# whats the craic with L1 visa and citizenship



## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

hubby is through to round 2 of interview process for an internal job in his company - i have posted before so you guys should all know that i have my own company so if we cannot go to the US via my hubbys company then we will be hoping to go on a L1 to start up a new office in the US next year - however what i am looking for is info on l1 to citizenship. lots of websites say you can apply for citizenship after a certain period of time on an L1 but no one says how or under what route? i have not sought advice from an immigration attorney yet as i want to save my money and see how this job interview pans out, but if anyone could give me a heads up i would be grateful.

BTW my three children will be going with us - all are in the process of getting US passports under the childrens citizenship act (viagrandparents) but i obviously dont have citizenship, hence the reason to ask. 

many thanks
Crystal


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

You go from L1 visa to Green Card and then citizenship.

You can start applying for a Green card as soon as you like following your arrival in the US. We did ours via the immigration attorney in my husband's company and the process took 12 months from applying to actually getting the Green card.

Don't know whether your husband is a USC but if not then you can apply for citizenship 5 years after getting your GC. If married to a USC it is 3 years following getting your GC.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

thanks crawford - is there anything else i should know about the L1 to GC route? no we are both not USC. is it a difficult process and is it easily tuened down? any tips would be great! hubby has sencond interview tomorrow so fingers crossed!


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

Well hubby and I went from L1 visa to Green Card via my employer and their lawyer. (this was 10 years ago)

They presented all the paperwork to us to complete (and it was a lot - almost the same as the amount of paperwork for the L1 Visa and they ask the same type of questions as on the Visa application so make sure you have all your previous information to hand) and they did the filing etc. 

We did meet with the lawyer once to provide information as to the extent of my job and to make sure that he filed the application via the correct channel. As I understand it there are different categories for different levels of employment and they require different filings and forms. I got filed under Management/Executive which, I believe, takes a shorter amount of time. I think we also had to have another medical which we paid for.

Once the filing was done it was then just a case of waiting until approval. Ours took just under 12 months. 

I believe you will only get turned down if they find that you lied on your Visa application about anything, you get let go or are fired from your job and if you commit a crime while in the US.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

Thanks very much.

It just sounds a bit all too easy to me, which it enver is with US immigration - also wonder why people dont go down this route it seems easier to open an office as a manager on a L1 visa if your an exisitng business owner in the UK and transfer ourself over permanantly, rather than do an investment visa?


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## Davis1 (Feb 20, 2009)

crys said:


> Thanks very much.
> 
> It just sounds a bit all too easy to me, which it enver is with US immigration - also wonder why people dont go down this route it seems easier to open an office as a manager on a L1 visa if your an exisitng business owner in the UK and transfer ourself over permanantly, rather than do an investment visa?


it is if you meet the ctireria ..many dont ..even more fail after12 months


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

crys said:


> Thanks very much.
> 
> It just sounds a bit all too easy to me, which it enver is with US immigration - also wonder why people dont go down this route it seems easier to open an office as a manager on a L1 visa if your an exisitng business owner in the UK and transfer ourself over permanantly, rather than do an investment visa?


There are a number of stipulations. As long as you and your businesses qualify it is even nowadays fairly easy.
A friend of mine went this route. Brought wife and two teenagers with him. Had a falling out with his employer of 20 some years. It took over a year for a highly qualified accountant/cpa to find a job at a fraction of his previous compensation. Wife developed neurological problems after a dental proceedure and older daughter was raped by a classmate. They are considering returning to Europe a year before being able to apply for citizenship as they cannot afford proper medical care even with insurance and are at the verge of bankruptcy.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

blimey two step that sounds appalling! the poor poor family. i think with us, the reason we want to go and farly soon is because my husband nearly died of heart failure last year at the age of 29, he was in intensive care for three months and we were told to go and say goodbye to him and everything. thank god he pulled through and is absolutely fine (he has no ill health problems now, other than high blood rpessure, it was just one of those really random things that happened for no apparent medical reason and trust me, he has seen the best professors in medicine in the country because they could not understand what had bought it on and why he has returned to fully fit health so easily afterwards!) and this is the reason why we want to move as we feel life is too short to wait around. we may like it, we may not, but you know what if we dont we can come home, but i would rather regret going and it not working out than not going and never knowing if it would have worked out or not.


