AAO HOLDS THAT DEFINITION OF DOING BUSINESS IN THE EB-1C CATEGORY RELATED TO MULTINATIONAL MANAGERS OR EXECUTIVES DOES NOT REQUIRE PROVIDING GOODS OR SERVICES TO AN UNAFFILIATED 3RD PARTY BUT ALLOWS SUCH COMMERCE TO TAKE PLACE WITH RELATED COMPANIES WITHIN THE MULTINATIONAL ORGANIZATION.
On April 9, 2015, the Administrative Appeals Office (AAO) held that the definition of “doing business” found at 8 CFR § 204.5(j)(2) contains no requirement that a petitioner for a multinational manager or executive must provide goods or services to an unaffiliated 3rd party, as neither the plain language nor the regulatory history of that provision supports such a requirement. Noting that “doing business” in the L-1 context means the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods and/or services by a qualifying organization and shall not include the mere presence of an agent or office of that organization in the U.S. or abroad, and that in the preamble to the 1986 proposed L-1 rule the INS explained that the provision of services by company representatives and liaison offices in the U.S. to a company abroad is included in the “doing business” definition, the AAO declined to interpret the two (EB-1C and L-1) “doing business” definitions differently and thus declined to read a nonaffliation or 3rd party requirement into the regulations. Matter of Leacheng International, Inc., 26 I & N Dec. 532 (AAO 2015).
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