L-1A New Office Practice Pointer 10/22/09

Often when an employer is applying for an L-1A (multinational executive or manager) petition for a new office they end up getting less than the one year of validity time on the petition. This is due in part to processing delays and/or delays obtaining a visa issuance appointments at the consulates. As such, the American Immigration Lawyers Association (AILA) has worked with the Vermont Service Center to come up with a solution. The VSC has confirmed that they will start accepting L-1A petitions for new offices with the following requested employment validity dates:

From: “Date of Approval”
To: “One year from date of approval”

This will ensure that the petition is given a period of authorized stay for the full one year as is granted in the statute.