USCIS Binding Adjudication Guidance on L-1B Specialized Knowledge Classification

Validated finding · five-country-2010-20260922-v118-evidence-presentation-fix

CountryUnited States

Operative dateAugust 31, 2015

CategoryLabour migration / legal migration

Policy toolAdjudication criteria / binding administrative guidance

Affected groupMultinational employers and specialized knowledge foreign intracompany transferees (l-1b)

Policy effect

Standardized the administrative adjudication framework across all USCIS service centers for L-1B intracompany transferee petitions, defining evidentiary standards for specialized knowledge under a preponderance of the evidence standard. Phase scope: Nationwide across all USCIS Service Centers; applies to all L-1B petitions pending or filed on or after August 31, 2015.

Conditions and exceptions

Validated condition or limit: applies to all L-1B petitions pending or filed on or after August 31, 2015.

Official source excerpt

Quoted verbatim from the official source below. Ellipses indicate omitted text.

It will go into effect on August 31, 2015. It provides guidance to USCIS officers in adjudicating petitions filed by multinational companies seeking to temporarily transfer employees who possess “specialized knowledge” from their foreign operations to their operations in the United States. The updated policy memorandum clarifies for adjudicators how L-1B petitioners may demonstrate that an employee possesses specialized knowledge.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration ServicesU.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Policy Memorandum: Updated Policy Memorandum on L-1B Visa Petition Adjudications (PM-602-0111 / AFM Update AD 15-07), published March 24, 2015, effective August 31, 2015.Open official source

Retrieved from https://uscis.gov/archive/updated-policy-memorandum-on-l-1b-visa-petition-adjudications

Review method

Two separate automated exact-claim source reviews

Automated source validation is not independent human legal review. The finding should not be treated as legal advice. Record fcp5-37cdcfb3705c96eaca30. Something wrong? Flag this record.

USCIS Binding Adjudication Guidance on L-1B Specialized Knowledge Classification

Policy effect

Conditions and exceptions

Official source excerpt

Review method

Other United States changes operative in 2015