Can my company transfer me from our foreign office to the U.S.?
The L-1 category exists for exactly this: a multinational company relocating an executive, manager or specialized-knowledge employee from a foreign office to a related U.S. entity. There is no annual lottery, which makes it more predictable than an H-1B when it fits. It requires a qualifying corporate relationship between the two entities and a qualifying period of prior employment abroad, so the company structure matters as much as the role.
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The category splits by the nature of the role: executives and managers on one side, employees with specialized knowledge of the company's products, services or processes on the other. Job title alone does not decide it — the duties, the reporting structure and what only you know about the business do. Which side you fall on affects both the evidence needed and the later green card options, so it is worth settling before filing.
AI-generated · Not attorney-reviewed