Immigrant Visas for Multinational Manager or Executive (EB-1C)

Since 1990, the multinational executive or manager visa classification, which was formerly designated under the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations as Schedule A Group IV, is now a separate visa classification.A petitioning U.S. employer may file an Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers (Form I-140) on behalf of such an executive or manager. The petitioner must demonstrate that the beneficiary has a permanent job offer in a primarily managerial or executive position with a qualifying U.S. employer. A permanent labor certification is not required for this classification. The petitioner must demonstrate that the beneficiary was employed abroad by a qualifying organization for 1 year out of the previous 3 years.

The petitioning U.S. employer must have been doing business in the United States for at least 1 year before filing a petition for its managers and executives (a similar provision was in Schedule A Group IV). Aliens seeking to enter the United States to open a new office are not eligible for the multinational executive or manager immigrant classification. The executive or manager must be coming to an existing business in the United States. This requirement was based in part on the pre-existing Schedule A, Group IV requirement.

The requirement was also based on the fact that, unlike in the case of a new office petition for a nonimmigrant intracompany transferee (L-1), which may only be extended upon a showing that the U.S. entity has been doing business for the previous year, the multinational executive or manager immigrant visa classification is permanent in nature. Further, unlike the immigrant investor fifth preference visa, for example, there is no first preference “conditional resident” status that requires a review of the business after the beneficiary becomes a permanent resident in order for the beneficiary to continue in that status.

A petitioning U.S. employer must demonstrate that the beneficiary has been employed for at least 1 year by a related organization abroad to work in a capacity that is managerial or executive. Managerial capacity includes personnel and function managers while executive capacity focuses on a person’s position within an organization.

The petitioning U.S. employer must demonstrate that it and the related organization abroad:

• Maintain a qualifying relationship; and
• Are both actively engaged in doing business.

The petitioning U.S. employer must also show that it has been actively engaged in doing business for at least 1 year. In addition, the petitioner must demonstrate that it has the ability to pay the beneficiary’s salary.