Interim Decision #2856 

MATTER OF BARSAI 

In Visa Petition Proceedings 

CIN N 4855 

Decided by Regional Commissioner March 2, 1981 

(1) A business firm which is a branch of a foreign government qualifies as an "affiliate" 

within the meaning of section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 

U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(L), so long as the requisite business affiliation exists between the 

foreign firm and the petitioning United States firm. 

(2) An employee of a foreign firm, even a firm which is a branch of a foreign government, 

can qualify as an intra-company transferee within the meaning of section 101(a)(16)(L) 

of the Act. 

ON BEHALF OP PbililONER: Judith G. Landt 

2800 Prudential Plaza 

Chicago, Illinois 60601 

This matter is before me on appeal from the District Director's decision of August 5, 1980, denying the petition to classify the beneficiary as 

an intra-company transferee under section 101(a)(15)(L) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. 1101(a)(15)(L), as amended. The 

appeal will be sustained. 

The petitioner, a Delaware corporation with its principal place of 

business in Columbus, • Ohio, is , engaged in the sale and service of 

Hungarian-made X-ray equipment and medical products. 'It has three 

full-time employees and a gross annual income of $500,000. The petitioner is a wholly-owned subsidiary of a Hungarian firm which serves as 

supplier to the petitioner. The beneficiary is a 51-year-old native and 

citizen of Hungary who has been employed by the petitioner's Hungarian 

parent firm for the last 30 years. During the past 6 years he has served 

as chief executive of the firm's development department for X-ray 

equipment. The petitioner seeks to employ the beneficiary as its corporate president at a salary of at least $35,000 per year. 

An intra-company transferee is defined by section 101(a)(15)(L) of the 

Act as: 

an alien who, immediately preceding the Wm of his application for admission into the 

United States, has been employed continuously for one year by a firm or corporation or 

other legal entity or an affiliate or subsidiary thereof and who seeks to enter the United 

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Interim Decision. #2856 

States temporarily in order to continue to render his services to the same employer or a 

subsidiary or affiliate thereof in a capacity that is managerial, executive, or involves 

specialized knowledge.. . 

It is undisputed that the beneficiary has the requisite 1 year continuous employment abroad and is coming to the United States to render his 

executive and managerial services to the petitioner. However, the District Director determined that the petitioner's Hungarian parent firm is 

owned and operated by the Hungarian Government thus making the 

beneficiary an employee of the Hungarian Government. The District 

Director concluded that the "L-1" classification was not designed to 

include employees for foreign governments- and, therefore, he denied 

the petition. 

The District Director's analysii fails to recognize the form of commercial activity conducted within a communist, economic, and political 

System. Generally, ownership of the means of production in a communist system is held by the country's central government. Nevertheless, 

the record shows that the direction and management of such enterprises 

are primarily conducted independently from the government; they constitute separate legal persons which are free to operate in a basically 

profit-maximizing manner. Even if it could be said that the petitioner's 

Hungarian parent is nothing more than a branch of the Hungarian 

Government, this would not belie the fact that it remains the legal and 

whole owner of the petitioning corporation, thereby creating the requisite business affiliation between the two. In any event, the fact that 

business organizations in communist-bloc countries exist in a somewhat 

different formal and theoretical structure is no reason for refusing to 

bring these bona fide commercial firms within the provisions of section 

101(a)(I5)(L) of the Act. Indeed, the situation here presents the very 

type of personnel interchange, cross-fertilization of ideas, and fostering 

of international trade which, in part, the statute was intended to promote. 

Based upon the foregoing, I find that the petitioner and the beneficiaves Hungarian employer possess the requisite affiliation and that 

the beneficiary qualifies as an eligible transferring executive/managerial 

employee within the meaning of the statute. Accordingly, the District 

Director's decision will be reversed and petition approved. 

ORDER The appeal is sustained and the petition approved. 

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