Are you looking for an L-1A visa lawyer in Gurnee, IL?

At Dworsky Law Firm, we are a business immigration firm with recognition from Super Lawyers and more than twenty years serving the Gurnee community.

If your company wants to move an executive or a manager from an office abroad into a United States office, the L-1A visa is the category built for that transfer. The petition has to prove that the two companies are related and that the employee worked abroad in a qualifying role for at least one of the past three years. Dworsky Law Firm has filed intracompany transfer petitions since 2002. Our Gurnee, IL L-1A visa lawyer documents the corporate relationship and prepares the petition. Schedule a consultation to review the entities, the role, and the timing.

L-1A Visa Lawyer Gurnee, IL

The L-1A visa allows a multinational company to transfer an executive or manager from a foreign office to a United States office. The employer files the petition, and the employee cannot file it independently. Two things have to be established before the employee’s qualifications matter at all: that the United States entity and the foreign entity share a qualifying relationship as parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate, and that both will be doing business for the duration of the stay.

Census Bureau data puts total employment in Lake County at roughly 337,000 as of 2023. Transferred managers land in that workforce at pharmaceutical plants, logistics operations, and manufacturing sites along the corridor north of Chicago. The petition behind each arrival is a corporate filing before it is a personal one.

Types of L-1A Visa Cases We Handle in Gurnee

An intracompany transfer is a document exercise about two companies. The employee’s résumé is the last thing an officer reaches. These are the L-1A visa cases in Gurnee our firm handles.

• L-1A petitions. We file for executives and managers transferring into an established United States office. The filing documents the ownership chain, the organizational structure on both sides, and the duties the employee performed abroad.
• New office petitions. A company opening its first United States location can petition, but the approval runs for one year instead of three and the extension is scrutinized. We build the business plan and the premises evidence the first filing requires.
• L-1B specialized knowledge. Employees whose value is technical rather than managerial transfer under a related category with a different standard. We assess which of the two the role actually supports.
• Blanket L petitions. Large companies that transfer regularly can obtain an approval covering future transfers. We prepare the blanket filing and the individual certifications that follow it.
• Extensions and amendments. An L-1A approval can be extended to a statutory maximum, and a change in the role or the structure may require an amended filing before the change takes effect.
• Work visas. Some transfers fit a specialty occupation category better than an intracompany one, particularly when the role is technical and the company relationship is thin. The H-1B lottery limits when that alternative can be used, so we compare the options before filing.
• EB-1A. Executives with a public record of recognition sometimes qualify to self-petition for permanent residence without the company at all. We review that possibility for senior transferees.
• PERM employment-based immigration. Transfers that need to become permanent usually run through a recruitment process, though multinational executives and managers have a route that skips it. We identify which applies.
• Green cards. Permanent residence is a separate case from the transfer, and starting it early matters because the transfer has a time limit. We file the two in sequence rather than in a rush.
• Denied petitions and requests for evidence. Most L-1A challenges question whether the role is genuinely managerial or whether the companies are genuinely related. We answer the specific objection with the documents that address it.

Why Choose Dworsky Law Firm as my L-1A Visa Lawyer in Gurnee, IL?

A Firm That Runs the Structure It Documents

Dworsky Law Firm operates from Northbrook, Johannesburg, and India, which is the same arrangement an L-1A petition exists to describe. Our founder, an immigration lawyer in Gurnee, IL who has filed these petitions since 2002, has built and maintained those offices as well as filed for clients who are doing the same thing. Ashley Dworsky received his law degrees from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and is admitted to the South African Bar alongside Illinois, New York, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Reading a foreign ownership record or a share register is routine.

The Company File, Not the Résumé

Officers deny L-1A petitions on the corporate side far more often than on the employee’s qualifications. A share structure that does not clearly show control, an organizational chart with no one reporting to the transferee, or a foreign entity that has stopped trading will each end a filing regardless of how senior the employee is. We assemble the company evidence first and the personnel evidence second, in that order, because that is the order an officer reads them.

Understanding L-1A Visa Cases

L-1A Requirements and Qualifying Relationships

Five requirements decide an L-1A petition, and the first two are about the companies rather than the person.

• A qualifying relationship. The United States and foreign entities must be parent and subsidiary, branch offices, or affiliates under common control.
• Doing business. Both entities must be actively and regularly providing goods or services, not merely holding an agent or an address.
• One year abroad. The employee must have worked for the related company outside the United States for at least one continuous year within the preceding three years.
• A managerial or executive role. The role abroad and the role here must both be managerial or executive, which turns on duties rather than on job titles.
• Temporary intent. The transfer is a temporary status, with a maximum period of stay, even though it can run alongside a permanent case.

What Is The L-1A Visa Case Timeline?

The sequence is short compared with permanent cases, but the maximum period of stay makes the timeline unforgiving.

1. Structure review. The ownership chain and the trading status of both entities are confirmed and documented.
2. Role analysis. The duties abroad and the duties here are compared against the managerial and executive definitions.
3. Petition filing. The employer files with the corporate evidence, the organizational charts, and the employment record. Premium processing is available, and current processing times vary by service center.
4. Consular step or status change. An employee abroad applies at a consulate, while one already here may change status without leaving.
5. Extensions. The initial approval is extended in increments up to the maximum, and each extension re-examines the structure.
6. Permanent case. Because the stay is capped, a permanent filing should begin well before the final extension, with visa availability shown in the Visa Bulletin and the residence application filed as an adjustment of status. Naturalization follows after the required years as a resident.

What Are Important Aspects of an L-1A Visa Case?

Petitions are decided on documents the company produced for other reasons, which is why the file rarely says what the petition needs it to say.

• Control, shown clearly. Minority holdings, joint ventures, and layered holding companies all require explanation that a share certificate alone does not provide.
• Duties over titles. A manager who supervises no one and manages no function is not managerial for this purpose, whatever the business card says.
• The foreign entity’s survival. An entity that winds down after the transfer undermines the extension, because the relationship must continue.
• The one-year clock. Time spent inside the United States does not count toward the year abroad, and the H-1B requirements that some employees previously held can complicate how that year is counted.
• The cap on stay. A transfer that reaches its maximum with no permanent case underway leaves the employee with no status, and a lapse can lead to deportation.

What Should You Bring to Your L-1A Visa Consultation?

We review the company before the candidate, so the first meeting is largely about corporate records. 

• Incorporation documents for both entities, with share registers or ownership records showing the relationship.
• Organizational charts for both offices, showing who reports to the transferee in each.
• Financial statements, tax filings, or audited accounts demonstrating that both entities are trading.
• The employee’s personnel file abroad, including the job description, the start date, and the reporting lines.
• The employee’s passport, current visa, and any prior United States petitions or approvals.

Where L-1A Petitions Are Processed and Local Business Resources

L-1A petitions are decided at USCIS service centers, and consular interviews happen at the post abroad. Nothing in the case is filed in Lake County. The county does run offices that work with the companies making these transfers.

• Business Services. The county’s workforce division assists employers with recruitment and workforce planning in Lake County.
• Employer resources. This page collects county programs on training, incentives, and planning available to Gurnee businesses.
• Workforce development. The county’s workforce board publishes local labor market information and administers federal labor programs.

Reach Out to Dworsky Law Firm to Schedule a Consultation

Dworsky Law Firm files intracompany transfer petitions for companies of every size, from a first United States office to a blanket program. We look at the ownership records before anything else, because a petition whose corporate side is unclear will not be approved on the strength of the candidate. Consultations can be scheduled by phone, by video, or at the Northbrook office. Contact us to review a transfer your company is planning.