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# ${TITLE} | Portunus



## L1 visa for UK employees: quick answer

The L1 visa for UK employees lets a British company move a manager, executive, or specialised staff member into a US entity it owns or controls. Two categories: **L-1A** for executives and managers (up to seven years), **L-1B** for specialised knowledge staff (up to five years). The transferee needs one year of full-time employment with the UK company inside the three years before filing.

Here is the part most guides skim. If you are opening a brand-new US office, your petition is decided mainly on **US-side evidence**, not the transferee's CV. USCIS wants to see secured physical premises, a one-year business plan with real numbers, an organisational chart showing who the transferee will manage, and a payroll and tax trail proving the UK entity actually trades. A brilliant candidate with a thin US file gets refused. A solid candidate with a well-documented US plan gets approved.

## What is the L-1 visa and who qualifies?

The L-1 is the US intra-company transfer visa. It rests on three tests, and adjudicators check them in this order.

**1. The corporate relationship.** The US and UK entities must be the same employer or a qualifying parent, subsidiary, branch, or affiliate. Common ownership is not enough on its own; you need documentary proof of control. For a UK SME that usually means the share register, incorporation certificates for both entities, the US entity's formation documents, and a clear ownership diagram. If your US company is 100% owned by the UK Ltd, say so and prove it with stock certificates and the operating agreement.

**2. One year of qualifying employment abroad.** The transferee must have worked for the qualifying organisation abroad full-time for one continuous year within the three years immediately before filing. Breaks in employment are subtracted from that three-year lookback rather than counted toward it [1]. Time already spent working in the US for the same employer generally doesn't count toward the year, so plan the sequence carefully.

**3. The role, on both ends.** The transferee must have worked abroad in a managerial, executive, or specialised-knowledge capacity, and must be coming to the US in one of those capacities too.

That third test is where the two categories part company, and they should never be argued the same way. An L-1A case is about authority and structure. An L-1B case is about knowledge that is genuinely distinctive to your business. Pick one and build the whole file around it. Our 
[L-1B specialised knowledge](/blog/l1b-specialised-knowledge-visa) 
guide covers what USCIS actually tests in that category.

## L1 visa new office UK business: what USCIS actually wants to see

If your US entity has been doing business for less than one year, you are filing a **new office** petition, and the evidentiary bar shifts. Three things carry the file.

**Secured premises, not a plan to secure premises.** A signed lease or purchase agreement for physical space is treated as baseline evidence. Virtual office addresses and mail-forwarding services routinely draw a Request for Evidence. The space also has to match the plan: if your business plan projects nine US hires in year one, a 200 sq ft single-desk suite contradicts you. For a 5–20 employee UK firm, a 12-month lease on 800–1,500 sq ft of office or light-industrial space, with the lease naming the US entity as tenant, reads as credible. Include the lease, floor plan, first rent payment receipt, and photographs.

**A one-year business plan that projects staffing, not just revenue.** USCIS expects the new US office to be able to support an executive or managerial position within one year of approval [2]. That means the plan has to show, month by month or quarter by quarter, who gets hired and when. For a UK company with 15 staff, a plausible year-one US plan might look like: transferee starts month 1; a sales hire and an operations coordinator by month 4; two more by month 9; four to six US employees by month 12, with the transferee directing at least two professional-level subordinates. Attach draft job descriptions and salary bands for each planned role.

**Proof the money is there.** Bank statements for the US entity showing capitalisation from the UK parent, wire transfer records, and a source-of-funds trail. If the UK company is funding the launch, board minutes authorising the investment help. The principles overlap with what a 
[strong E-2 business plan](/blog/e2-visa-business-plan) 
requires: specific, costed, and internally consistent.

New office approvals are granted for one year. You will have to prove, at extension, that the plan happened. Write it accordingly.

## L1A vs L1B visa requirements: how the evidence differs

Blending these two produces a file that satisfies neither adjudicator.

**L-1A (executive or manager)** turns on structure. What USCIS looks for:

- An organisational chart for the US entity, current and projected at 12 months, with names, titles, and reporting lines

- Evidence the transferee will primarily manage people or a function, not perform the day-to-day work themselves

- Job descriptions for subordinates showing they are professional or supervisory, not clerical

- Discretionary authority: hiring and firing power, budget sign-off, contract authority

- The same structural proof on the UK side, showing the transferee already held that scope

Founder-managers of small firms often lose here because they describe themselves doing everything. Distinguish clearly between what the transferee directs and what employees or contractors execute [5].

**L-1B (specialised knowledge)** turns on distinctiveness. What matters:

- A description of the specific proprietary product, process, methodology, or client system the employee knows

- Internal training records, certifications, and project histories showing how the knowledge was acquired

- Evidence that the knowledge is not readily available in the US labour market

- Why the US operation needs it now, tied to a named contract, client, or build

L-1B new office cases are harder, because a brand-new office also has to show it can meaningfully deploy that knowledge from day one.

## How UK SMEs use the L1 visa to open a US office

The realistic pattern for a small British company is sequential, not simultaneous. Move one person, then build around them.

