NON-IMMIGRANT VISAS
FOR BUSINESS

The United States remains a central destination for international business — for trade, direct investment, intracompany transfers, and short-term business activity. Whether you are entering as an investor, an executive moving into a U.S. role, or a senior employee with specialized knowledge of your company's products or processes, the right visa category is the foundation of the entire engagement. Selecting it correctly, and building the supporting record to match, is where experienced counsel earns its place.

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Categories We Handle

B-1 — Temporary Business Visitor. For individuals coming to the United States for short-term, permissible business activities such as attending meetings, negotiating contracts, consulting with business associates, or participating in conferences. The B-1 does not authorize productive employment in the United States, and the line between permissible business activity and unauthorized work is one we routinely advise on.

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L-1A — Intracompany Transferee, Executive or Manager. For executives and managers transferring from a qualifying foreign employer to a U.S. parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate. Both "executive" and "manager" have specific regulatory definitions that frequently drive RFEs, and new-office L-1A petitions face particular scrutiny.

 

L-1B — Intracompany Transferee, Specialized Knowledge. For employees with specialized knowledge of the qualifying employer's products, services, processes, or procedures. The evidentiary bar for "specialized knowledge" has tightened significantly in recent years, and the strength of the supporting record — corporate evidence, training history, comparison to others in the field — typically decides the outcome.

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E-1 — Treaty Trader. For nationals of countries that maintain a qualifying treaty of commerce and navigation with the United States, coming to engage in substantial trade — principally between the U.S. and the treaty country — in qualifying activities. Includes essential employees of treaty trader organizations.

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E-2 — Treaty Investor. For nationals of treaty countries who have made, or are actively in the process of making, a substantial investment in a bona fide U.S. enterprise that they will develop and direct. Includes essential employees of treaty investor organizations. "Substantial investment" is a proportionality test, not a fixed dollar amount, and the source-and-path-of-funds documentation is often as important as the investment itself.

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Our Approach to Business Cases

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Category Selection and Risk Mapping. A focused initial assessment to identify the strongest category for your facts, the realistic alternatives, and the specific issues likely to surface at adjudication.

Petition and Application Strategy. Preparation of petitions and visa applications with the supporting record built to address the regulatory criteria directly — not to recite them.

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Corporate and Evidentiary Documentation. Working with you, your company, and the relevant stakeholders to assemble the corporate, financial, and personnel evidence the case requires.

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Long-Term Planning. Counsel on status maintenance, extensions, dual-intent considerations, and the pathways from nonimmigrant business status to lawful permanent residence where that is the goal.

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Why Business Cases Reward Experienced Counsel

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E and L cases in particular reward depth. The categories share characteristic pressure points — substantiality of investment, qualifying ownership and control, the manager-versus-administrator line, the specialized-knowledge evidentiary record, source and path of funds, qualifying corporate relationships across borders — and adjudication has grown materially more skeptical in recent years. We approach these cases the way litigators approach a contested matter: assume the questions, build the record to answer them, and document the strategic choices made along the way.

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Whether you are filing for the first time, responding to an RFE, transferring an existing business presence into the United States, or planning a transition from nonimmigrant business status to permanent residence, we offer attorney-led representation at every stage — in English and Farsi.

Book a confidential consultation to discuss your case.