Charles M. Goldsmith Immigration Law Blog on Lawyers.com

With the freezing cold weather we’ve faced this winter, an extra blanket certainly is helpful.  With the ever increasing difficulty companies are having getting their “L” petitions approved by the USCIS, another kind of blanket has become a necessity.  I’m referring here to the special processing larger companies can avail themselves of by obtaining a blanket L approval.

HOW IT WORKS

Unlike the individual L petition which must be filed first at the USCIS, once a blanket is approved for a company, a petition and supporting documentation for the individual application are filed directly at the Consulate where the applicant will apply for a visa. By doing this, you save the usual three months USCIS processing time or the costly option of paying $1,200 for “Premium Processing“ that guarantees an adjudication in two weeks. You also avoid the USCIS filing fee of $325 for an individual “L” petition.

 OTHER ADVANTAGES IT OFFERS

1. EASIER ADJUDICATIONS-It has been our experience that the standards used by American Consuls overseas as to who qualifies for an L visa under a blanket are much less demanding than those imposed by the USCIS for individual petitions. The significant increase we have seen in USCIS “kickbacks” often results in significant delays and increased legal fees charged to respond to these “kickbacks.”
2. TRANSFERABILITY OF PERSONNEL- If an employee enters the US with an individual L visa for one company and the company wants to transfer him to another group company, we are not only required to file a petition with USCIS to authorize the transfer, but we also must wait until the USCIS actually approves the petition before the transfer can be made. None of this is necessary if someone enters under a blanket as he can work for any company included in the blanket petition. Here too, a significant savings in costs occurs in the form of lower legal fees, and no regular USCIS filing fees or Premium Processing fees if you opt for the quicker adjudication.
3. EXTENSION APPLICATIONS-  For those already in the U.S. with an “L” visa there are two additional advantages:
   1. The only procedure previously available to obtain an extension required a two-step process. First an extension was obtained through USCIS which took several months and then, the foreign worker would apply for a new visa at the American Consulate in their home country based on the approval notice. By using the blanket approval, your employees can avoid the first step entirely. The benefit to you is that you avoid significant filing fees and processing times by USCIS and additional legal fees to process the USCIS extension
   2. Rather than visiting their home country, your employees (and their family) can apply for a new “L” visa at an American Consulate in Canada based on the blanket approval. This will avoid substantial transportation costs for the employee and his family and loss of the employee’s services for the additional time it takes to travel and process the visa overseas rather than just the few days it normally takes at the American consulates in Canada. 

An initial blanket L is valid for three years. To obtain a permanent extension of the blanket, a company must submit a detailed report regarding the petitions and employees who obtained visas under the blanket. These records, along with all the information required to process a visa under the blanket, can be easily processed through the attorney’s office.

For more detailed information about which companies and which employees can qualify for L visas under a blanket, please visit our website at www.ggw.com or please contact us for a free consultation regarding the “L” blanket option.

For more than 30 years, the law firm of Garganigo, Goldsmith & Weiss has been assisting people with immigration, green card or visa issues. For more information on how our immigration attorneys in NY can help, please call us at 212-643-6400, email us online, or visit our office at 14 Penn Plaza, Suite 1020, New York, NY 10122.