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The Blanket L Visa Option: A Stream-lined Approach to Transferring Employees to the U.S.

Rachel Browning, Attorney at Law


blanket l visa

Multi-national corporations looking to expand operations in the United States or which have highly qualified individuals working abroad, whose knowledge and experience are needed in the U.S., may be able to take advantage of the Blanket L Visa option and transfer foreign workers to the U.S.  As with individual L-1 petitions, the Blanket L option allows corporations to file petitions on behalf of a qualified foreign national employee without being subject to annual quotas and labor condition applications which are part of the H-1B process.  Our website contains a lengthy description of the law and procedures governing the L Visa Process. Blanket L Petitions provide companies with the same benefits of the individual L petition, with some additional procedural advantages.
A qualifying multi-national corporation can make one “Blanket” L application to the USCIS without naming a specific beneficiary at the time of application.  Once the Blanket L Petition is approved for the company, qualified employees abroad can take a copy of the approval along with their supporting documentation and apply for entry to the U.S. directly at the Consulate; thus avoiding the often lengthy processing times by the USCIS of individual L Petitions.
In order to be qualified for the Blanket L Visa, the company must meet the same criteria as an individual L Visa Petitioner, while also meeting the following additional requirements.  

  • The company and each entity included in the Blanket L Petition must be engaged in commercial trade or services;
  • The company must have an office in the U.S. that has been doing business for 1 or more years;
  • The company must have 3 or more domestic and foreign branches, affiliates or subsidiaries; and
  • The company and other qualifying entities must have done at least one of the following:
    • Obtained at least 10 prior individual L approvals during previous 12 months
    • Have U.S. subsidiaries or affiliates with combined annual sales of at least $25 million; or
    • Have a U.S. workforce of at least 1000 employees.

As with individual L petitions, a Blanket L beneficiary must apply in either the executive/managerial, or “specialized knowledge” capacity.  However, in the case of a Blanket L petition, for an individual to qualify in the “specialized knowledge” capacity, he or she must qualify as a “specialized knowledge professional.”   A “specialized knowledge professional” is a slightly different category of individual than the “specialized knowledge” worker seeking individual L-1B classification.  According to USCIS interpretation, a “specialized knowledge professional” has either a U.S. or foreign-equivalent (i.e. 4-year) bachelor’s degree.  This generally requires L-1B specialized knowledge applicants to have obtained a four-year bachelor’s at one single institution (unlike the more lenient provisions applied to H-1B specialty occupation applicants which allow applicants to use a combination of degrees to arrive at a foreign-degree equivalent to a bachelor’s degree.)  Companies wishing to use the Blanket L option must make sure the employees they seek to transfer fulfill this requirement.  
One final advantage to this option is that an employee will qualify for an L visa after having worked for 6 months with the affiliate company abroad, if the petitioners have filed the Blanket L petition and have met the blanket petitions' requirements. Unlike an individual L petition which requires that the beneficiary to have worked for the employer abroad at least one year within the three years preceding the time of his application for admission into the U.S., an alien seeking admission under blanket L provisions, need only have worked for a 6-month period if the importing employer has filed a blanket petition and met the requirements for expedited processing of aliens covered under such petition. 

Our experienced immigration attorneys can give you more information on this and other immigration-related issues and assist and advise you throughout the immigration process, ensuring the successful transfer of these valuable employees to the U.S.  Should you have any questions regarding Blanket-L visas or other immigration issues, please feel free to contact the Garg & Associates Houston Immigration Attorneys at 281-210-0010.