L-1 Approval without RFE Despite Previous Denial

Year: 2020
Nationality: Mexico
Applicant (U.S. employer): Logistics company
Beneficiary(foreign employee): Mr. Rodriguez
Position: General Manager

Timeline:
07/10/2020 L-1A petition filed
07/22/2020 Immigration Receipt
01/28/2021 Case successfully approved, no addendum

Difficulties:
• Mr. Rodriguez had previously retained other attorneys to petition for L-1A in 2018, but was unsuccessful.
• Mr. Rodriguez had previously worked in the U.S. as an H-1B, which is unfavorable to the L-1A petition because the requirements for the type of work in these two categories are very different. the H-1B requires a highly specialized and focused job, while the L-1A requires a position that focuses on management skills and does not deal with day-to-day work.
• The Mexican company was managed in a sloppy manner, and there was a lack of file processing, so Mr. Rodriguez’s work records were not kept intact and less data was available.
• On June 22, 2020, Trump issued a visa ban, which broadly prohibited entry of out-of-state visa holders, including L-1s. Many applicants have chosen to defer their L-1A applications for fear that subsequent interviews will not be successful. It is not a good time to submit a petition when the visa ban was enacted so soon and the L-1 policy is still unclear.
• Under Trump’s strict policy, there is an extremely high chance that a regular L-1 petition will receive a retroactive letter.

BACKGROUND
Mr. Rodriguez (hereinafter referred to as Mr. R) worked for a Mexican logistics company, gaining over a decade of experience and working his way up to the position of General Manager. In the last two years, the company was looking to expand its U.S. division and needed capable leaders to lead the expansion project. Since Mr. R had worked in the company’s U.S. division for five years, the company decided to apply for an L-1A visa for him.

In 2020, Mr. R’s employer approached us to help them prepare their documents and submit their application. However, his petition faced several difficulties. Mr. R had worked for the same company as an H-1B for five years, and this experience was very detrimental to his L-1A petition because USCIS looks for management skills when considering L-1A petitioners and requires that the petitioner does not handle detailed work, whereas the H-1B emphasizes professionalism and detail. Because of this, Mr. R. had been denied by USCIS when he first filed his L-1A petition in 2018. This experience made the petition much less likely to go through.

Considering Mr. R’s strong desire to apply, after several meetings, we finally decided to take on his application and do what we could to help him fulfill his dream.

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Key point 1: Emphasize the company’s growth prospects.
We focused on Mr. R’s company’s expansion plans. The company has been expanding its U.S. offices for the past two years, so it will have a positive impact on the economy. Also, due to the expansion, the company would provide more jobs for its U.S. based employees. By submitting a nearly 700-page application, we demonstrated in detail the company’s intent to grow and its economic strength, demonstrating that the logistics industry is essential to economic development in the face of the epidemic. Thus, USCIS was convinced that the company could play a key role in the economic development of the United States.

Key point 2: Explain in detail the job responsibilities of Mr. R. Through the submission of nearly 500 pages of work, we provided visuals including graphical listings data analysis, showing that he played a key role in the long-term development of the company.

Key point 3: Explain the H-1B background.
Since he has been with the company for a long number of years and started from a junior position at the beginning, he is bound to handle some detailed things. However, in recent years, when he became the general manager, he handled things of a managerial nature, thus allaying USCIS concerns.

OUTCOME
Tsang & Associates sent Mr. R’s L-1A petition by FEDEX on July 10, 2020 and received the approval news from USCIS on January 21 of this year with no additional documents. The employer and Mr. R were informed of the good news. The employer and Mr. R were very excited to learn the good news and thanked us for all the hard work we had done for his L-1 visa application over the past few months. Our professional service and rigorous work style made our client willing to continue to entrust Tsang & Associates to complete his and his family’s L visa petition, as well as the next EB-1C immigration petition for a multinational manager.

*To protect customer privacy, customer names are pseudonyms.