Transferring from an L1 visa to a green card provides you with permanent residency. This legal status enables you to live and work in the U.S. indefinitely without being tied to a specific employer.
This process offers significant advantages, including freedom from visa renewals, job mobility, travel ease, and educational opportunities. So if you are interested in adjusting your status to permanent residence, keep reading to find out how.
Because the L1 is a “dual intent” visa, you can pursue permanent residency without violating your status. However, transferring from an L1 visa to a green card generally involves your employer. The company must file an immigrant petition, Form I-140, typically through the EB-1C category for managers and executives or EB-2/EB-3 for skilled workers, professionals, and those with advanced degrees.
This is often the fastest route because it does not require the lengthy Program Electronic Review Management (PERM) labor certification process for leadership roles. However, for non-managerial workers, a PERM is the first, mandatory step for many U.S. employers sponsoring foreign workers for a permanent green card. The goal of this process is to prove to the Department of Labor (DOL) that no qualified, willing U.S. workers are available for the position. The exception to this is if you qualify for a National Interest Waiver (NIW).
To transfer from an L1 visa to a greed card, you would need to have your employer follow these four steps on your behalf:
Timing is everything when transferring to a green card, and many L-1A holders are able to complete this process in under a year. However, you must monitor the Visa Bulletin to ensure a visa is available in your category. You must also remain in the U.S. legally while your application is being processed.
If you need a knowledgeable legal advocate to champion your immigration issue, you came to the right place. If you are interested in transferring from an L1 visa to a green card, contact us at New Frontier Immigration Law for assistance. Because many immigration issues are complex, we can help you find peace of mind knowing we do things correctly to prevent unnecessary delays.
Hillary Walsh is one of America’s foremost immigration attorneys — a nationally recognized advocate whose career has been built case by case, client by client, in the most challenging corners of immigration law.
For over a decade, Hillary has represented immigrants, asylum seekers, trafficking survivors, and families facing deportation in proceedings before the Ninth, Sixth, and Fifth Circuit Courts of Appeals, the Board of Immigration Appeals, and immigration courts across the country. Her legal expertise spans removal defense, asylum, VAWA, T Visa, U Visa, green cards, and naturalization — the full breadth of immigration law, with particular depth in protection-based relief for vulnerable populations.
Her work has reached the highest levels of American jurisprudence. Hillary was invited to author an amicus curiae brief for a U.S. Supreme Court case — a distinction extended to attorneys whose command of immigration law is recognized at the national level.
Hillary founded New Frontier Immigration Law in 2019 with a simple but radical belief: that every person deserves a fighting chance, and that there is a solution for every problem. That legal philosophy has guided thousands of client outcomes across Phoenix, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, and communities nationwide.
She doesn’t just represent clients in immigration court; she shapes how immigration law is argued, understood, and applied.
