US L1 visa petition rules updated by USCIS under Trump
Mon, 2018-05-28 08:02 PM
L1 One-year Foreign Employment Requirement
USCIS has published a policy memorandum for employing L-1 worker outside USA for one continuous year out of the 3 years before the time of filing L1 visa.
Spend 1 year Outside USA as full-time employee
The L-1 employee must be physically outside the United States during the required one continuous year of full-time employment.
Short Business trips cannot be counted for 1 year
Any short trips to the USA for business (B1 visa) or pleasure (B2 Visa) cannot be counted in this 1 year (365 days) period even if the L1 employee was still on employer’s payroll while visiting USA.Example
If the employer hired employee on Jan 1, 2018, and then employee traveled to US in 2018 for a total of 60 days (could be multiple trips) on business during 2018, the L-1 applicant would need to spend at least an additional 60 days outside USA after Jan 1, 2019 to qualify for L1 visa.
