Legal Question in Immigration Law in Arizona

Re: L1 Transfer from UK to USA and changes in UK Structure

I am little bit confused about the amount you have/going to invest. Depending on the amount of investment...you can be eligible for Investor's greencard (E5)..or Evisa in general. L visas are very hard to get it approved these days...but you must keep your company in the UK!!

Re: L1 Transfer from UK to USA and changes in UK Structure

I am not clear whether your L1 petition has been approved or not (you mention "slow processing" concerns), which is slightly puzzling because of the availability of premium processing to such petitions.

In any event, closing down the UK company will be prejudicial to your L1 visa status.

Intra company transferee visa regulations require the foreign company and the qualifying relationship to be in existence throughout the alien stay in the US. They might not catch you, but I do not recommend it. As far as diluting your equity, I do not see any problems there.

What I would do in your case is to file a petition for permanent resident as a multinational executive/manager, which usually do not require a labor cert and can be accomplished in as little as 12 month or less. Be careful however as these petitions tend to be closely scrutinized.

I have substantial experience dealing with L1 visas and business-based perment residence petitions, and I am available for a consultation at 401-849-1220. Given the complexity of these issues, I usually charge a fee for this type of consulting. Please let me know if I can be of service.

Regards,

Re: L1 Transfer from UK to USA and changes in UK Structure

Thank you for your inquiry.

It is important that the UK company continue to be operational during your L-1 visa's validity period. Your questions with regard to ownership of the company require a more complex answer than I can give in this response and depend upon a number of factors, which I would be pleased to discuss with you.

With regard to the reluctance of some of the investors, you can apply for a green card as first preference multinational manager or executive (assuming your L-1 has been approved, please note that premium processing is available for this type of visa to expedite adjudication). By doing so this may allay the investors concerns. We routinely file non-immigrant and immigrant visas on behalf of corporations for multinational managers and executives and would be pleased to answer any other questions you may have. Further we can counsel you as to the issues you have raised regarding ownership of the entities. Please feel free to contact me directly at 619.233.0900

Sincerely,