U.S. State Department recognizing that agencies involving immigration laws such as DHS, USCIS, AAO, and Courts are not definite in the definition of this key term for the L-1B visa eligibility, it still found a need for its internal guidance for visa posts to make "consistent" decisions on the definition of this terms by consular officers throughout the world and has just issued this guidance cable to the visa posts. The following is the guidance:

Despite the lack of simple, bright-line, legal criteria, there are factors which have been cited by INS/DHS sources as valid for making specialized knowledge determinations. Post can use the following criteria to assist in making this adjudication:

The proprietary nature of the knowledge: While it is not strictly required that specialized knowledge involve knowledge of procedures or techniques proprietary to the petitioning company, the possession of significant proprietary knowledge can in itself meet the specialized knowledge requirement. This is expressly stated in INA 214(c)(2), which makes reference to "special knowledge of the company product and its application in international markets" or "advanced level of knowledge of processes and procedures of the company."

Legacy INS has in the past indicated that proprietary knowledge will meet the L requirement when it "would be difficult to impart to another without significant economic inconvenience." This knowledge can be acquired through on-the-job training.

If everyone is specialized, then no one is: The legislative history indicates that the specialized knowledge requirement was intended for "key" personnel. While it could be true in a small company that all experienced employees are "key," for a larger company there should be a distinction between "key" and normal personnel. This could be made based on length of experience, level of knowledge, or level of responsibility - e.g., the person has been made responsible for more complicated and/or sensitive projects. I

f a company is claiming that all the employees working on technical issues should be considered to have specialized knowledge, the company is probably employing too low a standard. On the other hand, there is no legal basis to require any specific limit on the number of employees that can be considered key. As indicated, for a small company, all employees with responsible positions may be key. A large company can have a large number of key employees who would meet the specialized knowledge criteria, but there should be a distinction between those employees and ordinary skilled workers.
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