L1 visa after filing I-130 spouse petition from abroad

[JulienR 92]

Hi all,

 

Hope someone can help with this probably unusual situation. My wife is USC and I am French, currently living in France. We decided recently to move to the US. We just filed an I-130 petition with USCI. In the meantime, we started looking for jobs in the US as getting a job offer would allow us to file another petition through direct consular filing at the Paris embassy and that would be a much quicker process than the USCIS-NVC one. My company has offices in the US and I contacted them just in case but thinking there would be a very low chance of getting transfered. It turned out they have a position matching my profile that they are having a hard time filling and I had a first interview. One thing that came up and plays against me is the visa issue, even with consular processing in Paris it will take 2-3 months to get the visa. Now, I have have learned that my company has  a blanket L1 visa allowance. The L1 visa would take less than a month to get. My concern is that this is a non immigrant visa and we want to permanently move to the US. I understand you can apply for an employment based green card with your employer as a sponsor when your are on an L1 visa but there is still a risk that they don't get the Labor Certification. So I was wondering if I could go to the US on the L1 visa and continue the CR1 application process from there?

 

Thanks.

[WeGuyGal 1,052]

You can enter the US on an L1 with the I130 petition under process.

 

Edit: L1 visa allows for dual intent.

Edited February 14, 2019 by WeGuyGal

[Airman 35]

L1 is dual intent visa and having I-130 will have no negative effect on CR1.  If you go through L1 and want your employer to file petition, it will be I-140 and if from your USC spouse, it will be I-130. My experience says: I-130 will be much easier to be approved by USCIS than employment based I-140 these days. Once you are in US on L1 visa > your spouse can file I-130 and I-485 together (this is optional, you can also file only I-130 and later I-485 for AOS if you want but filing together will save few months time), 

 

Source: i was on L1 once.

 

[JulienR 92]

15 hours ago, Airman said:

L1 is dual intent visa and having I-130 will have no negative effect on CR1.  If you go through L1 and want your employer to file petition, it will be I-140 and if from your USC spouse, it will be I-130. My experience says: I-130 will be much easier to be approved by USCIS than employment based I-140 these days. Once you are in US on L1 visa > your spouse can file I-130 and I-485 together (this is optional, you can also file only I-130 and later I-485 for AOS if you want but filing together will save few months time), 

 

Source: i was on L1 once.

 

Thank you for the information.

 

We have already filed  I-130 from France (NOA 02/07) as we didn't know if one of us would be able to get a job from here and it takes so long to be processed. From what you are saying I understand I can still go in he US with an L1 visa as it is a "dual intent" visa and that won't affect the pending I-130 application. But instead of going through NVC and the consular process for the green card, I file  I-485 for AOS once in the US. Is that correct?

[Airman 35]

Your understanding is correct.