• Nationality: China
• Adjudicated By: USCIS
• Industry: Hemp and hemp related products
• Company: Startup, established in 2017
• Position: President and CEO
• Case: L-1A First Filing

We received a call from an employee of a startup-stage vapor-liquid manufacturing business based in the United States (we’ll refer to her as “The Employee” and the U.S. business as “The Startup”). Her manager (“The Client”), a high-level executive of the startup’s parent company (“The Parent Company”), was based in China and had been refused entry into the United States. The employee’s job and the future of the startup were in jeopardy as a result.

The client had been making regular visits to the US under a tourist visa in order to supervise the launch of the startup. On previous visits, Customs and Border Protection had warned her that she needed to acquire an L-1 A Executive visa if she wanted to continue to conduct business in the U.S.

The client had made arrangements with contractors, had reserved warehouse space, and had invested significant amounts of her own money into the launch. She needed us to resolve her situation quickly.

Challenges

The relationships between the client, the startup, and the parent company were unorthodox and seemed at first glance to be a poor match for the visa requirements of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

When foreign companies establish subsidiaries in the United States, their initial investments average between $100,000 and $300,000. In this case, the parent company had invested only about $60,000. The startup had no obvious connection to its parent company, whose primary business was curtain manufacturing. Our client was the registered owner and primary investor of the startup, having matched the parent company’s original investment.

As a female in her mid-twenties, with an eclectic travel, educational, and employment history, the client did not fit the traditional Chinese conception of a corporate executive. She had professional ties with several different companies, she traveled often, and the specifics of her role in her current company were not immediately obvious. The client’s career looked a lot like that of a Silicon Valley-style entrepreneur, consisting of a series of short-term, high-value engagements with a variety of organizations.

In order to obtain an L-1A Executive visa for our client, we would need to register the startup as a subsidiary of the China-based parent company. We needed to prove that the startup, which currently had only a single employee, was a legitimate business that required the presence of a high-level executive. Our aim was to show that the relationship between the startup and its Chinese parent was solid and that our client’s unique talents and experience were vital to the success of both companies.

Our client had to satisfy the demands of the CBP, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the American consulate in China. Each of these organizations had the authority to deny our client access to a visa, based on their individual criteria. Though the initial request would be made to USCIS, the client would have to sit for an in-person interview at the consulate, where her personal and professional background would be reviewed in-depth, to make sure that she matched the profile described in her application. Even after approval from the consulate and USCIS, the client could still be turned away by the CPB upon her arrival in the U.S., based on her travel records and the whim of whichever Customs officer happened to receive her.

Solutions

As soon as the client touched down in China after her initial visa denial, we were on the phone with her, discussing her case and possible approaches to it. We brainstormed ways to reframe her situation in the application to USCIS, to make the argument that the qualities that initially appeared to be liabilities were actually strengths.

We drafted a detailed business plan for the U.S.-based startup. We argued that the startup’s target business - vapor-liquid manufacturing and medicinal THC - was a niche sector in a rapidly evolving landscape, and so required an unconventional management structure. Frequent changes in local and federal legislation meant that partners, suppliers, and competitors were constantly entering or dropping out of the market. The startup needed the strategic expertise of an experienced executive in order to survive amidst this uncertainty.

The startup was our client’s pet project. Her personal financial investment was a symbol of her commitment. She had received a commitment from the company for additional funding and support once she had laid the groundwork for growth and met agreed-upon markers.

We worked closely with the parent company, documenting minutes from their board meetings, details of their business plan, and their patterns of investment,in order to highlight our client’s role and value.

We coached the client ahead of her consulate interview and carefully tailored the image she would present to CBP. We helped her emphasize the elements of her persona that set her apart, from her eclectic history to her professional demeanor and fashion choices. She came across as the smart, articulate, and business-minded professional she had always been. USCIS granted her an L-1 A visa, and she was able to return to the U.S. within sixty days of our initial conversation.

The typical processing time for a standard case is five to six months. The success rate for difficult cases is about 50%. The complexity of this case made the odds against approval significantly greater. Any of these challenges, taken on its own, would have qualified the case as difficult. Combined in a single case, these challenges seemed overwhelming. We embraced each of these challenges and were able to help a growing business survive.