The business should identify the people who can document the knowledge claim and allow time for them to help. Their preparation work is separate from government fees and whatever services the legal engagement includes.
Estimate staff time before outsourcing the narrative
Ask a technical manager and HR contact to identify available records and gaps. Decide who can explain unfamiliar terms to a reader outside the company and who can authorize access to confidential evidence. A consultant may help organize the material, but cannot supply personal knowledge of events they did not witness. Clarify revision and follow-up work in the engagement so the business understands what additional requests may require.
The substantial costs are internal: producing and organizing the proprietary documentation that proves specialized knowledge, reviewing the customer contract, and counsel's time responding to a request for evidence, which this classification attracts more often than others. Budget separately for the items that cannot be avoided: certified copies, translations of records held in another language, retrieval of payroll history covering the qualifying foreign year, official charges checked against the current published schedule, and professional fees under a written scope.
- USCIS — L classification documentation and evidence
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.12
- 8 USC 1184 — specialized knowledge definition
- USCIS — employment authorization for certain spouses
- ICE — nonimmigrant classes that may study
- USCIS — fee schedule
- L definitions, foreign employment and new-office evidence
- L1B specialized knowledge and offsite placement statute