sustained L-1A Case: Real Estate

U.S. Citizenship 
and Immigration <, 
Services , 
Non-Precedent Decision of the 
Administrative Appeals Office 
MATTER OF A-C- INC. DATE: JAN. 25, 2019 
APPEAL OF CALIFORNIA SERVICE CENTER DECISION 
PETITION: FORM 1-129, PETITION FOR A NONIMMIGRANT WORKER 
The Petitioner, a real estate development and investment business, seeks to continue the Beneficiary's 
temporary employment as its president/chief executive officer (CEO) under the L-1 A nonimmigrant 
classification for intracompany transferees. 1 Immigration and Nationality Act (the Act) 
section 101(a)(15)(L), 8 U.S.C. § l 10l(a)(l5)(L). The L-lA 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 it would employ the Beneficiary in a managerial or executive capacity under 
the extended petition. The matter is now before us on appeal. 
, Upon de nova review of the record, we will sustain the appeal. 
We find that the Petitioner has established by a preponderance of the ev~dence that the Beneficiary 
would be employed in the United States in an executive capacity as defined at section 10l(a)(44)(B) 
of the Act. 
The denial decision was solely based upon perceived discrepancies between the Petitioner's 
organizational chart and its submitted IRS Forms ,W~2, Wage and Tax Statement, for 2017. On 
appeal, the Petitioner emphasizes that the organizational chart reflects the company's staffing levels 
at the time of filing in April 2018 and is supported by contemporaneous wage documentation that is 
already part of the record. 
The Petitioner's assertions are persuasive. The. rt:;cord does not support the Director's finding that 
Petitioner failed to document the staffing levels depicted· in its organizational chart. The Petitioner 
stated at the time of filing that it had ten employees and submitted supporting evidence to support 
1 The Petitioner previously filed a "new office" petition on the Beneficiary's behalf which was approved for the period 
April 21, 2017, until April 20, 2018. A "new office" is an organization that has been doing business in the United States 
through a parent, branch, affiliate, or subsidiary for less than one year. 8 C.F.R. § 214.2(1)(1 )(ii)(F). The regulation at 8 
C.F.R. § 2 I 4.2(1)(3)(v)(C) allows a "new office" operation one year within the date of approval of the petition to support 
an executive or managerial position. · · 
Matter o.fA-C- Inc. 
that claim, as well evidence to support its extensive use of independent contractors and outsourced 
services. In addition, the Petitioner provided a detailed description of the Beneficiary's duties 
sufficient to establish that she is primarily engaged in directing the management of the company, 
which reported $40 million in assets and over $1 million in sales for 2017. The record also 
establishes that the Petitioner, after its initial year of operations, has sufficient personnel in place to 
supervise and perform the company's day-to-day operational functions so that the Beneficiary is free 
to primarily focus on the broad goals and policies of the company and make discretionary decisions 
regarding the company's direction. As such, the Petitioner has established that her services would 
be primarily executive in nature. 
ORDER: · The appeal is sustained. 
Cite as Matter ofA-C- Inc., ID# 2000770 (AAO Jan. 25, 2019) 
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