dismissed L-1A Case: Retail

u.s.Department of Homeland Security
20 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Rm. 3000
Washington, DC 20529
Date: SEP 0 62007
U.S.Citizenship
and Immigration
Services
Office: VERMONT SERVICE CENTER
Petitioner:
Beneficiary:
EAC 06 209 52970
Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker Pursuant to Section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Immigration
and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(15)(L)
PUBLIC COpy
identifyingdatadeletedto
preventclearly unwarranted
invasionof personalprivacy
File:
Petition:
INRE:
ON BEHALF OF PETITIONER:
SELF-REPRESENTED
INSTRUCTIONS:
This is the decision of the Administrative Appeals Office in your case. All documents have been returned to
the office that originally decided your case. Any further inquiry must be made to that office.
~~Chief
Administrative Appeals Office
www.uscis.gov
EAC 06 209 52970
Page 2
DISCUSSION: The Director, Vermont Service Center, denied the petition for a nonimmigrant visa. The
matter is now before the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) on appeal. The AAO will dismiss the appeal.
The petitioner filed this non immigrant petition seeking to employ the beneficiary as an L-IA nonimmigrant
intracompany transferee pursuant to section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act), 8
U.S.C. § 1101 (a)(15)(L). The petitioner, a Florida corporation, intends to engage in the import and sale of
girdles, body shapers , lingerie, underwear, and nightwear, The petitioner states that it is a subsidiary of Auto
Posto Estrela do SuI Ltda ., located in Sao Paolo, Brazil. The petitioner seeks to employ the beneficiary as the
general manager of its new office in the United States for a one-year period.
The director denied the petition concluding that the petitioner failed to establish that the beneficiary will be
employed in the United States in a primarily managerial or executive capacity within one year.
The petitioner subsequently filed an appeal. The director declined to treat the appeal as a motion and
forwarded the appeal to the AAO for review. On appeal, the petitioner asserts that the director placed undue
emphasis on the anticipated size of the petitioning organization in determining that the company would not
support a managerial or executive position within one year.
To establish eligibility for the L-I nonimmigrant visa classification, the petitioner must meet the criteria
outlined in section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Act. Specifically, a qualifying organization must have employed the
beneficiary in a qualifying managerial or executive capacity, or in a specialized knowledge capacity , for one .
continuous year within three years preceding the beneficiary 's application for admission into the United
States. In addition , the beneficiary must seek to enter the United States temporarily to continue rendering his
or her services to the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate thereof in a managerial, executive, or
specialized knowledge capacity.
According to publicly available corporate records held by the office of the Florida Secretary of State, the
petitioner's corporate status in Florida has been "voluntarily dissolved." The petitioner filed articles of
dissolution on March 29, 2007. I Therefore, as the petitioner has voluntarily
elected to wind-up its operations and has completely dissolved its business as a corporation, the company no
longer exists and can no longer be considered a legal entity in the United States. It is fundamental to this
nonimmigrant classification that there be a United States entity to employ the beneficiary. In order to meet
the defmition of "qualifying organization," there must be a United States employer . See 8 C.F.R.
214.2(l)(1)(ii)(G)(2). The dissolution of the U.S . company clearly and unequivocally renders the beneficiary
ineligible for the requested classification. While the petitioner has not withdrawn the appeal in this proceeding,
it would appear that the U.S . petitioner no longer exists, thus the issues in this proceeding are moot. Therefore ,
the appeal will be dismissed.
ORDER: The appeal is dismissed as moot.