L-1A: taking your role, and your company, to the United States.
The L-1A lets a company move an executive or manager from its operation abroad to a related company in the US, including one it is setting up. For a Gulf business owner or senior leader, it is often the most direct route into the US market. It is a temporary work visa, though, and it is not a green card.
A transfer within one organisation
The L-1A is a nonimmigrant classification for intracompany transferees who will work in an executive or managerial capacity. The US employer files a petition with USCIS (Form I-129) for the employee; the employee then applies for the visa at a US consulate, unless already in the US in a status that allows a change.
Two things have to be true at once. The US company and the company abroad must be the same organisation in law — parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate — and both must be doing business. And you must have worked for the company abroad for one continuous year in the three years before the petition is filed, in a role that was itself executive, managerial or specialised.
Nationality does not matter, and there is no minimum investment. What matters is the corporate relationship, your role on both sides, and, for a new US office, a credible plan that the US operation will need an executive or manager within a year.
Fees
Quoted after a consultation
L-1A intracompany transfer case coordination is scoped work. What it costs depends on your circumstances, how many applicants are involved, and how much preparation already exists — so we look at your case first and then quote it, rather than publishing a number that would be a guess for most people reading it.
Government, embassy, visa application centre, insurance, biometric, bank and other third-party charges are set and collected by those organisations and are always separate from Vizabolt’s professional fee. We confirm the scope and the fee in writing before any work begins — there is no online checkout, and nothing is charged from this website.
Owners and leaders of real, operating businesses.
The L-1A follows the company. If the company is not real and operating on both sides, nothing else helps.
Founders of established UAE or GCC companies opening a US subsidiary or branch, and moving to lead it.
Senior leaders transferring to an existing US affiliate of their group.
Managers who manage other managers or professionals, with authority over hiring and personnel decisions.
Leaders who run an essential function at a senior level, even without a large team reporting to them.
Probably not the right route: Someone who has not yet worked a continuous year for the company abroad, whose overseas business is a shell, or who would mainly be doing the day-to-day work themselves in the US. Those cases fail on the facts, however they are presented.
The requirements, as USCIS frames them.
Each must be evidenced. The relationship and your role are checked on both sides of the transfer.
A qualifying relationship between the companies
The US employer and the foreign company must be a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of each other, usually shown through ownership and control. The organisation must be doing business as an employer in the US and in at least one other country, directly or through a qualifying organisation, for the whole of the L-1 stay.
One continuous year abroad in the last three
You must have been employed by the qualifying organisation outside the US for one continuous year within the three years immediately before the petition is filed. Short business trips to the US do not break that year, but they do not count towards it either.
Executive or managerial capacity in the US role
An executive directs the organisation or a major component of it, sets its goals and policies, and makes decisions of wide latitude with little oversight. A manager manages the organisation, a department or an essential function, supervises other supervisory or professional staff (or manages a function at a senior level), and has authority over personnel decisions.
For a new office: premises and a one-year plan
A new office is one that has been doing business in the US for less than a year. The petition must show that sufficient physical premises have been secured, that you held an executive or managerial role abroad, and that within one year of approval the US operation will support an executive or managerial position — judged on its planned scope, the size of the US investment and the foreign company’s ability to pay you and start doing business.
Large organisations can obtain a blanket L petition that establishes the corporate relationship in advance, so individual transfers are processed at the consulate. Most growing UAE businesses file individual petitions instead.
Does your company structure support an L-1A?
Tell us where your company is based, how long it has traded, your role and where the US entity stands. We will tell you what is missing, if anything.
What an L-1A file usually contains.
The petition has to prove the company story and your story. These are the documents most cases rely on.
The foreign company
- Trade licence and incorporation documents (UAE mainland or free zone)
- Ownership records showing who owns and controls it
- Evidence it is actively trading: audited accounts, tax and VAT filings, bank statements, contracts, invoices
- An organisational chart showing your position and the people reporting to you
The US company
- US formation documents and ownership records linking it to the foreign company
- For a new office: the lease or other proof of secured premises
- For a new office: a business plan showing staffing and growth over the first year
- Evidence of the US investment and the foreign company’s ability to fund it
Your role and history
- Employment letters and payroll records proving a continuous year abroad
- A detailed description of your role abroad and the duties you will hold in the US
- Your CV and evidence of the decisions you make and the people you direct
The petition and visa
- Form I-129 with the L supplement, filed by the US employer
- The nonimmigrant visa application (DS-160) and a consular interview, unless changing status inside the US
- Passports and civil documents for you and accompanying family
Nothing on this list is requested on our enquiry form. Documents are only ever exchanged inside the secure client portal, after a case has started.
How an L-1A case runs.
For a new office, the company work comes first. Your petition depends on it.
Structure review
VizaboltWe look at the ownership link, the trading record abroad and your role, and identify any gaps before money is spent on a US entity.
US entity and premises
YouYour company forms or confirms the US entity, establishes the ownership link and secures premises, with US legal and accounting advice.
Evidence assembled
VizaboltCorporate records, financials, organisation charts and the business plan are organised into a coherent file.
Petition filed
YouThe US employer files Form I-129 with USCIS. Premium processing may be available; current options are on USCIS’s site.
USCIS decision
US authorityUSCIS approves, denies or requests further evidence about the relationship, the role or the new office.
Visa interview and entry
US authorityYou and your family apply for L-1 and L-2 visas at a US consulate, then enter the US.
Your spouse and children
Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can accompany you in L-2 status. L-2 spouses are treated as employment-authorised incident to their status, so a spouse can work in the US without a separate work permit. Children can study but cannot work.
L-2 status depends on yours. If your L-1A ends or is not extended, your family’s status ends with it.
