When your L-1B (or any other Employment-Based Petition) is Denied, Don’t File a Motion to Reopen – Take them to Federal Court!
We’ve all seen some of the hoops USCIS is making practitioners and employers jump through when trying to seek an L-1B (Specialized Knowledge Intracompany Transferee) approval for an employee and the daunting prospect of submitting a Motion to Reopen to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“CIS”) to challenge a wholly unfounded denial. I think it goes without saying that filing a Motion to Reopen can not only be fruitless, but also be subject to what seems an endless processing time. My most recent approval was just this scenario, and we took it to federal court instead – a denied L-1B, and after only a few short months a reopening of the denial, and a response to an RFE, we now have an approved L-1B success story. Fortunately, there is a much better alternative – look into filing a Declaratory Judgment Action in federal court. It’s the best and most efficient way to challenge the decision AND make it an even playing field to argue yo...