L1A to greencard

[rakarcapac]

Hi,

I have just had my L1A stamping under blanket petition and want to get greencard status on reaching US in few days-

1. for EB greencard, do I file for greencard or is my employer supposed to do it?

2. Do I need to be on US payroll and have US offer letter to apply?

3. How much time does it usually take from L1 to greencard

4. What happens to my greencard application if I change employers?

Thanks

[pradeepkumarr78]

L1A to green card

Here are your replies

Question - for EB greencard, do I file for greencard or is my employer supposed to do it?

Reply - Employment based green cards are to be filed by the employer. The employee cannot file on his / her own without the knowledge of the employer. If your company has a problem funding your gc then you may finance it.

Quesion - Do I need to be on US payroll and have US offer letter to apply?

Reply - Yes you must be employed in US and on US pay roll. But suggest you check with an attorney for any loop holes

Question - How much time does it usually take from L1 to greencard

Reply - L1A is a premium visa category. You get to skip the labour process and the I485 is current too. So the only process involved are I140 which ideally should be done in 4 months if your petition gets approved without an rfe. The next process is I485 which is current in your case. All together you should get your GC in a years time if all goes well


Question. What happens to my greencard application if I change employers?

Reply - You cannot change your employer when you are on L1. You will have to file for H1B if you have to change the employer. GC when on H1B is time consuming


Thanks

[rakarcapac]

Great. Thanks for that reply Pradeep.

Just one thing I couldnt quite understand- you have mentioned I485 as being "current" in my case- what is it supposed to mean?

[pradeepkumarr78]

L1A to green card

Wll. Thats a very complicated thing which you will get to understand very soon.

Anyways I will try my best to explain

The 3 process involved in a GC process are

1) Labour / Perm - Here the Dept of Labour ascertains that the position you are applying for can only be done by an immigrant and not many americans are available or ready to take that job. This is to make sure that an american is not deprived of a potential job. As of now the processing time for Perm is anywhere between 9 months to 3 years to get a decision on your petition. However since you are on L1A you will skip this process which is the best part.

2) I140 - Here the USCIS verifies the credentials of your company, is your employer capable of paying you on time, is your employer genuine etc etc.
Lead time ideally is 4 months if all your records are good andfiled well. Can go up to 2 years also at times in case there is an rfe (request for evidence).

3) I485 - Here the USCIS does your back ground check to make sure you dont have any criminal record and you are safe from any serious communicable disease etc. There is a long queue to apply for I485. US government cannot give them all an approval one shot because it causes an imbalance in the job market. The follow the supply and demand formula.
The employment based jobs are categorised in to 3 groups (EB1, EB2 and EB3) depending on the priorities. You fall under EB1 since you are on L1A. Here I485 is current which means -
Since you fall in this most premium category visa, you may apply for your I140 and I485 concurrently (at the same time) without any wait.
This makes your process faster.

In the case of applicants in the EB2 and EB3 category, they get to wait for close to 10 years after filing their GC at times, You are lucky that way.

All the best

[byk]

L1-A to Greencard

Hi Pradeep,
Can we stay beyond 7 year on L1-A if GC is still in processing. I mean if I-140 or I-485 is still being processed.

Thanks,
Raghu

Wll. Thats a very complicated thing which you will get to understand very soon.

Anyways I will try my best to explain

The 3 process involved in a GC process are

1) Labour / Perm - Here the Dept of Labour ascertains that the position you are applying for can only be done by an immigrant and not many americans are available or ready to take that job. This is to make sure that an american is not deprived of a potential job. As of now the processing time for Perm is anywhere between 9 months to 3 years to get a decision on your petition. However since you are on L1A you will skip this process which is the best part.

2) I140 - Here the USCIS verifies the credentials of your company, is your employer capable of paying you on time, is your employer genuine etc etc.
Lead time ideally is 4 months if all your records are good andfiled well. Can go up to 2 years also at times in case there is an rfe (request for evidence).

3) I485 - Here the USCIS does your back ground check to make sure you dont have any criminal record and you are safe from any serious communicable disease etc. There is a long queue to apply for I485. US government cannot give them all an approval one shot because it causes an imbalance in the job market. The follow the supply and demand formula.
The employment based jobs are categorised in to 3 groups (EB1, EB2 and EB3) depending on the priorities. You fall under EB1 since you are on L1A. Here I485 is current which means -
Since you fall in this most premium category visa, you may apply for your I140 and I485 concurrently (at the same time) without any wait.
This makes your process faster.

In the case of applicants in the EB2 and EB3 category, they get to wait for close to 10 years after filing their GC at times, You are lucky that way.

All the best

[pradeepkumarr78]

L1-A to Greencard

Hi

No. You cannot stay more than 7 years when you are on L1A.
However once you get your EAD then you continue to stay here legally until a decision is mad eon your GC

REGARDS
PRADEEP

[smile_apj]

L1A to Green Card

Hello All
Happy new year to all of you.

FYI- I am on managerial position and I was transferred to US on L1-A visa
and holding this visa since june-2008. Now I am applying for GC. At
first, my company has accessed to me eligible for green card EB1
category. Further, my employer have also sent me EB1 questionnaire:

"One of the questions here is how many people you supervise in current
role?"

