USCIS issues guidance on L-1 one-year foreign employment requirement

Original Date Announced
November 15, 2018
USCIS issues a policy memorandum on calculating qualifying employment abroad for L-1 intracompany transferee temporary worker status. Time spent working for a qualifying entity in the U.S. does not count toward the required one year, but the 3-year look-back period is adjusted to start three years before the individual was admitted to the U.S. as a principal beneficiary of an employment-based nonimmigrant petition. However, the 3-year look-back is not adjusted if the work in the U.S. was in a student or dependent (e.g., H-4 or L-2) status, or if the individual worked for an unrelated entity in the U.S. [ID #537]
Satisfying the L-1 1-Year Foreign Employment Requirement
Effective Date
November 15, 2018

Fully in Effect

Status: Final/Actual

Trump Administration Action: Agency Directive

Subject Matter: Non-Immigrant Visas: Employment-Based

Agencies Affected: USCIS

Associated or Derivative Policies

Fragomen: USCIS Issues Guidance on L-1 One-Year Foreign Employment Requirement

This is the first time USCIS has provided comprehensive guidance on how a foreign national can meet the one-year of continuous foreign employment requirement necessary for L-1 status. In the past, the agency offered varying interpretations, sometimes calculating the “one year within three years” requirement from the date of admission to the United States, regardless of what status that admission was in, and sometimes calculating it from the date of the filing of L-1 petition.
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