A typical arc: the UK Ltd incorporates a US subsidiary (Delaware LLC or corporation is common), capitalises it, signs a lease in the target market, then petitions to transfer a founder-director or senior operator on L-1A. That person spends year one hiring locally, landing the first US customers, and generating the payroll records that make the extension straightforward. Once the US entity has been trading for a year, later transfers stop being new office cases and become ordinary L-1 filings with a much lighter evidence burden [4].

Your UK operating history is an asset here, so document it. The pack that supports the corporate-relationship and one-year-employment tests is largely paperwork you already hold:

| Evidence | What it proves |
| --- | --- |
| PAYE records and payslips for the transferee, 12+ months | The one-year employment rule [1] |
| Corporation tax returns and filed accounts | The UK entity trades and is solvent |
| Companies House filings, share register | The qualifying corporate relationship |
| UK org chart plus the transferee's job description | Managerial or specialised capacity abroad |
| Client contracts, invoices, VAT returns | The sending company is active, not dormant |

Two working directors in a nine-person consultancy can support an L-1A transfer. Size isn't the obstacle. Documentation is [6].

## Filing the L1 petition: Form I-129, evidence pack, and processing timeline

The US employer files **Form I-129** with the L Classification Supplement, plus the evidence pack, with USCIS. The employee doesn't file; the company does.

Sequence:

- **Prepare.** Incorporate and capitalise the US entity, sign the lease, finalise the business plan and org charts.

- **File Form I-129** with supporting evidence and fees, including the Fraud Prevention and Detection fee where applicable.

- **Optional: request premium processing** on Form I-907.

- **Approval (Form I-797)**, then the UK-based employee applies for the visa: DS-160, fee, biometrics, and interview at the US Embassy in London or the Consulate in Belfast.

- **Enter the US**, complete I-9 and payroll onboarding, and start the clock on the one-year plan.

On timing, be sceptical of confident numbers. UK-facing guides commonly cite a 15-calendar-day premium processing option for the USCIS petition stage [3]. Treat that as what it is: a service commitment covering the adjudication decision only, which can be satisfied by an RFE rather than an approval. It says nothing about consular appointment availability, administrative processing, or how long your own evidence-gathering takes. Standard processing varies by service centre and month; consular wait times in London move independently. Any credible overall estimate is a range, not a date, and a firm quoting one without qualification is selling certainty it doesn't have. Compare current published figures against the relevant 
[US visa guides](/visas) 
before committing to a start date.

## Common reasons L1 new office petitions get denied

Four failure points account for most refusals, and all four are fixable before filing.

**Vague job duties.** "Oversees business development and manages operations" tells an adjudicator nothing. Write duties as a percentage breakdown of time, name the subordinates or functions supervised, and specify decisions the transferee makes alone.

**Thin corporate-relationship evidence.** An assertion of ownership with no share certificates, no formation documents, and no ownership diagram invites an RFE. Prove control, don't describe it.

**A generic business plan.** Templated market-size paragraphs with no hiring schedule, no costed budget, and no named target customers read as aspiration. USCIS is testing whether the office can sustain a managerial role within twelve months [2], and a plan without a staffing timetable cannot answer that.

**Premises that contradict the plan.** A co-working hot desk alongside a projection of eight employees signals the plan isn't real [2][5].

None of this means the L-1 is closed to small British companies. It means adjudicators cannot approve what they cannot verify, and small companies are more often under-documented than under-qualified [6].

## L1 visa for UK employees FAQ

## Next steps: building your evidence pack before you plan the move

Work in this order. Lock the corporate structure and paperwork first. Sign the lease. Write the business plan with a month-by-month hiring schedule and salary bands. Build both org charts. Pull twelve months of UK payroll and the latest filed accounts. Then decide whether the case is L-1A or L-1B and strip out anything that argues the other category.

For attorneys, the highest-value hour on an SME new office file is usually spent rewriting the transferee's job description into time-allocated duties with named subordinates. For families, hold the removals quote, the housing offer, and the school application until the approval notice is in hand. The 
[visa glossary](/blog/glossary) 
is worth a scan if terms like "qualifying organisation" or "administrative processing" are new to you.

One detail worth diarising now: your new office approval runs twelve months, and the extension is judged against the plan you filed. The hiring schedule you write this month is the standard you will be measured by next year.

### Sources

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### Ready to Start Your E2 Application?

Use our AI-powered platform to check your eligibility and begin your application process.

[Check E2 Eligibility](/check-eligibility)

### Related Resources

- /blog/l1-visa-guide
- L1 Visa: The Complete Guide
- L1A and L1B requirements, costs, processing times and the pathway to a US green card.
- /blog/l1b-specialised-knowledge-visa
- L-1B Specialised Knowledge
- What USCIS actually tests when knowledge, not structure, carries the case.
- /blog/l1-vs-h1b-visa
- L-1 vs H-1B
- The eligibility gate, cap and lottery timing, spousal work rights and the green card path.

Disclaimer: For informational purposes only. Not legal advice. Immigration outcomes are determined by the U.S. government. Government fees, salary thresholds and processing times change; verify current figures with USCIS, the U.S. Embassy in London and GOV.UK before you file.