Multinational Manager or Executive

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Executives and managers of foreign companies who are transferred to the United States may qualify for permanent residence as multinational executives and managers if their employers wish to sponsor them for permanent residence in the United States. This is a fast and relatively easy path to permanent residence in the United States for those who qualify. Visa backlogs rarely occur in this employment-based preference category. A multinational manager or executive is eligible for priority worker status if he has been employed outside the United States, in the three years preceding the filing of the petition, for at least one year by a foreign firm or corporation and seeks to enter the United States to continue to work for that firm or organization. The employment of the executive or manager must have been outside the United States in a managerial or executive capacity with the same employer, an affiliate, subsidiary, or branch of the employer. The petitioner must be a United States employer, which has been doing business in the United States for at least one year, that is an affiliate, subsidiary, branch, or the same employer as the firm, corporation, or other legal body that employed the foreign national abroad.

The petitioning employer must file an I-140 petition with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. This employment-based permanent residence category is not self-petitioning: an employer must file the petition for the beneficiary transferee. No labor certification is required for any of the three employment-based, first preference category permanent residence petitions.

The employer must document that the alien was employed by the company, or its affiliate, parent, subsidiary, or branch outside the United States in a managerial or executive capacity for at least one year out of the three years directly preceding the individual’s nonimmigrant entrance into the United States. The definitions of manager and executive for the employment-based first preference category parallel those of the L-1 nonimmigrant category. Only multinational managers and executives may be sponsored by the employer for permanent residence in this category; specialized knowledge transferees must undergo labor certification in either the second or third employment-based preference categories. Moreover, first-line supervisors are not eligible for this permanent residence category as they are not considered to be acting in a managerial capacity merely by virtue of their supervisory duties. A transferee is not considered to be acting as a manager or executive merely due to the number of employees that he supervises, directly or indirectly.

The term managerial capacity means that the transferee:

• Manages an organization, department, subdivision, function, or component of the organization;
• Supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees, or manages an essential function;
• If the transferee directly supervises other employees, the multinational manager has the authority to hire or terminate employees or recommend the hiring or termination of employees;
• If the transferee does not supervise others, the multinational manager functions at a senior level within the organizational chain of command or with respect to the function managed; and
• Exercises direction over the day-to-day operations of the activity or function.

The term executive capacity means that the transferee:

• Directs the management of the organization or a major component, or function of the organization;
• Establishes the goals and policies of the organization, component, or function;
• Exercises wide latitude in making discretionary decisions; and
• Receives only broad supervision or direction from higher level executives, the board of directors, or the stockholders.

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