L1 Visa - Relocating to US with American Spouse

Hi,

First time poster - hope someone can help me with my questions!

Background - I am a Canadian living in Vancouver with my wife, who is a US Citizen and now a Canadian PR. My company is a publicly listed corporation based out of the US but with most of it's employees in a Canadian subsidiary. I am the CTO, Chief Technology Officer, for the company. My wife and I are thinking of moving to Seattle and while we can start the spousal green card from here, it will up to 1 year, so I was thinking that I might be able to get an L1A or L1B visa much sooner, via direct application at a US POE, and work remotely from the Vancouver office.

1. The US parent corporation has a handful of employees in AZ only. If I am moving to Seattle will that be a problem - does the L1 visa require that you work in a current office location or is one free to set up shop anywhere in the US?

2. Although the L1 visa is a dual-intent visa and the fact that I am married to a US citizen should not affect the application, won't the CBP recognize that I may be using the L1 visa more as a means of immigration than a real need for my US parent company? I guess I am responsible for the burden of proof here ...?

3. Part of the L1 process states that you have to take on a similar role in the US that you are doing in the foreign company e.g. managing a large part of the company/function if L1A or specialized knowledge if L1B. My current role is to manage our tech/development Vancouver office which constitutes the large majority of the company's employee base, but I am also involved in hands-on product development, which an L1A applicant is not supposed to be doing as an executive or senior manager. Furthermore given that there would be no tech/dev office stateside, I would not be able to work in a similar role. So seems to me that I am best going in with an L1B, not L1A, as I built most of our proprietary technology. I guess my question is to what degree do the CBP look at what you will doing in your stateside role and does it matter?

4. Is it possible to do the supporting documentation/paperwork oneself or is that just crazy and an immigration lawyer needs to be involved?

5. Do I have a valid case for L1 petition???

I know that's a lot of info but if anyone has answers and/or general thoughts it would be greatly appreciated! My company is unlikely to pay for the legal costs though they would probably allow me to relocate to Seattle - so I have to decide if it's worth the effort & cost vs just waiting on a spousal green card!

Thanks!

1. Anywhere
2. Dual-intent allows for just that: dual intent.
3. Firm's lawyer will figure this out.
4. See 3.
5. Of course.
You also have a valid case for spousal immigration. Why not simply start that, too, and have GC within the year?

Thanks agnelson!

Re. spousal GC - I wasn't sure if I should do an AOS once being in the states with an L1, or just go with a concurrent CDF/consular petition from here. I don't think it makes much difference, either time or $ wise, but I need to look into it and see if there any advantages to either route.

You could also go the Direct Consular Route (DCF)

All the free info you need:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum ... iscussion/

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic ... a-you-can/