L-1A renewals for executives and managers are becoming a concern due to recent and current circumstances that have made it difficult to achieve the objectives specified in original applications.

L-1A visas are issued to intracompany executive and manager transferees. This visa option allows current U.S. employers to transfer a manager or executive from an eligible, foreign-qualifying organization (e.g., parent company, branch, subsidiary, etc.) to an office in the United States. It also allows eligible foreign enterprises without a U.S. presence to send an executive or manager to the United States to open an office.

Part of the requirements for a successful L-1A visa renewal requires applicants to have met the objectives specified in the original application. This can be challenging under normal circumstances but with COVID-19 throwing a wrench in the economy this year, it has become even more difficult.

However, there is good news! Despite 2020 being a year filled with obstacles, the L1-A visa renewal process is very much alive. Applicants can have a successful renewal if they can demonstrate they made sufficient and reasonable effort to achieve what was noted in the original L-1A application, even if they did not accomplish it.

Here are a few examples of proof for common L-1A objectives that could be provided:

• Hiring New Employees – Show job postings, recruitment documents, interview notes, etc.
• Maintaining Current Employees – Continuing to retain employees may have become impossible but provide pay stubs to show the period of time they were kept on.
• Growing the Business – Applicants may undershoot sales or growth targets despite best efforts. Show proof of marketing campaigns, receipts of ad spend logs of sales calls, etc., and prepare a statement about why these efforts didn’t work.