L VISA UNDER A BLANKET
Every Japanese company that sends L visa holders to the U.S. should obtain a blanket approval if they are eligible. For a company to qualify they must have one of the following three qualifications:
1. 1000 employees, or
2. 10 L approvals in the last 12 months, or
3. $25 million in sales. Since all the U.S. subsidiaries, affiliates, etc. that will be included in the blanket count towards this threshold, this is the standard most Japanese companies are able to meet.
Once you get the blanket approval, the procedure to obtain a visa is very similar to the E visa processing at the American consulates. However, the standard of who qualifies for an essential skills E is definitely higher than who qualifies as a specialized knowledge professional for L1B so relatively younger college graduates are strong candidates for L1B’s under a blanket approval whereas they might not succeed when applying for an E1 or E2 visa.
Another reason of special interest to Japanese companies is the availability of L visa processing at the U.S. consulates in Canada which will not process E visas for Japanese (unless they previously resided in Canada). Thus, at the time of renewal a quick trip to Canada for the employee and his family will reduce significantly the expenses and the loss of the employee’s services if they had to go to Japan for the renewal.
L VISA UNDER A BLANKET
Every Japanese company that sends L visa holders to the U.S. should obtain a blanket approval if they are eligible. For a company to qualify they must have one of the following three qualifications:
1. 1000 employees, or
2. 10 L approvals in the last 12 months, or
3. $25 million in sales. Since all the U.S. subsidiaries, affiliates, etc. that will be included in the blanket count towards this threshold, this is the standard most Japanese companies are able to meet.
Once you get the blanket approval, the procedure to obtain a visa is very similar to the E visa processing at the American consulates. However, the standard of who qualifies for an essential skills E is definitely higher than who qualifies as a specialized knowledge professional for L1B so relatively younger college graduates are strong candidates for L1B’s under a blanket approval whereas they might not succeed when applying for an E1 or E2 visa.
Another reason of special interest to Japanese companies is the availability of L visa processing at the U.S. consulates in Canada which will not process E visas for Japanese (unless they previously resided in Canada). Thus, at the time of renewal a quick trip to Canada for the employee and his family will reduce significantly the expenses and the loss of the employee’s services if they had to go to Japan for the renewal.