The Multinational Executive: "How It Works"

Our subject for this case study is an Executive with a major Korean multinational. The company has many business units and a U.S. subsidiary company in California. He has been with the company for six years, the last two in his current job as an executive in charge of a product design function. The Executive is married and has two children.

The company decides to transfer the design function for this product to the United States division, and informs the Executive that in two months he will need to transfer to the U.S. The Executive and his wife travel to the U.S. for ten days to meet his new U.S. counterparts, explore the area surrounding the location of the U.S. entity, and secure a place to live in an area with good schools for the children. Since both the executive and his wife have been to the U.S. before for business meetings, they had earlier applied at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea for B-1/B-2 visitors' visas. They use these B-1/B-2 visa stamps to enter for this brief visit.

Since individuals working for many of the company's divisions often transfer to the U.S. subsidiary, this U.S. entity has an L-1 Blanket petition already in place. Therefore, there is no need to submit a petition for this executive to the California Service Center of Citizenship and Immigration Services. Such a petition, absent Premium Processing, would normally take far too long. Instead, a petition and visa application is prepared by the company's U.S. immigration attorney for the Executive to present directly at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, along with visa applications for his family members. The Embassy approves the petition and applications, and the Executive and his family enters the U.S. (he in L-1A status, his family in L-2 status).

The Executive begins work at the U.S. entity of the company. His wife, an engineer, applies for an Employment Authorization Document so that she may work in the U.S. This is possible because L-2 dependants are eligible for Employment Authorization Documents. After about a year, the company is happy with the arrangement and wishes to station the Executive in the U.S. permanently. The family has adjusted well to U.S. life and is amenable to remaining here.

The company instructs its U.S. immigration attorney to prepare and file an I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition for the Executive along with I-485 Applications to Adjust Status to Permanent Residence for the Executive and each member of his family. The Multinational Executive or Manager permanent residence classification is in the First Employment-Based Preference category. While there is usually less of a backlog or no backlog in immigrant visa availability for this category, availability must nevertheless be checked.

At the particular point in time when this case is being processed, there is no backlog in the First Employment-Based preference category and the applications can all be filed simultaneously. Since both husband and wife are authorized for employment already, and may travel on their valid L visas without abandoning their I-485 applications, there is no need to apply for EADs or Advance Paroles.

Ultimately, the I-140 Immigrant Visa Petition is approved - but at this time visa availability in the First Employment-Based preference category has retrogressed. While the I-485 applications remain pending, the family must wait for the I-140's underlying priority date to become current before the cases will be approved. After waiting an additional eight months, the priority date becomes current and all four I-485 Adjustment applications are approved.

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