DOSSIER · IMM

Employer-Sponsored Mobility

Corporate immigration from the employer's side: intracompany transfers, extraordinary-ability petitions, and labor-certification recruitment discipline.

Brief stack

In this dossier

Full IMM desk →

IMM-10 · 01

L-1A or L-1B? Corporate Relationships, Qualifying Roles, and the Two Files an Employer Must Build

9 MIN · IMM

An L-1 petition is two cases in one envelope: proof that the two companies are legally related, and proof that the role fits the classification claimed. They fail for different reasons.

L-1A covers managers and executives with a seven-year maximum; L-1B covers specialized knowledge with a five-year maximum.
Both require a qualifying corporate relationship — parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate — resting on common ownership and control.
The transferee must have worked abroad for the related entity for one continuous year within the preceding three years.

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IMM-11 · 02

O-1A and O-1B Petitions: Building Evidence of Extraordinary Ability

8 MIN · IMM

An O-1 record is judged twice — once against a fixed list of regulatory criteria, then again as a whole. This brief maps exhibits to criteria and explains what the second review actually asks.

No one self-petitions for O-1. A U.S. employer, a U.S. agent, or a foreign employer acting through a U.S. agent must file the petition.
The evidence test is satisfied by one major internationally recognized award, or by evidence meeting at least three of the listed regulatory criteria.
Meeting three criteria does not end the analysis. USCIS then makes a final merits determination on whether the whole record shows the required level.

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IMM-12 · 03

PERM Recruitment Compliance: Timing, Advertising, Applicant Review, and Audit Files

8 MIN · IMM

PERM is a calendar problem before it is a legal one. This brief lays out the recruitment clock, the advertising set, the rejection log, and the audit file an employer must be able to produce years later.

Recruitment cannot start until the Department of Labor issues a prevailing wage determination, and the offered wage must meet or exceed it.
Every employer must run a 30-day state job order and two Sunday newspaper advertisements; professional positions require three additional recruitment steps.
Nothing may be filed until 30 days after recruitment ends, with one narrow exception for a single additional professional step.

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IMM-28 · 04

EB-2 Classification: Advanced Degree or Exceptional Ability

8 MIN · IMM

EB-2 has two entrances. One turns on a degree or its defined experience equivalent; the other on meeting at least three regulatory criteria for exceptional ability. Choosing wrongly costs a filing.

The advanced degree route requires a master's or higher, or a bachelor's degree plus five years of progressive post-baccalaureate experience in the specialty.
The exceptional ability route requires evidence satisfying at least three of six regulatory criteria, followed by a judgment on the whole record.
The job itself must require what the classification demands; a highly qualified worker in a position requiring only a bachelor's degree does not fit the advanced degree route.

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IMM-29 · 05

AC21 Portability: Changing Jobs With a Pending Adjustment Application

8 MIN · IMM

Portability lets a sponsored worker leave the sponsoring employer without losing the case, but only after the application has been pending 180 days and only into a same-or-similar job.

Once an adjustment application has been pending 180 days or more, the underlying petition remains valid if the new job is in a same or similar occupational classification.
The change is documented on Form I-485 Supplement J, which confirms the new offer and the applicant's intention to work in that position.
An approved petition that has been approved for 180 days is generally protected from automatic revocation when the employer withdraws it.

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IMM-30 · 06

EB-1C Multinational Managers and Executives: Proving the Corporate Case

9 MIN · IMM

EB-1C requires no labor certification, which makes it fast on paper and demanding in evidence. The petition stands or falls on the corporate relationship and on what the manager actually does.

The beneficiary must have worked abroad for at least one year in the preceding three in a managerial or executive capacity for a qualifying organization.
A qualifying multinational relationship must exist — parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or branch — and be proved through ownership and control documents.
The U.S. entity must have been doing business for at least one year before the petition is filed, so there is no new-office route here.

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