Difficulties with L1 renewal/I-140

[JulieC]

We changed status a while ago from E2 to L1. The set up was that the shareholding was slightly different between the two companies, in that the UK shareholders of the UK business let my husband have a small shareholding in the business in the US he was going to be manager of. We were told at the time that control was the important thing not ownership so the two companies did not have to be exactly the same. Texas issued an L1 with this shareholding with no problems and our visa attorney, a different one from the one who did the original L1, saw no problems in filing for L1 renewal and also the I-140/485 concurrently with the shareholding this way. L1 renewal came back with requests for further information but no mention of the shareholding at all, the further information has just gone back in, but the 1-140 was denied on the grounds that the shareholding should be exactly the same. Our attorney is convinced they are wrong and has filed an appeal on a point of law quoting case work and precedent, which will first be dealt with as a motion to reconsider in Texas, but may be sent to the AAU in Washington where processing is currently 5 months. Texas have also killed off our I-485 but the attorney says that is illegal in an appeal situation and has filed for it be the reinstated. We are wondering whether the attorney is right or should we just get the shareholding changed and re-file?? Our son turns 21 in September which is an additional complication.

[Susie]

Hi Julie

Thanks for your posting.

The more I speak to immigrants the more I become amazed at all the different issues we all face

Seems as though the left hand does not always know what the right hand is doing

As far as I understood the L1 process both business's had to be set up exactly the same way. Eg same directors, with same number of shares.

I am busy trying to write a white paper at the moment but as soon as I get a chance I will re-read the L1 requirements to see if they have changed and get back to you

[Grumpy]

Hi

I came out on an L1 visa

6th months before it was due to expire I applied for adjustment of status.

Once I applied for my green card I had to get permission to return to my home country. The approval took almost 7 months to come through. It was only valid for one year so had to keep renewing it, just in case I needed to go home in an emergency

Thank goodness that everything was ok back home otherwise if I just went back I would have given up my right to a green card

[JulieC]

The more you read up on the shareholding issue the more complicated it becomes. The whole thing centers on the meaning of the word control as control is more important than ownership. The fact is we got the L1 that way, if that was erroneous, did we ever change status?? My attorney is a member of AILA and has found lots of case law to support the view that the shareholding is ok, guess we have to trust that though I dont much like appeals especially the long processing time in view of my sons age. Half of me thinks just fix it and reapply but I guess you have to trust the experts, dont you?