L1, L2 Visa

Hi everyone -

I used this forum extensively and also did a lot of online research on the function manager category in L!A so posting my broader learnings for others' benefit.

My L1A was approved in Chennai a month or so back - no direct reports.

Learning 1: Be clear about which category within L1A you are applying under. While this is not a "defined category" there are 3 broad categories - Executives (Applies to CXO roles), Personnel Manager (Managing team of professionals/ supervisors etc.) or Functional Manager (Manage a function end-to-end)

Learning 2: Be consistent with the criteria for the category in your petition and don't try to fall under all categories. For e.g.no bonus points for proving people management if you are a functional manager or vice versa. I was told originally that L1A = people management and upon doing research and reading up USCIS judgements I understand this is not true if you are applying under a function manager category. I categorically told the visa officer I had no direct reports and there was no issue. To be clear, read the criteria on the USCIS site. For function managers there is a recent policy memorandum released - google for this memorandum and read this to understand the criteria clearly. USCIS publishes sample accepts and rejects so reading through those will help you understand the criteria like an attorney would. I think that helps a lot when you go for an interview.

Learning 3: Be very explicit to the Visa officer which Category you are applying under. For e.g. in my case I introduced myself as I am a functional manager in YYYY overseeing YYY function for all of ZZZ's business in the US. The officer repeated after me - "So you are a functional manager - got it."

Learning 4: You need to keep your narrative very simple since the officers have really no time/ patience and they hear the same things over and over again. They form an immediate opinion looking at you/ your title/ salary/ company etc. and then focus to understand one or two areas where they have doubts. So even if for e.g. your role is very complicated spanning multiple projects etc. pick the simplest areas and make it simple enough for someone with very low attention span to understand.

- Rehearse answers to standard questions (Your role, decisions you take, num of people reporting to you, who do you report to) beforehand.
- When they ask you follow-up questions, know that they are probing one of the criteria - so if you know the criteria well you can answer according to that.

Learning 5: In my mind the process is very draining if moving to the US is important for you so be mentally prepared for both getting an approval and getting an RFE as you prep - I also found it to help to not assume that the process is random but that there is a method to their assessment, and try preparing on those lines.

The other pieces of advice given below do apply but the above are the ones I found different from what is listed in the forum by other folks.

All the best!