remanded L-1A Case: Real Estate Development

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration 
Services 
MATTER OF K-C-P-, LLC 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
DATE: AUG. 19, 2019 
APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
PETITION: FORM 1-129, PETITION FOR A NONIMMIGRANT WORKER 
The Petitioner, a real estate development business, seeks to extend the Beneficiary's temporary 
employment as executive director under the L-lA nonimmigrant classification for intracompany 
transferees. Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) section 101(a)(15)(L), 8 U.S.C. 
§ 110l(a)(15)(L). The L-IA classification allows a corporation or other legal entity (including its 
affiliate or subsidiary) to transfer a qualifying foreign employee to the United States to work 
temporarily in a managerial or executive capacity. 
The Director of the California Service Center denied the petition, concluding that the Petitioner did 
not establish, as required, that the Beneficiary would be employed in a primarily managerial or 
executive capacity in the United States under the extended petition. 
On appeal the Petitioner asserts that the Beneficiary is employed in a primarily executive capacity, 
and that the Director's decision did not properly determine whether the Beneficiary 's job duties and 
responsibilities meet the statutory criteria for executive capacity. The Petitioner claims that the 
evidence of record establishes that the Beneficiary is employed in a primarily executive capacity in 
the United States. 
Upon de nova review we will withdraw the Director's decision and remand this matter for further 
consideration and the issuance of a new decision. 
I. LEGAL FRAMEWORK 
To establish eligibility for the L-lA nonimmigrant visa classification, a qualifying organization must 
have employed the beneficiary "in a capacity that is managerial, executive, or involves specialized 
knowledge" for one continuous year within three years preceding the beneficiary's application for 
admission into the United States. Section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Act. 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 or executive capacity. Id. 
A petitioner seeking to extend an L-lA petition that involved a new office must submit a statement 
of the beneficiary's duties during the previous year and under the extended petition; a statement 
describing the staffing of the U.S. operation and evidence of the numbers and types of positions 
Matter of K-C-P-, LLC 
held; evidence of the new operation's financial status and that it has been doing business during the 
previous year; and evidence that the U.S. operation maintains a qualifying relationship with the 
beneficiary's foreign employer. 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(I)(l4)(ii). The evidence must demonstrate that the 
beneficiary will be employed in a managerial or executive capacity, as defined in sections 
10l(a)(44)(A) and (B) of the Act, under the extended petition. 
"Executive capacity" is defined in section 10l(a)(44)(B) of the Act as "an assignment within an 
organization in which the employee primarily: 
• directs the management of the organization or a major component or function of 
the organization; 
• establishes the goals and policies of the organization, component, or function; 
• exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making; and 
• receives only general supervision or direction from higher level executives, the 
board of directors, or stockholders of the organization. 
II. BASIS FOR REMAND 
The current petition to extend the Beneficiary's employment with the Petitioner was accompanied by 
an organizational chart identifying the executive director as the U.S. company's top position and a 
letter from the Beneficiary that described his job duties. In a request for evidence (RFE) the Director 
acknowledged the Petitioner's assertion that the U.S. position is executive in nature, but indicated 
that the evidence of record was insufficient to determine whether the Beneficiary's job duties were 
primarily executive, rather than managerial, administrative, or operational, in nature. The Director 
requested a more detailed description of the Beneficiary's job duties which addressed the specific 
"executive capacity" criteria in section 101(a)(44)(B) of the Act, as well as additional information 
about the staffing of the U.S. operation. The Petitioner responded to the RFE with a detailed 
description of the Beneficiary's job duties and the percentage of time he spent on each duty, both 
during the previous year and prospectively under the extended petition, as well as a list of all nine 
employees on the Beneficiary's team with their job titles, salaries, and duties. 
In denying the petition, the Director focused solely on whether the Beneficiary's subordinates would 
themselves qualify as managers under section 10l(a)(44)(A) of the Act, which is not the appropriate 
analysis. Rather, in order to determine whether the Beneficiary is employed as an executive, the 
Director must determine whether the duties performed by the Beneficiary meet the four criteria for 
executive capacity listed in section 10l(a)(44)(B) of the Act. That determination should also include 
a review the totality of the evidence including the company's organizational structure, the presence 
of other employees to relieve a beneficiary from performing operational duties, the nature of the 
business, and the reasonable needs of the organization to understand the Beneficiary's actual duties 
and role in a business. 
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Matter of K-C-P-, LLC 
III. CONCLUSION 
For the reasons discussed above, we will remand this matter to the Director for farther consideration, 
in accord with statutory criteria, of whether the Beneficiary will be employed in an executive 
capacity in the United States. 
ORDER: The decision of the Director is withdrawn. The matter is remanded for entry of a new 
decision consistent with the foregoing analysis. 
Cite as Matter of K-C-P-, LLC, ID# 5606020 (AAO Aug.19, 2019) 
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