USCIS to Accept “Bundling” of Certain L1B Petitions

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced in November 2011 that it will be allowable to “bundle” together L-1 petitions for multiple employees when filed for identical positions by the same employer. The L-1 petitions may be bundled in order to streamline and improve the adjudication process. It is helpful that the USCIS recognizes that businesses often need to transfer multiple employees with specialized knowledge to the U.S. for the same project at the same time.

L-1 Bundled Petitions Need Same Petitioner, Project, Location

The ability to bundle L1B petitions is not a change in law or regulation. It is purely a procedural enhancement. It is still necessary to prepare a separate petition with separate filing fee for each foreign national beneficiary. However, it now is possible to identify certain groups of essentially identical petitions as L-1 bundles. The requirements for bundling are as follows:

• The petitions grouped in a bundle must be filed by a single petitioner. These petitions must be filed on behalf of beneficiaries employed at the same foreign entity who will seek initial L-1 status or an extension of their L-1 status.
• In order to file several petitions as a single bundle, the U.S. employment must be for the same project, at the same location, with each L1B employee performing the same specialized knowledge duties.
• The petitions for L1A managers who will manage the bundled group of L1B beneficiaries working on the project can also be included in the bundle.
• All of the petitions must be filed either as non-premium processing or premium processing cases in a group.
• The application to change / extend nonimmigrant status (Form I-539) filed for dependents of these L-1 beneficiaries can also be filed in the same bundle.

Coversheets to Indentify Bundles with Summary of Information

As mentioned above, it is still necessary to have a separately-prepared L-1 petition for each beneficiary, with appropriate filing fees and supporting documentation. The USCIS provides suggestions as to utilizing coversheets identifying the filings as a bundle, numbering the petitions, and setting out the name of the petitioner, project, and location on the coversheets.

These coversheets will be helpful in identifying the bundle, as well as separating the petitions. If the USCIS cannot determine that the petitions are from the same petitioner, for the same project, with the same specialized knowledge duties, for the same location, the USCIS will process each petition as if it was filed separately.

Multiple Positions at Same Work Location

If the petitioning employer needs to file L1B petitions for multiple positions at a single project, several bundles for each project can be submitted at the same time. Again, each L-1 petition has to be independently supported by evidence and the bundles must be clearly marked as such.

Conclusion

The bundling procedure appears to be a favorable step towards streamlining and uniformity. Of course, it is vital to fully prepare and document each case, and to demonstrate eligibility for the L-1 petition approval for each employee. It would seem likely that the cases belonging in a bundle should all be given the same outcome, favorable or unfavorable. It is possible that, with this new process of bundling, the USCIS is hoping to catch trends of certain L-1 employers in order to detect questionable practices or abuses of the system. Only time will tell.

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