Kravitz & Guerra, PA

L-1 visa for Intra-company transferees

This is also a very widely used visa. It is used to transfer executives and managers of foreign corporations to a subsidiary or branch office in the U.S. It is also very used for smaller foreign business owners to expand their businesses to the U.S. and enter the U.S. market more directly.

The business owner can transfer himself, or one of his managers or executives to the U.S. to directly oversee the start-up of the new company here. It is often easier than trying to enter the U.S. market with only the foreign corporate entity, as with a U.S. corporation many advantages can be obtained: bank lines of credit, supplier lines of credit, elimination of middle-men and additional operational costs, risk management - with your own personnel overseeing your business deals in the U.S., there is less risk of miscalculations due to miscommunication or lack of knowledge of your foreign business, objectives and procedures.

This is also the only temporary visa with its own class of qualification for permanent residence ("multinational executive or manager") , after the U.S. company's 1st anniversary, and if the company achieved sufficient structure in the U.S.

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