Question - Losing L1 Visa

Ponster

So...I just found out that I'm being left go from my company after 14 mostly happy years. Unfortunatly this means that I lose my L1 visa status.

Does anyone know how long I can legally stay in the US? My HR told me that I can stay until I get my affairs sorted but no precision on if that's for example 2 weeks or 2 months.

Any ideas ?

This is what I received from HR---

"US immigration law allows you to return to Home Country within a reasonable amount of time. While the law does not provide a defined period of time in which to return, Human Resources encourages your best interest to return to Home Country at your earliest opportunity after arranging your affairs in the USA"

daycent

Wow, that's tough..... I wonder could you change to a holiday visa which would give you 90 days?

Edit: how long are you on the L1?

sawdoubters

talk to a immigration attorney this one writes in the irish paper and I think she will answer questions free,she seems to know her stuff

http://www.avvo.com/attorneys/94103-ca-susanna-bogue-155545.html

email her

Susanna I. Bogue

Kerosky, Purves & Bogue

785 Market St., 15th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94103

Office: 415-243-8472

Office: 415-777-4445


Generally speaking, you’d be required to leave the U.S. if you were fired or laid off by your sponsoring company. The same holds true if the company ceases to operate in the U.S.

However, it may be possible to apply for a change of status (usually to a visitor status) if you wish to remain in the country for a limited time. Alternatively, you might be able to find a different employer who is willing to sponsor you for a work visa.
You may also apply to change status to B-2 IF you apply before your employment finishes. You can not work in B-2 status, but you can stay and finish tying up your US business once the employer-employee relationship ends, so does the employee's immigration status . In other words, when a worker no longer provides services as per the terms of their work petition , they are no longer allowed by the USCIS to remain in the US.

In practical terms, this does not mean that a worker who is laid-off or terminated packs their belongings, uproots their families and heads straight to the airport after they receive notice of their termination to return to their homelands. However, each day that they stay beyond their last day of work authorization is a day that would be considered unauthorized by the USCIS . An unauthorized stay however, is different than time spent in unlawful presence , which is a legal term of art. Obviously, neither unauthorized stay nor time spent in unlawful presence is something any worker wants to face, especially if one hopes to return to the US in the future to provide services to a new or the same employer. The consequences of any overstay can ruin your chances of obtaining another type of visa or indeed ultimately immigrating to the U.S. in the future. It can also affect your ability to visit or even work again on an H-1B or L-1 or even just to visit on an B-1 or B-2 visa.


heres a good webpage

http://www.visalaw.com/08oct2/2oct208.html

iusedtoknow

sorry to hear about this. It's a horrible situation.

How are you company being about this? Can they put you in touch with the immigration attorney that sorted everything out for your L-1? If not, I would engage one, even just for a consult to cover you bases. I know this happened to someone in my firm, and they had 10 days to tidy up their affairs as best they could, and ended up turning around at Dublin airport and re-entering on VWP to finish everything up.

ProudDUB

Boy that sucks ! If you have have been a permanent resident in the US for 5 consecutive years, you can apply for citizenship. I'd definitely get on to an immigration attorney and see about what your options are for staying on in the country while your application is being processed. You don't have to give up your Irish citizenship if you choose to go down that road. Once you are a citizen you can do whatever you like as your staying in the US is no longer dependent on your job. Best of luck to you.

iusedtoknow

The OP is on L1 visa, which isn't PR.

On the L1 (i'm on it as well) you're tied to job, so until you move to a green card category, you have to leave the country, even if you've been in for 5 years.

To move from L1b->green card can take 2 or 3 years. Moving from L1a to Greencard can be shorter, however...it has to be processed by your company and costs a bomb for them.

rockonollie

Sorry to hear that Ponster.........unfortunately, the info your HR gave you is pretty accurate.....there is no set time limit, just the pretty ambiguous statement of having to leave within a reasonable amount of time.

It's hard to determine how long someone needs to "get their affairs in order".........if someone owns a property, it could take months to sell it, does that mean they can stay in the US until the house sells.

As previous posters have said, it may be best to at least contact an immigration attorney to see what the basic options are.

I wish you luck, hopefully you can find a reasonable conclusion to the problem.

ProudDUB

iusedtoknow wrote: »

The OP is on L1 visa, which isn't PR.

On the L1 (i'm on it as well) you're tied to job, so until you move to a green card category, you have to leave the country, even if you've been in for 5 years.

To move from L1b->green card can take 2 or 3 years. Moving from L1a to Greencard can be shorter, however...it has to be processed by your company and costs a bomb for them.

I know that the L1 is not the same thing as having a Permanent Resident Card aka Green Card. But permanent residency in the US, is defined as being resident there for 180 days per calender year. So you can be permanently resident in the US, without having a green card.

If the OP has lived in the US for 14 years, he is a permanent resident, irrespective of what visa he had that allowed him to live and work there full time. Unless there are any big chunks of time where he was out of the US, he is eligible to apply for citizenship. Here is the USCIS's own checklist, where he can check the specifics of his eligibility.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Citizenship%20&%20Naturalization%20Based%20Resources/A%20Guide%20to%20Naturalization/PDFs/M-480.pdf

lonestargirl

ProudDUB wrote: »

I know that the L1 is not the same thing as having a Permanent Resident Card aka Green Card. But permanent residency in the US, is is defined as being resident there for 180 days per calender year. So you can be permanently resident in the US, without having a green card.