Answer is- I supervise 8 people. However, due to onsite-offshore model
in my company I supervise only 1 person in US and 7 in India. Since I supervise only 1 person in US and rest of the persons elsewhere, will this somehow affect my EB1 eligibility negatively to USCIS?

Please let me know your expert views.
Thanks and regards
Prashanth

[Aditya Vikram Kapoor]

Is there a minimum wait time before Employee can file for GC?

Hi,
I am on L1A and was told by my HR that based on my position, they will go for GC very soon. But the immigration person in my company told me that I have to wait 4 years (1 more after the renewal of L1A) before they can file GC. But I knew that GC application can be filed anytime after I have completed 6 months of stay and 6 months before the expiry. I was wondering if there is some other minimum time line requirements from US immigration about the filing of GC.
Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

Hello Prasanth, You would have had to answer the same question while filing for L1A, atleast this is a common question, maybe your law firm/HR did it on your behalf.
But you don't need to specify the Onsite/offshore numbers. The question is straight forward - they only want the numbers. You can simply put in 8. And if you have 2nd level reports, you can include them as well, in which case it will be 8 direct & 12 indirect. The immigration authorities cannot get access to this number, they will rely on your superviser and HR to back in whatever numbers you are putting in.

Hope it helps.
AVK.

Hello All
Happy new year to all of you.

FYI- I am on managerial position and I was transferred to US on L1-A visa
and holding this visa since june-2008. Now I am applying for GC. At
first, my company has accessed to me eligible for green card EB1
category. Further, my employer have also sent me EB1 questionnaire:

"One of the questions here is how many people you supervise in current
role?"

Answer is- I supervise 8 people. However, due to onsite-offshore model
in my company I supervise only 1 person in US and 7 in India. Since I supervise only 1 person in US and rest of the persons elsewhere, will this somehow affect my EB1 eligibility negatively to USCIS?

Please let me know your expert views.
Thanks and regards
Prashanth

[Radgargi]

L1A to GC

Hi

I am in US on a L1A. My company has agreed to file GC.

The Issue is - Instead of EB1 Category, they are trying to file under EB2.This selection is done on case basis is that they say. The reason for filing under EB2 is - "Retention"

While I am eligible for EB1, how can I overcome this discrimination in filing.

Please help if I can have an external attorney to take up my filing.

[lors]

change employer while waiting for a GC

Hello

I am on a L1A visa and my employer is filling my Green Card. Once it is filled I understand that it will take around 1 year to get the green card?

Once that the Green Card petition is filled, can I change employer?

thanks

[rpj]

L1A to Green Card Eigibility

I have overall 12 years and 3 months of experience. I'm with my current company since 2006. I was in a managerial position from 2007 November to 2011 July. I moved in to an individual contributor role during Aug 2011 and worked as an individual contributor in India since Nov 2012. My company applied for an L1B visa which got approved in Nov'14 and I started working in the United States from Dec'12. I moved in to a manager position during 2014 and my L1 A visa was approved in Jan'15. My company is now willing to initiate Green Card process for me, however we are not sure if i qualify for EB1 category. I want to validate my case for EB1, kindly help with your response.

I found the below requirements in Immihelp.com -> Greencard site. It would be helpful if you can explain the 3 year rule considering my case as an example and tell if i'm eligible.

"If the worker is already employed in the US, that he/she is employed outside the US for at least 1 year in the 3 years preceding admission as a Non Immigrant in a executive or a managerial capacity by the petitioner"

Your response will be appreciate, thank you.

[sarab1622]

L1 A to GreenCard

Hello,
I am on L1-A Visa but my employer don't want to file a green card.

Do I have any other ways to file a green card if not then please suggest the best option through which I can apply green card without my employer?


Thank you.

[gaurkishore]

Hi,

I am working with one Indian IT company since 2007 till date. This company employed in 2007 in India.

I was a technical leader from 2007 - 2010 and managing some resources in India.
I came in USA in 2010 on L1B visa for 4 month
I again came in USA in 2011 on same L1B visa for 12 months went back to India in Feb,2012
And in Oct 2012, I got my L1A visa in India and came in USA and working till now as a project manager in USA.

Now my company is initiating my GC in EB1 category. My question is since I did not spend 12 month in India in 2012 (2009 to 2012 I had L1B visa and in 2012, I got L1A visa) so will it make any impact on my eligibility? Please help

[Lucas de Aguiar]

Hi

I am in US on a L1A. My company has agreed to file GC.

The Issue is - Instead of EB1 Category, they are trying to file under EB2.This selection is done on case basis is that they say. The reason for filing under EB2 is - "Retention"

While I am eligible for EB1, how can I overcome this discrimination in filing.

Please help if I can have an external attorney to take up my filing.

Hi,

I'm facing exactly the same problem right now. How did it end up for you?

Thanks a lot,
Lucas.

[burrows_savio15]

Hi,

I'm facing exactly the same problem right now. How did it end up for you?

Thanks a lot,
Lucas.

Hello Friends,

I am also in the same situation now. I came to USA in 2013 and I have another 3.5 years before I get maxed out in L1A. My company has only approved EB2 not EB1...will EB2 do any good to me as I am on L1A ? I know for H1B it make sense as you can renew every year after the max out period. But is that the case in EB2 ?

Please reply.

Thanks