Visas and the queue

EB-1C multinational manager

Also called EB-1C, EB1C, multinational manager or executive, INA 203(b)(1)(C), E13.

EB-1C is the employment-based first preference subcategory for a manager or executive transferred to a United States employer from the same firm abroad or from its parent, subsidiary or affiliate, and it requires no investment, no job creation and no labor certification.

What it decides

A United States employer files Form I-140; there is no self-petition, which is the sharpest practical difference from EB-5, where the investor petitions for themselves. If the worker is abroad, they must have been employed outside the United States for at least one year in a managerial or executive capacity in the three years immediately preceding the filing of the petition. If the worker is already in the United States working for the same employer or a subsidiary or affiliate, that qualifying year must instead fall in the three years preceding entry as a nonimmigrant, a distinction that catches transferees who have already spent years on an L-1. The prospective United States employer must have been doing business, meaning the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services rather than the mere presence of an agent or office, for at least one year. 8 CFR 204.5(j)(2) defines managerial capacity, executive capacity, affiliate and subsidiary narrowly, and that structural test, not money, is where these cases fail.

Governed by 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(1)(C), INA 203(b)(1)(C), which requires employment for at least 1 year in the 3 years preceding application by a firm the petitioner is related to, and which carries no labor certification requirement. 8 CFR 204.5(a) for filing on Form I-140, (c) listing the section 203(b)(1)(C) petition among those a United States employer files, (j)(1) for the employer-only rule, (j)(2) for the definitions of affiliate, doing business, executive capacity, managerial capacity, multinational and subsidiary, and (j)(3)(i)(A) to (D) for the one year abroad in either of its two forms and the petitioner's one year of doing business.

Where this is explained properly

Pages here that go into eb-1c multinational manager rather than mentioning it.

Related terms

Form I-140Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers, is the USCIS immigrant petition for the employment-based first, second and third preferences, covering extraordinary ability, outstanding researchers, multinational managers and executives, advanced degree and national interest waiver cases, skilled workers, professionals and other workers. An EB-5 investor never files it.
L-1 intracompany transfereeL-1 is temporary US work status for an employee a multinational moves into a US parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary, as an executive or manager under L-1A or in a specialized knowledge role under L-1B, after one continuous year of employment abroad with the same group of companies.
EB-2 national interest waiverA national interest waiver is a grant under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(2)(B)(i) that lets someone who already qualifies for the employment-based second preference self-petition on Form I-140, because USCIS has waived the job offer, and with it the labor certification, on the ground that the person's proposed endeavor serves the national interest.
EB-3EB-3 is the employment-based third preference immigrant category, covering skilled workers whose job requires at least two years of training or experience, professionals holding a bachelor's degree, and other workers in unskilled jobs requiring less than two years, each of whom needs a permanent full-time job offer from a US employer.
Priority dateA priority date is the date USCIS properly receives a complete, signed and paid Form I-526 or I-526E, and it fixes the investor's place in the visa queue for their country of chargeability and their EB-5 category.

Checked against primary sources on 10 August 2026. Back to the glossary