What Is the “L” Visa and How Should It Be Reformed?

Fact Sheet - Tuesday, March 4, 2025

The “L” visa is a numerically uncapped, temporary nonimmigrant visa category. The L visa category is divided into two subcategories: L-1A and L-1B.

• L-1A—This visa was created by Congress for intracompany transfers of executive leadership of multinational corporations from foreign offices to offices in the United States. 

• Because intracompany transfers of top executive management were not perceived as posing a grave threat to American workers, Congress did not require significant wage or labor protections in the program.

• L-1B—Congress also allowed for the issuance of L visas to aliens who are not executives, but who have “specialized knowledge” required by the corporation. 

• “Specialized knowledge” has never been adequately defined by Congress, courts, or the administrative state. This has created a massive fraud vulnerability that the government has been aware of for decades. 

• In 2006 the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (OIG) reported that the program was vulnerable to fraud, including specifically highlighting “specialized knowledge” as a problem. 

• In 2013, the OIG reviewed the program again and found the same vulnerabilities. 

• In 2025, Tata Consultancy Services faces a lawsuit alleging abuse of “specialized knowledge” to import front-line employees in circumvention of the H-1B numerical cap.

LEGISLATIVE RECOMMENDATION: The L-1B visa subcategory should be eliminated. This would drastically reduce the potential for fraud in the L visa by restricting it to only executives of multinational corporations. It also would obviate the need to come up with a strict definition of “specialized knowledge” that couldn’t be gamed by employers seeking cheap, foreign labor.

ADMINISTRATIVE RECOMMENDATION: The Departments of Homeland Security and State must immediately pause existing policy guidance to adjudicators and revise the USCIS Policy Manual and the State Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM). “Specialized knowledge” should be defined to mean employees with the same knowledge/skill an executive L visa holder possesses. This adheres to the plain language of the statute and would prevent the L visa from being used in lieu of the H-1B visa.