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

crys said:


> blimey two step that sounds appalling! the poor poor family. i think with us, the reason we want to go and farly soon is because my husband nearly died of heart failure last year at the age of 29, he was in intensive care for three months and we were told to go and say goodbye to him and everything. thank god he pulled through and is absolutely fine (he has no ill health problems now, other than high blood rpessure, it was just one of those really random things that happened for no apparent medical reason and trust me, he has seen the best professors in medicine in the country because they could not understand what had bought it on and why he has returned to fully fit health so easily afterwards!) and this is the reason why we want to move as we feel life is too short to wait around. we may like it, we may not, but you know what if we dont we can come home, but i would rather regret going and it not working out than not going and never knowing if it would have worked out or not.


It is not the only one but this is not a Horror Forum:>) Some do work out!

I can give you my absolutely unqualified diagnosis - ornery! Be glad you have him back and enjoy every day with him. We are looking at unexpected stenosis surgery in two weeks. It may be a walk in the park or a lifechanging problem.

Any update on the company transfer? I am nosy - what kind of business do you plan to expand to the US? PM:>)

TX - 107F in the shade yesterday. No rain in my area since April. Vegetable/fruit prices are sky rocketing. But - everything is bigger in TX but gras hoppers.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

yes and i beleive that its better to give it a shot than not at all, i know we are going to have problems especially with my kids, my eldest who is 13 will be leaving behind all of his friends and i know that will raise issues but he is also willing to give it a go.

sorry to hear about your surgery but think positive ad i will pray it all goes well for you!

no news as yet, we received an email at the end of alst week from the HR department saying they are looking for the right candidate and that my hubby is one of their top candidates and they will let us know by the end of the week. as i have said before, im not pinning my hopes on it, nor do i want to put him under any pressure, if it happens it happens if it doesnt we will get there. we should have news end of this week but im not feeling too positive - unless my hubby is exceptional i cannot see why they would want to pay for relocation etc if they have someone else in mind who is already a citizen, but we shall see.

with regards to my business, i currently run a website which is quite specific. it is CEU credits for the energy industry. we started off really small and have about 5000 users purchasing online courses. i am also a property inventory clerk, which is doing schedule of conditions for properties to be let out and also for small businesses. both things we can transfer to the states as inventories are used in the US and we have also just had a number of our courses approved to sell to the energy industry in the US too, so our new US website is currently under construction and we plan to start business with the US market in the next 8 weeks. so this is our back up plan and i am hoping we are as sucessful with our courses in the US too (in the UK, energy assessors only need 10 hours CEU credits epr year - in the US it is 30 hours continuing education and there are hundreds of thousands more energy assessors there than there are in the UK!)

after the morning of torrential rain in London this morning, i would be happy for no rain though the thought of + 100 and no rain every day since April is slightly scary, but i will take the rough with the smooth!!!


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

Going from an L1 to a green card can take less than a year, of more than 6 years. It all depends on the category you fit in.
This is called an employment or work based green card. And as an L1 there are 3 categories to fit in. The EB-1 being the most difficult to fit in but the fastest to get the green card, the EB-3 the easiest to fit in, but the slowest to get the green card.
More info:
USCIS - Employment-Based Immigration: First Preference EB-1
In the column left you see the different categories.
To find out how fast it all can go (or not!), you can watch the monthly visa bulletin. You can find these here: Visa Bulletin
Let’s take a look at the August 20011 bulletin:
Visa Bulletin for August 2011
Scroll down until you see the title “EMPLOYMENT-BASED PREFERENCES”. More info on the different categories is shown. But the important part of the bulletin is to look at the processing times.
If you don’t come from mainland China, India, Mexico or the Philippines, take a look at “All Charge-ability Areas Except Those Listed”.
It states that 1st en 2nd category is ‘c’, which means ‘current’. So if you apply now, it’s your turn immediately, so it only takes a couple of months to find out if they accept your case and reward you with the green card.
If you resort under the 3th category, it is worse because at this time, they are looking at those who filed in November 2005. So these people are already waiting 6 years to find out if they can stay on a green card or not...
Hope this info is helpful to you.
It is important to build a strong case with lots of evidence. So I would definitely recommend you to work with an experience lawyer. One who did this kind of things before. These lawyers can mess it up easily if they are not experts in this. And it is you who will suffer for their mistakes.
Good luck!


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

thanks EVHB for the info this is really appreciated.

Hubby found out today he didnt get the job and just as i thought - they felt they could not justify giving the job to us due to relocation costs. ah well, nevermind, onwards and upwards (and stick to the original plan of getting over there via the business!)


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

crys said:


> thanks EVHB for the info this is really appreciated.
> 
> Hubby found out today he didnt get the job and just as i thought - they felt they could not justify giving the job to us due to relocation costs. ah well, nevermind, onwards and upwards (and stick to the original plan of getting over there via the business!)


