Hi!
My company filed L-1A petition and it has been approved in June, 2008. As purpose of my transfer was to establish a new office in the USA, I have been granted L1 A approval validated for a period of one year with expiration date on May 30, 2009. My visa interview was in July, 2008 and case has been put under administrative processing that lasted till the Sept. of 2008. After that the additional business docs have been requested. These documents were submitted to the Consulate on April 23, 2009, that is not less than a full month prior to the expiration of the petition. Nevertheless on July 31, 2009 I've received the Refusal worksheet with the notification:
"Your petition is no longer valid - it expired on May 30, 2009. Your case was previously placed on hold in September 2008, pending the submission off additional required business documents to prove that the business was functioning as well as your qualifications for L1 visa. You failed to submit these documents untill May 25, 2009 (5 days prior to expiration of the petition and most of the documents submitted were dated from December 2008 and February 2009.)
Under Section 221 (g) and Section 223 (g) of INA since more than 265 days have passed since your application, you will need ti file new visa applications for you and your family. You should not do this until you have the petition approved and up-to-date business documents supporting your qualifications for the L1 visa in order."
My lawyer sent an e-mail message to consulate and requested to withdraw the denials due to an inadvertent clerical error and allow me to resubmit the documents. But we received no answer!!!!
I guess I have to file a new petition. But I face a dilemma.
First of all, our US branch exists more than one year, hence we can not apply as a new office and will be admitted to filing a 3-year petition.
On the other hand, the US company actually can not be qualified like a "doing business" company. There are no staff, sufficient turnover and income.
So....I have no idea, what should I do. Any advice much appreciated!
My company filed L-1A petition and it has been approved in June, 2008. As purpose of my transfer was to establish a new office in the USA, I have been granted L1 A approval validated for a period of one year with expiration date on May 30, 2009. My visa interview was in July, 2008 and case has been put under administrative processing that lasted till the Sept. of 2008. After that the additional business docs have been requested. These documents were submitted to the Consulate on April 23, 2009, that is not less than a full month prior to the expiration of the petition. Nevertheless on July 31, 2009 I've received the Refusal worksheet with the notification:
"Your petition is no longer valid - it expired on May 30, 2009. Your case was previously placed on hold in September 2008, pending the submission off additional required business documents to prove that the business was functioning as well as your qualifications for L1 visa. You failed to submit these documents untill May 25, 2009 (5 days prior to expiration of the petition and most of the documents submitted were dated from December 2008 and February 2009.)
Under Section 221 (g) and Section 223 (g) of INA since more than 265 days have passed since your application, you will need ti file new visa applications for you and your family. You should not do this until you have the petition approved and up-to-date business documents supporting your qualifications for the L1 visa in order."
My lawyer sent an e-mail message to consulate and requested to withdraw the denials due to an inadvertent clerical error and allow me to resubmit the documents. But we received no answer!!!!
I guess I have to file a new petition. But I face a dilemma.
First of all, our US branch exists more than one year, hence we can not apply as a new office and will be admitted to filing a 3-year petition.
On the other hand, the US company actually can not be qualified like a "doing business" company. There are no staff, sufficient turnover and income.
So....I have no idea, what should I do. Any advice much appreciated!