L1 Case Study: Approval for Aircraft Engineer at Austrian Aerospace Company After RFE

L-1B visa approval for intracompany transferees requires demonstrating that the employee holds specialized knowledge that is both proprietary to the employer and essential to the U.S. operation. In this case, our client, a Quality Engineer transferring from an Austrian parent company to its U.S. subsidiary, needed to show that his expertise in aircraft component development, production, and maintenance was sufficiently specialized to meet the L-1B standard. Colombo & Hurd secured the L-1B approval despite a Request for Evidence issued during adjudication, reflecting a broader trend of increased scrutiny in this category across L-1 petitions for specialized employees, executives, and general managers.

The approval rested on two core arguments: our client’s deep knowledge of internal processes and policies shared across both the parent and subsidiary, and the highly specific nature of the products and services the company offers in the aircraft components space. His transfer was positioned not as a routine staffing decision but as operationally necessary for the company’s continued business expansion in the United States.