Grrrr 
As you will have to pay relo once you go on your own - have you offered that option?


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

grrrr indeed!
yes we offered that option but they already have a candidate selected, it was basically out of my hubby and another - that another was able to take up position immediately and with no cost involved so you cant really blame them. im actually quite gutted but seeing as this was an unexpected situation and not my original plan for getting over, its not the end of the world (though i was already looking forward to my first thanksgiving, which will now have to be tanksgiving 2012!)

does anyone want to sponsor me and give me a job? i will pay my relo fees!!!!! haha


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## twostep (Apr 3, 2008)

crys said:


> grrrr indeed!
> yes we offered that option but they already have a candidate selected, it was basically out of my hubby and another - that another was able to take up position immediately and with no cost involved so you cant really blame them. im actually quite gutted but seeing as this was an unexpected situation and not my original plan for getting over, its not the end of the world (though i was already looking forward to my first thanksgiving, which will now have to be tanksgiving 2012!)
> 
> does anyone want to sponsor me and give me a job? i will pay my relo fees!!!!! haha


Not funny my dear! That the other candidate can start immediately was probably the final straw.

Thanksgiving is really not such a big deal! Getting up at the crack of stupid to cook a turkey (feathered kind) and the rest of the story to see them gobble it down and then watch foot ball -


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

thank you for making me feel better! i blame thanksgiving for all of this haha!


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## Crawford (Jan 23, 2011)

crys said:


> blimey two step that sounds appalling! the poor poor family. i think with us, the reason we want to go and farly soon is because my husband nearly died of heart failure last year at the age of 29, he was in intensive care for three months and we were told to go and say goodbye to him and everything. thank god he pulled through and is absolutely fine (he has no ill health problems now, other than high blood rpessure, it was just one of those really random things that happened for no apparent medical reason and trust me, he has seen the best professors in medicine in the country because they could not understand what had bought it on and why he has returned to fully fit health so easily afterwards!) and this is the reason why we want to move as we feel life is too short to wait around. we may like it, we may not, but you know what if we dont we can come home, but i would rather regret going and it not working out than not going and never knowing if it would have worked out or not.


Since you are now having to go the route of starting a business in the US then, taking into account your husband's medical history (heart failure at 29!), you seriously need to take into account the cost of healthcare for your family.

Even if you get a Group policy for the business at some time, you might have to have Private health insurance for a few months at the beginning. With hubbies history health insurance is going to be VERY expensive and/or the insurance companies may not be prepared to cover him at all because of a pre-condition.

Something else to think about.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

crys said:


> thanks EVHB for the info this is really appreciated.


 You're welcome!

Too bad they preferred the other candidate. I know how that feels, we had the same a couple of years ago. We were in Belgium and needed a visa, and there was a Canadian who could start immediately. Hard cheese.

Hope you will succeed in obtaining a visa through your business.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

Crawford said:


> Since you are now having to go the route of starting a business in the US then, taking into account your husband's medical history (heart failure at 29!), you seriously need to take into account the cost of healthcare for your family.
> 
> Even if you get a Group policy for the business at some time, you might have to have Private health insurance for a few months at the beginning. With hubbies history health insurance is going to be VERY expensive and/or the insurance companies may not be prepared to cover him at all because of a pre-condition.
> 
> Something else to think about.



Thanks Crawford, we have obviously been doing lots and lots of research on medical insurance so are aware of the issues around this. We have found out that hubby's insurance in the UK will cover his current condition (although he has never been officially diagnosed with a problem and has completely come through the other side of his heart failure with no long term problems other than basic blood pressure) for up to 12 months of leaving the country, which gives us time for him to either find a job with health are coverage that we can subsidise or get him covered under the business, but it gives us some breathing space if we get there.


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## EVHB (Feb 11, 2008)

I hope you have this in paper. Signed with a name. And that they state that you are covered to all expenses if you don't live in the UK anymore, and that they pay the huge amounts the American hospitals will charge you.


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## crys (Feb 20, 2009)

Thank you for your concern, we would be perfectly stupid not to have this in writing. My husband travels extensively with his work which has included a very short stint in the US to hand over to a new office, we had to ensure it covered him and yes we have checked there is no stipulation about living there, as on a l1 you are a temporary worker at that stage, therefore not classed as living there permanently, therefore insured. As mentioned before though, hubby does not have an ongoing medical issue, nor a diagnosis, nor any lasting side effects. I know this means nothing to US insurance companies but to us and in the words of the professor who my husband was treated under " your chances of a relapse are minimal" so it's just about covering our backsides in case of the what ifs do happen.


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