L1 Eligibility for Employer

[vsk417]

I am working with a company in Mumbai, India which is having few operations in US as well.Now one of our clients in US is willing to hire me as their employee. Ideally I would need to apply for H1 but because I still have to wait till October 2013 i order to start working there,I am thinking of using an alternative route.

SO I am planning to apply for L1 visa.I am trying to find out if I can first move to US on L1 from my current employer in India and start working there with the client.After that,I will apply for COS from L1 to H1 later from my client.

Do you see any flaws in this approach ?

Also I am trying to see some solid guidelines that defines if a employer is eligible to apply for L1(individual) for it's employees? Is there any condition on things like number of employees,years of operation,revenue,taxes,location etc so that I know in advance if my current employer is eligible to file L1 petition ? (my employer in India also not sure if they can file L1 petition or not).

Also does any one here knew,how much time will it take to get L1 visa stamped ? Starting from filing petition to stamping visa ?

thanks,Abhay

[Attorney_23]

Abhay,

A foreign national can certainly change from L-1 to H1b status in the U.S. However, keep in mind that you must be actually working for the petitioner, not the client, in order to be eligible for the L-1. Further, in order to be eligible for L-1 status, you would need to show

There is no specific requirement regarding number of employees, revenues, etc to file for L-1. However, these issues may be taken into consideration by the government. As your company appears to have no experience filing L-1 petitions, I strongly advise you consult with an attorney before filing such a petition.