance for their EB-1C classification for permanent residency. We filed the petition on September 4, 2015 and received notice of approval on May 27, 2016 without any request for evidence (RFE).

KEYS TO SUCCESS

How we proved the control relationship between U.S. Company and China Company

One of the initial challenging aspects of this case was that there were multiple levels of subsidiaries between the parent China Company and U.S. Petitioner, thereby causing the affiliation aspect to be difficult to prove. According to USCIS regulation, the petitioner must prove that it “is the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate of the firm or corporation or other legal entity by which the alien was employed overseas.” The structure of this company made it inherently difficult to connect U.S. Company and China Company. However, we strongly believed we could prove this connection. We proved through the business license that China Company, where Mr. Lee was working, was first a subsidiary under Hong Kong Company, which was completely owned by U.S. Company. And we were therefore able to show that transitively, China Company was indeed a subsidiary of U.S. Company.

How we proved that Mr. Lee’s proposed duties in U.S. Company were managerial or executive

One of the most important requirements we had to fulfill was showing that what Mr. Lee would be doing at U.S. Company was indeed of managerial or executive capacity. As defined by USCIS, managerial capacity consists of tasks including “managing the organization, or a department, subdivision, function or component of the organization” and primarily “supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees, or managing an essential function within the organization, or a department or subdivision of the organization.” In order to assist in this matter, we helped the company craft a business plan which included a breakdown of all of Mr. Lee’s proposed duties at U.S. Company and the time devoted to each aspect of the job. These responsibilities included directing management of the organization, creating the vision, coordinating international offices, and developing as well as implementing different strategies to ensure that these goals would be reached. We proved that Mr. Lee would indeed serve in a managerial capacity in that he would be overseeing communication between international offices and be responsible for directing and delegating tasks to other employees.

Executive capacity is defined by federal regulations as “directs management of the organization or a major component of function of the organization”, “establishes the goals and policies of the organization, component or function”, “exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making”, and “receives supervision or direction from higher level executives, the board of directors, or stockholders of the organization”. We fulfilled these requirements by demonstrating that Mr. Lee would have the authority to establish company goals and manage the work of his fellow professional employees including the right to hire and fire. We also stressed that Mr. Lee would only answer to the President or CEO of U.S. Company.

In further proving Mr. Lee’s qualifications for his proposed role as Vice President of International Operations at U.S. Company, we detailed Mr. Lee’s extensive education and prior work as Vice President and Executive Director. We even asked two experts to give evaluations of Mr. Lee’s professional position and they both reflected Mr. Lee’s managerial and executive capacity.

OUTCOME

*Name has been changed to protect client identity