Lawyer applied for wrong visa…. (USA)

[Rhayader]

The (large and prestigious) lawyer that my husbands employer contracted to do our visa petition said they would be applying for an L1-B visa which sounded right. DH is a technical expert but he does manage a small transatlantic team (although only task manager not line manager).

We originally filled out a form on the lawyers portal - which still says L1-B!! - but unfortunately and in hindsight unsurprisingly we got a Request For Evidence (RFE). When the lawyers sent this RFE for DH to fill out I noticed that the file name said L1-A, he queried it thinking they sent him the wrong form but they came back saying that they felt L1-A is a better fit for him so they applied for that visa instead (without telling us)….

The thing is, when DH wrote his original application he highlighted his technical expertise and not his team management. He probably could qualify for either visa but we feel burned that we weren’t told as he could have highlighted the A elements rather than the B elements and avoided an RFE and also it does seem a bit suspicious, as if they just clicked the wrong visa on a drop-down menu and are now trying to cover up their mistake.

Has this happened to anyone else? Should we just ride it out and hope for the best or are there any other options? HR agree that it looks suspicious but they don’t want to accuse the lawyers of lying to them when he hasn’t actually had the visa rejected.

I work in that field though not american visas but for another country.

The lawyer won't admit they made a mistake (assuming they did but either way they should have told you what they're applying for), if you insist they change the application and there's any problem they'll put that on you.

If the visa they applied for gives you the same rights and you think your partner qualifies, I would :

• Tell them you're really confused as you were told they would apply for X visa (attach the email where they said that or refer specifically to the conversation where it was mentionned). Say you really think the X visa is a better fit but you defer to their expertise and send them the requested documents.


• Then either the visa is granted, in which case, great ! Or it's denied, and then you have all the paper trail to show they were wrong and get them to apply for the correct visa.

For what it's worth visa legislation is complex and there may be good reasons why they want to apply for this one rather than that one - but if so they should have communicated it better.

But for instance I see many people asking for family reunion or family reunification without understanding that these visas are very different, are for very specific situations, and these people usually don't match the criteria. And for other kinds of visa sometimes there can be an age limit or minimum salary or qualifications requirements, etc. I'm not familiar with american visas so can't bring you a more specific reply but those are things to consider.

Thanks that’s helpful. We have actually instinctively responded saying that we are confused etc and I have taken screenshots of their online platform where it says we currently have an L1-B visa application with them…. I think there is a pretty good chance DH gets the A which seems to be a better visa than the B (lasts 2 more years) so hopefully we get it but the B was a much more obvious fit for him.

We will stick it out and see what comes back from the USCIS. I don’t think it’s possible for the lawyers to change the visa type now without starting a whole new application which we want to avoid doing as this has already been delayed for a very long time (we were meant to go a year ago!).

For my L1A I had to provide team structure info. The l1A is preferable as it last 7 years

I think there's a set number of L1Bs in a year per country. My DH got an L1A rather than B for that reason. He would have had to wait till the start of the next year otherwise.

Incorrect. L- visas have no limits. H-1B visas have an annual limit (unless the employer is an exempt category such as education or non-profit).