Looking for some advice - best path to take...

Chiggs
New Member



Joined: 06 May 2008
Posts: 1

Posted: Tue May 06, 2008 2:41 pm

 

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Hello all,

1st time post here - looking for some advice.

I'm a Canadian (married with one child) looking to move to the US. Basically, we've fallen in love with the San Francisco Bay area and want to work towards living there. We understand it's a fairly lengthy process

We don't really want to uproot our lives to move down on a TN visa and risk having to move back in a year or two if we can't get renewals or if we want to switch jobs. I am a senior manager / director level employee (IT position) with a large Canadian Bank and have the opportunity to work in the US for an extended period of time. I was thinking that if I accept a position in the US, I'll get the L visa through my work and that process would set me up to apply for a Green Card in a few years. I further understand that if I get the green card, my wife and daughter and I would all be allowed at that point to move anywhere in the US as we would be allowed to work for any employer. Is this correct? Would spending a few years under a Visa obtained by my employer give me a leg up in applying for a Green card? Based on other experience on the forum is 4-5 years a reasonable time frame to consider for this entire process?

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated !

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Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 505
Location: Calgary

Posted: Wed May 07, 2008 9:59 pm

 

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L-1B is intracompany transfer, so you have to be transferred from Canada to the US by the same employer, or at least the employer has to have a controlling interest in the US employer.

L-2 derivatives do allow the holder to work or study.

L-1B is also dual intent so the employer can apply for change of status to permanent resident. However this is tricky, because of the labour certification and the most likely category you would be in is EB-3 skilled worker, which has a three and a half year wait and an L-1B is only valid for a maximum of five years. That's from the date they receive the petition, the labour certification can take awhile too so you'd have to move pretty quickly on the application for permanent residency once you got there.

Once your number comes up you apply for permanent residency and you include dependents in the application. I-485.
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Steve.

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