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Restaurant Management Company
Hostess Station
Instructor
Server Instructor
Server Instructor
(part time)
Vice Manager
Chef Instructor
Chef Instructor
(part time)
dividends, as will articles of incorporation and details
about the lease agreement. For better or worse, at the time
of filing, these embellishments take the form of tangible
evidence that the applicant’s petition is legitimate.
will not only know when to clarify and expand on
qualifying job duties, but also to determine which job
duties are not qualifying. As with any case, expert legal
advice and a thorough review of all documentation prior
to filing is your best defense against an RFE.
SKIPPING THE GREEN CARD LINE
Viewed through today’s cloudy lens of EB-5, the L-1A has
several appealing features. For a modest fee, the premium
processing option will condense USCIS’ review window
from several months to only 15 business days, giving the
candidate an answer almost immediately. If approved,
the L-1 holder will be granted one year to get the new
U.S. office up and running, with the option to file either
a renewal extension for the following year or pursue the
EB-1C green card (valid for 10 years). Finally, as a dual-
intent visa, there is no prohibition on applying for L-1
status even if an applicant has a pending I-526 petition.
While a business visa offers little solace to an EB-5
investor dead-set on passive investment (and its
retur n), it is potent ia l ly a g reat fit for wea lt hy
foreigners who are active international executives. All
things considered, despite the hurdles of adjudication
here in 2019, the L-1A can be an intriguing alternative
for businesspeople from backlogged countries like
China, India and Vietnam.
REQUESTS FOR EVIDENCE
The L-1A is not always smooth sailing, however. Like the
H-1B, the L visas have been penalized by the increased
scrutiny of USCIS adjudicators since the Trump
administration instituted the Buy American and Hire
American executive order. Data reveals that requests
for evidence (RFEs) and denials have risen steadily ever
since 2016, peaking at 51.8 percent and 25.6 percent,
respectively, in the first quarter of 2019. 2 It is very
sobering to contemplate that the majority of L-1 filings
are now met with an RFE.
Common RFEs question the relationship between the
parent and the new subsidiary or affiliate; the applicant’s
past employment (length of service or role); or the merits
of the planned position in the United States. It is not
atypical for an otherwise well-prepared petition to be
held up by a boilerplate line of text about the new role or
by the minutiae of the intended job in the U.S. enterprise.
By way of example, a recent RFE had, as its root
cause, USCIS’ rejection of the idea that the CEO of a
company selling religious products would by himself
be responsible for determining market prices in the U.S.
In the adjudicator’s view, this was a task beneath his
station, even though it was in fact a routine part of his
personal to-do list abroad. It was never delegated to a
subordinate. A knowledgeable immigration professional
W illiam T. D ean is the VP of immigration at Masterplans,
an EB5 Investors Magazine Top 5 business plan writing company
founded in 2002. He specializes in networking with attorneys
and reviewing petition exhibits and RFEs to help E-2, L-1A and
EB-5 visa seekers get the best possible filings in front of USCIS
and consular adjudicators. Dean is an award-winning writer and
market research expert who has personally authored hundreds
of business plans. He was previously a case assistant at the law
firm Stoel Rives. He is a graduate of Brown University.
Sources
1
https://www.eb5insights.com/2018/11/21/updates-on-eb-5-visa-retrogression/
2
https://ogletree.com/insights/2019-02-27/uscis-data-confirms-increase-in-rfes-
and-denials-especially-for-h-1bs