Multinational Manager Immigrants

Multinational Manager Immigrants

To qualify for permanent residence under the Multinational Managers and Executives quota, the employee and the US and overseas companies must meet certain requirements. To qualify under this special process, called First Preference (“EB-1C”) immigration, the employee must have been a manager or executive overseas and hold a similar position in the US. A first preference immigrant is approved without any test of the US labor market (labor certification). Unlike the labor certification process, there is no restriction on a foreign investor owning the company that sponsors him or her for permanent residence. For most quota nationalities, this process takes about one year to complete.

Company Requirements

The sponsoring company in the US and employee’s overseas employer must have at least 50% common ownership. The overseas company must be a parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate of the sponsoring US company. The overseas company and the US company both must have been actively conducting business for at least one year. Both businesses should employ at least 5-7 workers in a pyramid type organizational structure.

Employee / Investor Qualifications

The employee or investor must document one-year overseas employment within the last three years and in a managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge capacity. First-line supervisors are not considered managers unless they supervise college graduate professionals. The US job must be in managerial or executive capacity. The employee must be qualified for work in the US (education, experience, English language capacity, etc.)

Immigrant Visa Petition

The US employer files an Immigrant Visa Petition (Form I-140) with the Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS). Premium Processing is available from the USCIS

Permanent Residence

The third and final step toward permanent residence is the application for permanent residence. The employee’s eligible family members apply for permanent residence at this time.

If filed inside the US with the USCIS, the permanent residence application is called “Adjustment of Status” (Form I-485). If the employee is eligible to file an application for adjustment of status and there is no immigrant visa waiting list, the I-485 application may be filed at the same time as the I-140 immigrant visa petition. This means step two and three may be combined for those who apply for permanent residence inside the US.

If the application for permanent residence is filed outside the US at an American consulate (“Consular Processing”), the permanent residence application is an application for an “Immigrant Visa” (Form DS-230). The I-140 immigrant visa petition must be filed and approved before filing the DS-230. After the employee obtains an immigrant visa at an American consulate and is admitted at a US port of entry, he or she will be granted permanent residence.

For an indeterminate period after becoming a permanent resident, the employee should work for the sponsoring employer under the terms of employment stated in the I-140 immigrant visa petition. However, sponsorship for permanent residence does not affect any preexisting agreement for at-will employment between the employer and employee.

To schedule a consultation on permanent residence under the Multinational Manager and Executive quota click here.