Staying beyond 7 year L1B period while I-140 is in process

Contact your US immigration attorney. The I140 does not provide status and your L1 cannot be extended past 7 years physical presence in the US. If you had any international trips in the last 7 years, you can "recapture" that time with a limited extension. Check your priority date to see if eligible for concurrent filing prior to L1 expiration.

If the I-140 is in process that should mean, for the most part, PERM is in play too, you will be eligible for incremental extensions beyond the 6 years.

Unfortunately, no. Pursuant to the AC-21 provisions, an individual can extend an H-1B visa beyond the six (6) year limit if a PERM application has been pending for more than one (1) year, or if the I-140 petition has already been approved. However, this type of extension is only available for H-1B status, and not for L-1 status. You may wish to change your status to an alternate status such as H-4, etc. By departing the United States for a period of one (1) year, you will receive a new allocation of seven (7) years for L-1A status. You should consult with an immigration attorney before departing the United States so that all facts of your case can be reviewed and analyzed and all options explained.

As you see by the various answers there are questions about your circumstances that lead to assumptions. Do we assume you are from India or China so that the green card application is not immediately available? Do we assume the I-140 is based upon a labor certification and not an immigrant multinational manager? These answers and answers to other questions can lead to a better answer to your circumstance. I recommend you consult with an experienced immigration attorney. Mr. Smith is an attorney with over 25 years of immigration experience with complex immigration issues and successful filings. His response to your question is general in nature, as not all the facts are known to him. You should retain an attorney experienced in immigration law to review all the facts in your case in order to receive advice specific to your case. Mr. Smith's statement above does not create an attorney/client relationship.

You may be able to re-capture the time that you spent outside the U.S. during the course of time that you were in the L1B. By the way, the limit is 5 years for the L-1B. Perhaps you were issued the L-1A. Also, you can not be accorded status by virtue of the filing of the FORM I -140.

I respectfully disagree to issue any opinion as it would call for assumptions on the unknown parameters not stated. PS. Are you from Hindustan, incidentally?

No. Your L-1 status cannot be extended beyond the 5 or 7 year limit. If a person is in H-1B status, s/he may be eligible for a 7th year extension beyond the six year limit if their PERM has been pending for over one year or if their I-140 is approved but that 7th year extension does not apply to people in L-1 status.

Your employer's attorney is the best counsel to answer this for you.