Setting Up The Office

To help realize their company's expansion plans, Start Business In America expert team first helped the foreign company L-India set-up its 100% owned branch office in the U.S., 'Logistics-US' (L-US). In setting up the U.S. company, Start Business In America helped L-US locate an office premises and conduct preliminary regulatory compliance work. Once the branch office was physically established, our experts helped L-US file for and obtain the necessary licenses and other official documents to start and conduct a fully-owned branch office of a foreign corporation in the U.S. With all the necessary paperwork in place, the remaining major challenge left for L-US was to figure out how to manage and guide the new operations in the U.S.

Helping The CEO From L-India Go And Work At L-US

For effective implementation of the business and marketing plans envisaged for the U.S. office, L-US wanted the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of L-India to come to the U.S. and fill the vacant position of President at least until the U.S. operations were stabilized.

After thoroughly understanding L-US's needs and requirements and the operations of both L-India and L-US, our qualified attorneys concluded that the most appropriate visa to bring the CEO to the U.S. would be the L-1 "New Office" visa. On a New Office L-1 visa, the CEO of L-India could be transferred to the U.S. for a period of one year to set-up the operations of the newly formed branch office in U.S.

Obtaining a New Office L-1 visa is never simple as there are numerous requirements that need to be satisfied before the visa can be granted. First, a qualifying relationship must exist between the entity in U.S. and the entity outside the U.S. Second, the transferee, who needs to be an Executive or Manager, must have worked for at least 1 year in the past 3 years as an Executive or a Manager in the overseas company. Third, it must be demonstrated that the business operations being set up in the U.S. have a realistic chance of becoming profitable and of employing additional personnel in the U.S.

Our expert legal team worked closely with L-US and L-India to skillfully put together a comprehensive petition clearly establishing L-US's realistic business plans, its eligibility to seek a transfer of L-India's CEO and the CEO's qualifications. The petition was supported by all the necessary and relevant documentation, including business plans, sales projections, job description, and documents establishing the existence of the qualifying relationship between L-India and L-US. As Start Business In America assisted the company in setting up L-US, it was intimately familiar with what documents would be available and what documents would be needed well ahead of time.

The comprehensive application, an outcome of dedicated efforts of our exemplary legal team and attorneys resulted in the grant of an L-1 New Office visa to the CEO of L-India, enabling him to come to the U.S. and manage L-US as its President.

Extending The President's Stay In The U.S.

An L-1 New Office visa is generally only granted for a period of one year initially. To seek an extension of stay beyond the first year, the L-1 visa holder is expected to, during the first year, bring the business into operation in the U.S., hire employees, show revenues, develop it and grow it to a level where it justifies the continued presence of the foreign Executive or Manager in the U.S.

Approximately 4 months before the period of the one year granted to the President of L-US on the L-1 visa was coming to a close, our attorneys helped L-US prepare another comprehensive extension petition clearly articulating how the operations of L-US had commenced and how it had reached a level that justified the continuing presence and leadership of the overseas Executive to manage L-US. The petition, which was complete in all respects, ensured that L-US's President was granted an extension of stay for a further 2 years to allow him to remain in the U.S. and manage L-US.

Transferring A Software Module Leader From L-India To L-US

When L-US wanted to integrate L-India's proprietary customized CRM solution into its client systems, our attorneys suggested that L-US transfer an employee who had knowledge of the proprietary system to the U.S. Our attorneys prepared an L-1B petition for L-US in order to classify an employee of L-India as a Specialized Knowledge Employee. The petition, expertly prepared by our attorneys, clearly articulated how the L-India employee possessed advanced, proprietary business and technical knowledge of L-India's tool and how his presence was much needed at L-US to integrate and maintain the functionalities of the framework of these tools. The skillful approach and presentation of our experienced attorney's resulted in approval of the L-1B petition filed by L-US, helping it to bring an employee with Specialized Knowledge from India to work in the U.S.

Obtaining Permanent Residency For The CEO In U.S.

As L-US's operations continued to grow in size, L-US wanted its President to remain permanently in the U.S. and continue managing its operations. Start Business In America helped L-US successfully file a petition for a Green Card for its President in the EB-1 category for "Multinational Executives and Managers". Working closely with the L-US team, our attorneys prepared a detailed and comprehensive application with extensive supporting documents clearly establishing that L-US's need and eligibility to seek permanent residence for its President and the President's qualifications met the strict eligibility requirements prescribed for a Green Card under the EB-1 category.

With a successful EB-1 Green Card application, the Indian national President of Logistics-US is now permanently residing in the U.S., managing its U.S. operations while continuing to guide the operations of the parent company, Logistics-India.