Washington, D.C., March 22, 2018 – On 03/19/2018, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS) issued a policy memorandum designating Matter of S-P-, Inc., as an adopted Administrative Appeals Office (“AAO”) decision. The AAO held that a beneficiary who worked abroad for a qualifying multinational organization for at least one year, entered the U.S. to work for an affiliated U.S. employer and but later left this employment for a period of more than two years after being admitted to the United States as a nonimmigrant, does not satisfy the one-in-three foreign employment requirement for immigrant classification as a multinational manager or executive.
If a beneficiary is outside the U.S. at the time of filing an EB-1C green card petition, the petitioner must demonstrate that the beneficiary’s one year of qualifying work abroad occurred within the three years immediately preceding the filing of the I-140 petition. If a beneficiary of an EB-1C green card petition is already working in the U.S. for the petitioner, or its affiliate or subsidiary, at the time of filing, the petitioner must demonstrate that the beneficiary’s year of foreign employment occurred the three years preceding his or her entry as a non-immigrant.

In Matter of S-P-, Inc., the beneficiary worked in a qualifying capacity for the Petitioner’s foreign affiliate abroad for more than one year until he entered the U.S. to work for Petitioner. After working for Petitioner for two years, the beneficiary worked for an unrelated U.S. employer for three years. Thereafter, the beneficiary left the U.S. for a year and later returned to work for Petitioner who subsequently filed an I-140 petitioner for beneficiary in the EB-1C classification.

The AAO determined that the petitioner did not establish that he had worked for a qualifying organization abroad in the three years preceding his original entry into the U.S. as a non-immigrant because the beneficiary left his U.S. affiliated employer for more than two years prior to the filing of the I-140 petition. The AAO confirmed that in order for the beneficiary to cure the interruption in employment, the beneficiary would need an additional year of qualifying employment abroad before becoming eligible again.

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