Pending Final Rule Will Allow Issuance of L Visas for the Same Time Period as the Visa Reciprocity Schedule

The United States Department of State has posted information about a pending final rule which will allow L-1 visas (for intracompany transferees) to be issued for the length of time corresponding to the individual’s home country’s visa reciprocity schedule. Under the current regulations, L-1 visas are issued only for the duration of an L-1 visa petition’s validity period. The duration of an L-1 visa petition, which is the document authorizing the individual to work in the United States, cannot exceed three years.

Although the pending final rule will not affect all L-1 visa applicants, it will affect individuals from countries whose visa reciprocity schedules allow for the issuance of L-1 visas for periods of more than three years. For example, the visa reciprocity schedule for the United Kingdom permits L-1 visas to be issued for 60 months (five years); however, despite the reciprocity schedule, under the current Department of State regulations, L-1 visas can only be issued for a maximum of three years. Under this example, the pending final rule will allow individuals from the UK to be issued an L-1 visa valid for five years even if the duration of their underlying L-1 visa petition is three years or less. This means that if the foreign national holds an L-1A visa, and thus would be eligible to extend her stay in the United States for a period of up to seven years, she would only need to apply for two visas, instead of three, over the course of the seven years. The first visa would be issued upon initial entry into the United States, and the second visa issued upon re-entry after the five-year visa has expired.

Photo credit: David Franklin