The “L1 Blanket”

The “L1 Blanket” is a system offered by  US authorities to ease intra-group transfers to the United States. Concretely, if you are a large group, applying for an L1 Blanket can help you gain time, money and efficiency. Read about it in our article below!

Which context?

For L1 work permits – intra-group work permits, i.e. from one subsidiary to another within the same group. This concerns L1A (directors/managers) and L1B (proven experts).

For whom?

The company applying for the L1 Blanket must:

• have had an operational office in the United States for more than a year;
• demonstrate commercial or service operations;
• have at least three branches, subsidiaries or affiliates (national or international);
• or have at least 1000 employees; or have a U.S. annual revenue of at least $25 million; or having filed and obtained at least 10 L permit in the 12 months preceding the application.

In addition to this, assignees concerned by the L1 application must obviously meet the criteria of the latter:

• Be able to justify a high level of direction, management or expertise;
• Be able to justify 12 consecutive months of seniority in the group at the time of the request;
• Be sent to one of the group’s entities in the United States.

Watch out –  the Blanket does not guarantee obtaining the work permit!

Benefits:

• Time saving: the L1 Blanket avoids filing each application with USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services). It is filed directly with the competent U.S. Consulate, which decides whether or not to issue the visa. The time saved is considerable;

• Duration: the L1 Blanket is generally issued up to 3 years, renewable without limit. In case of renewal outside the deadline or refusal, a waiting period of 3 years is imposed;

• Globality: once the Blanket is approved, all global entities registered under that Blanket can benefit from it.

• Eligibility: going directly through the Consulate avoids RFE (US Immigration : what is an RFE? – OUI Immigration (oui-immigration.com). Be careful, once again, this does not mean that the permit is issued automatically: a strict study is also conducted by the Consulate.

How?

• The request is made to the USCIS office closest to the main office of the American company;
• Study times vary from a few weeks to several months;
• The list of documents to be provided can be impressive – it is advisable to go through specialist of the subject.

Would you like more information about the L1 Blanket or US immigration in general? Send us an email! virginie.lebaler@oui-immigration.com