Key limitations
- The L-1A is temporary. Initial approval is up to three years (one year for a new office), extensions are in increments of up to two years, and executives and managers are limited to seven years in total.
- It is not a green card and does not become one automatically. L-1 holders may pursue permanent residence without breaking their status, but that is a separate immigrant petition, such as EB-1C, with its own requirements.
- A new-office approval lasts up to one year. Extending it means showing the US business has actually grown into one that needs an executive or manager, not just that the plan still exists.
- The visa is tied to the employer. Leaving the company, or the company relationship ending, ends the basis for your stay.
- The foreign company must keep doing business throughout. Closing or hollowing out the UAE operation once you move can undermine both your status and a later EB-1C.
- No one can guarantee a USCIS or consular decision. Fees and processing times are published by USCIS and change; we refer you to the current figures.
L-1A for UAE and GCC companies
Your UAE company can be a mainland or free-zone entity. What matters is that it is a real, operating business, that it legally owns or is commonly owned with the US company, and that it has employed you for the qualifying year. Ownership through holding structures, nominee arrangements or family members needs particular care, because the relationship has to be shown on paper, not just in practice.
Owner-employees can qualify. USCIS will look closely at whether the business is large enough, on both sides, to need you in an executive or managerial role rather than doing the work yourself, so a small UAE operation with few staff needs a clear story about who does the operational work while you lead.
When we last checked (16 October 2026), the US Mission to the UAE’s own pages disagreed: its main visa page says routine visa processing is not available in the UAE, while a notice dated 8 August 2026 says limited visa processing is available. Nonimmigrant applicants are told to book in their country of nationality or residence; immigrant visa (green card) interviews follow the State Department’s separate rules. This changes at short notice, so confirm on the Mission’s visa page before anything is planned around a UAE interview.
The L-1A has no nationality requirement, which makes it the obvious alternative for Emirati, Saudi, Qatari, Kuwaiti and Indian business owners who cannot use E-2.
What Vizabolt does, and what it does not
Vizabolt is a case-coordination service, not a US law firm, and we do not give US legal advice or represent anyone before USCIS or the Department of State. An L-1A petition is filed by your US company and usually prepared by a US immigration attorney, alongside US corporate and tax advice on the entity itself. The legal judgement in a case of this kind — whether it should be filed, how the argument is framed, and the filing itself — belongs with a US-licensed immigration attorney, and we will tell you so at the start rather than after you have committed to anything.
What we do is the work around that judgement: an early, honest read of whether your profile is worth taking to an attorney at all, planning the evidence and the order it needs to be gathered in, chasing and organising documents from the UAE side, keeping the timeline visible, and coordinating with the attorney you instruct so that nothing waits on a missing letter. The scope and our fee are agreed in writing before any work begins.
L-1A questions.
Possibly. Owners can be L-1A beneficiaries when the US company and the Dubai company have a qualifying relationship, you have worked for the Dubai company for a continuous year in the last three, and the US role will be genuinely executive or managerial. For a new US office, the petition must also show secured premises and a credible plan to support that role within a year. Because you are an owner or major stockholder, the petition must also show that your US services are for a temporary period and that you will be transferred to an assignment abroad when they end.
No fixed amount. For a new office, USCIS considers the size of the US investment and the foreign company’s financial ability to pay you and start doing business, as evidence that the operation can grow into one that needs an executive.
Not automatically. It allows you to pursue permanent residence without jeopardising your status, and many L-1A executives later file for EB-1C, the multinational executive or manager green card. EB-1C is a separate petition: the US company must have been doing business for at least a year, and you must meet its own employment requirements.
L-1A is a temporary work visa. EB-1C is an immigrant petition for permanent residence for multinational executives and managers, with no labour certification required. They use similar definitions of executive and managerial work, but they are separate applications, decided separately.
Yes. Spouses in L-2 status are considered employment-authorised incident to status. Children in L-2 status can study but not work.
Not for eligibility. Unlike E-2, the L-1A has no treaty-country requirement. Nationality can still affect the visa’s validity period and where you can attend a visa interview.
Nonimmigrant visa applicants should book in their country of nationality or residence. When we last checked, on 16 October 2026, the US Mission to the UAE’s pages disagreed — its main visa page says routine processing is not available in the UAE, while a notice of 8 August 2026 says limited processing is available — so UAE residents may need to apply in their country of nationality. We confirm the position when the petition is approved.
Official sources
This page is written from official government and consular sources, not from other advisory websites. Last reviewed 2026-10-16.
- USCIS — L-1A intracompany transferee executive or manager
- 8 CFR 214.2(l) — Intracompany transferees (eCFR)
- USCIS — Employment-based immigration: first preference (EB-1), including multinational executives and managers
- USCIS Policy Manual — Volume 10, Part B, Chapter 2 (employment authorised incident to status)
- USCIS — How do I request premium processing?
- US Department of State — Nonimmigrant visa applicants: country of nationality or residence
- US Embassy and Consulate in the UAE — Visas (current processing status)
Guides worth reading first
E-2 Treaty Investor Visa: Requirements Explained
How the E-2 works: treaty nationality, substantial and at-risk investment, marginality, control, applying by visa or change of status, family and limits.
E-2 Visa from the UAE: Why Nationality, Not Residence, Decides
The UAE is not an E-2 treaty country, and UAE residence does not count. Which regional passports are listed, how dual nationals choose, and where to apply.
EB-2 NIW, L-1A or E-2: Which US Route Fits?
A decision guide to three US routes: who each one fits, nationality limits, how long each lasts, family work rights and how they lead on to a green card.
Related services
Check whether your company can support an L-1A.
Tell us about the company, your role and the US plan. We will identify what the petition would need, and what is missing, before you commit to a US entity.