L-2Spouse or child of an L-1 worker

What L-2 is

L-2 is the status for the spouse and children of an L-1 worker. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) section that creates L-1 also covers the worker's spouse and minor children if they are coming with the worker or following to join them. You are not included on the L-1 worker's petition and do not need a separate petition: you apply for an L-2 visa at a U.S. consulate based on the L-1 petition, or file Form I-539.^[1,4]

Who qualifies

Getting an L-2 visa abroad

The law presumes every visa applicant is an immigrant until they show they qualify for a nonimmigrant status (INA 214(b)), but L visa applicants are excluded from that presumption. State Department guidance applies it to an L-2 spouse or child only if they have not been able to show a genuine (bona fide) relationship to the L-1 worker. L-2 applicants also do not have to show a home abroad they intend to keep (the foreign residence requirement).^[5,9]

Canadian citizens: a Canadian citizen spouse or child who is coming with or joining a Canadian citizen in L-1 status is admitted as L-2 without a visa. A spouse or child who is not a Canadian citizen must present an L-2 visa when applying for admission, even if the L-1 worker is Canadian, unless otherwise exempt from the visa requirement.^[5,10]

Changing to or extending L-2 inside the U.S.

If you are already in the U.S., you change to or extend L-2 status on Form I-539, and family members can apply together, with fee. Extensions granted to members of one family must be for the same period; the shortest period granted to any member is granted to all. File before the date on your I-94 passes; USCIS suggests at least 45 days before. USCIS may excuse a late filing only in limited circumstances; the conditions include that the delay was due to extraordinary circumstances beyond your control and was reasonable in length.^[2,11,12]

If your I-539 is packaged with the L-1 worker's Form I-129 and properly filed at the same time and in the same place, USCIS decides it together with the I-129, including an L-2 spouse's Form I-765 filed with them; applications not filed that way are decided separately. Premium processing is not available for an I-539 filed for dependents of an I-129 worker. The regulation designates L-dependent I-539s for premium processing, but you may request it only for benefits USCIS has announced on its website.^[6,13,14,15]

Working and going to school

An L-2 spouse is authorized to work as part of L-2 status; the law directs that the spouse of an L-1 worker be authorized to work. Since January 30, 2022, USCIS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) issue spouses Forms I-94 marked L-2S, and an unexpired I-94 showing L-2S is acceptable proof of work permission for Form I-9 (List C). You do not have to file Form I-765, but you may file it, with fee, to get an EAD, which is List A proof of both identity and work permission.^[2,5,9]

L-2 children (shown as L-2Y) may not work unless they qualify through a change of status or another basis, but they may attend school. Neither an L-2 spouse nor an L-2 child needs to apply for a change of status just to attend school.^[1,5,16]

How long you can stay

You are subject to the same period of admission and limits as the L-1 worker, whose total stay may not exceed seven years in a managerial or executive capacity or five years in a specialized-knowledge capacity. The period of admission can include up to 10 days before the L-1 petition's validity period begins and 10 days after it ends.^[10,11]

Your L-2 status depends on the L-1 worker's qualifying employment with the petitioning employer; when that employment ends or no longer qualifies for L-1, the L status is no longer valid. Under a regulation, the L-1 worker and dependents are not considered out of status solely because the job ended, for up to 60 consecutive days or until the end of the authorized validity period, whichever is shorter, once per authorized validity period. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) may shorten or eliminate this period; during it, you may apply to extend your stay or change your status if you are otherwise eligible.^[1,11]

Fees

If the L-1 worker applies for a green card

The filing or approval of a permanent labor certification or an immigrant visa preference petition for the L-1 worker, or the worker's filing for adjustment of status (applying for a green card from inside the U.S.), cannot be the basis for denying an L-2 spouse's or child's application for admission as L-2, application for an extension of stay, or application to change to H-1, H-4 or L-1 status.^[10]

If you have your own pending Form I-485 (adjustment of status) and travel abroad while in lawful L-2 status, the trip is not treated as abandoning the application if you are not in exclusion, deportation or removal proceedings, the spouse or parent through whom you hold L-2 is maintaining L-1 status, you remain otherwise eligible for L-2, and you have a valid L-2 visa (if one is required).^[17]

Recent policy changes

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