If the OP has lived in the US for 14 years, he is a permanent resident, irrespective of what visa he had that allowed him to live and work there full time. Unless there are any big chunks of time where he was out of the US, he is eligible to apply for citizenship. Here is the USCIS's own checklist, where he can check the specifics of his eligibility.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Citizenship%20&%20Naturalization%20Based%20Resources/A%20Guide%20to%20Naturalization/PDFs/M-480.pdf

See point 2 on your checklist, you have to have a green card. The 180 days per year is residency for tax purposes.

iusedtoknow

ProudDUB wrote: »

I know that the L1 is not the same thing as having a Permanent Resident Card aka Green Card. But permanent residency in the US, is is defined as being resident there for 180 days per calender year. So you can be permanently resident in the US, without having a green card.

If the OP has lived in the US for 14 years, he is a permanent resident, irrespective of what visa he had that allowed him to live and work there full time. Unless there are any big chunks of time where he was out of the US, he is eligible to apply for citizenship. Here is the NCSIS own checklist where he can check the specifics of his eligibility.

http://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/USCIS/Resources/Citizenship%20&%20Naturalization%20Based%20Resources/A%20Guide%20to%20Naturalization/PDFs/M-480.pdf

L1 is for 3 years, then extendible for another 2 (or 4 if L1a). You cannot renew it.

Also, the L1 visa category is non-immigrant dual-intent , so you have the right to switch to a PR and get the card, but in itself is not leave to permanent residency. The time you have spend in the states does count to your time in the US once you have switched over to a PR status visa. I've been through this with my lawyers.

iusedtoknow

lonestargirl wrote: »

See point 2 on your checklist, you have to have a green card. The 180 days per year is residency for tax purposes.

Precisely. I am a tax resident to the US, and my primary residence is the US. However I am not a resident, even though the IRS are quite happy to tax me as such

However if I claim to be resident, it's a felony and I would either be deported or jailed.

InTheTrees

God. How terrible.

What about all the Unemployment Insurance you've paid over the years?

ProudDUB

Well balls to that ! Sorry Ponster.

InTheTrees

iusedtoknow wrote: »

L1 is for 3 years, then extendible for another 2 (or 4 if L1a). You cannot renew it.

But the OP had one for 14 years?

iusedtoknow

InTheTrees wrote: »

But the OP had one for 14 years?

I don't think so...IIRC the OP moved from Europe on an intercompany transfer (this visa)

Pro Hoc Vice

InTheTrees wrote: »

But the OP had one for 14 years?

The OP said he worked for the company for 14 years, he has not stated how long he is on the L1. The L1 visa is for intercompany transfer, a manager moving from the Madrid office to say New York it is a maximum 5 years and in some cases 7 years I believe. The visa can not be extended beyond those limits. I do not believe such visas count towards naturlisation.

For example in Ireland a person can be resident legally for 7 years on a stamp 2 permission but will have no entitlement to naturlisation or long term permission to remain.

iusedtoknow

infosys wrote: »

The OP said he worked for the company for 14 years, he has not stated how long he is on the L1. The L1 visa is for intercompany transfer, a manager moving from the Madrid office to say New York it is a maximum 5 years and in some cases 7 years I believe. The visa can not be extended beyond those limits. I do not believe such visas count towards naturlisation.

For example in Ireland a person can be resident legally for 7 years on a stamp 2 permission but will have no entitlement to naturlisation or long term permission to remain.

It's a dual intent visa. I am currently moving to PR status (Sllllloooooowwwlly) and my time on the L1 will count towards naturalization once I move to the correct PR catagory.

Pro Hoc Vice

iusedtoknow wrote: »

It's a dual intent visa. I am currently moving to PR status (Sllllloooooowwwlly) and my time on the L1 will count towards naturalization once I move to the correct PR catagory.

But if you did not move to PR your time on L1 means nothing, which was the point currently the OP is on a permission that does not give help towards naturlisation, of course it's open to the OP to try and change permission.

crapmanjoe

iusedtoknow wrote: »

It's a dual intent visa. I am currently moving to PR status (Sllllloooooowwwlly) and my time on the L1 will count towards naturalization once I move to the correct PR catagory.

Not to hijack the thread but I'm also on L1a (for last 2 years) and should have green card within next 2 months - does the 2 years count towards the 5 years naturalization? Can't see anything on internet about it

iusedtoknow

crapmanjoe wrote: »

Not to hijack the thread but I'm also on L1a (for last 2 years) and should have green card within next 2 months - does the 2 years count towards the 5 years naturalization? Can't see anything on internet about it

yes..it counts from you first entry into the US.

My lawyers said it is one of the benefits of a "dual intent visa"

Ponster

Wow! Sorry for not coming back quicker but I hadn't expected to be on page 2

So the story is that I've worked for Orange for 12 years in Paris and spent the last 2 in NYC. We hadn't intended on staying more than 3 or 4 anyhow but the restructuring news came as a bit of a shock. The company are offering to pay 5000e to relocate me to wherever I want to go next and are also offering a healthy severance package (6 months pay) .

As suggested I spoke to an immigration lawyer who confirmed that there is no fixed time as such to pack up and move and it changes case to case (e.g. someone who has to sell property may need a little more time). I reckon that I should be able to get everything done in 2-3 weeks the only problem being the time to wait after the cats get vaccinated and before they can travel. Turns out that moving country with pets is more awkward than with kids

iusedtoknow

Glad it's working out for you (who would say no to 6 month severance). It is a bit of a shock, but you have reminded me to get my cats stuff sorted out...just in case

spideog7

6 months severance presumably given to you in 2014 so it won't be taxable in the US (assuming you leave) but might be taxable in whatever country you move to, right?

Just curious!

daycent

I'm one year into an L1B (in Silicon Valley). Luckily, my employer agreed recently to approve, and fund, my GC application. Extra glad now after reading this....Probably will be 2 years or more (category EB3) but at least I have started the process. Hopefully the next few years go smoothly!

Best of luck OP, glad to hear it's not all bad news. And we also have cats that we brought over from Ireland so I feel your pain there!