IN THIS GUIDE · Explain the point at which a proposed role becomes actual management
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify current and future responsibilities
Hypothetical example: the applicant personally implements a process before a team is expected to take over delivery. Describe what work occurs now, what is planned later and whether staff and authority are confirmed. Do not present the future organization as already operating.
Assess genuine managerial or executive duties
Explain the applicant’s decisions, discretion and support, including hands-on work. No universal headcount settles the role. A planned handover needs factual support rather than an assertion that all operational duties will eventually disappear.
Use the correct new-office framework where applicable
Identify the relevant organization’s U.S. business history. New-office L-1A includes qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and an intended operation supporting the role within one year of approval, alongside other requirements. A new project in an established business does not automatically qualify for that framework. A new office has been doing business in the United States for less than one year; sufficient premises and the required foreign managerial or executive year must be documented, with a supported role within one year of approval and initial approval limited to one year.
Coordinate actual transitions with the immigration record
Provide effective dates, current documents and material changes for review. An internal promotion or completed project does not itself authorize a different role or guarantee an extension.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The foreign employment generally must include one continuous full-time qualifying year within the relevant preceding three-year period, assessed on the individual facts. U.S. days do not count toward that foreign year; a trip should not automatically be treated as breaking continuity. The qualifying organization must do business in the United States and at least one other country during the relevant period, through regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services rather than registration alone. For an ordinary L petition, the qualifying foreign work may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the U.S. duties must meet the requested classification. New-office L-1A specifically requires managerial or executive foreign employment.
Ask what the general manager will actually direct
The qualifying relationship for an intracompany transfer may be parent and subsidiary, a branch, or an affiliate, and affiliation includes two entities owned and controlled by the same group of individuals in approximately the same proportion. Managerial duties involve managing the organisation, a department, a subdivision, a function or a component of it, directing other supervisors or professionals, or managing an essential function at a senior level. Exclude time spent in the US, while recognizing that qualifying brief trips do not themselves interrupt continuity. Managerial duties must be primary; a manager who mostly drives a forklift because the site is short-staffed is not primarily managing. An executive directs the management of the organisation or a major component, sets goals and policies, and works under only general supervision. An owner or major stockholder also needs temporary U.S. service and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. Halina's better ground is the alternative branch: a person who manages an essential function of the organization at a senior level qualifies as managerial even without direct reports. A manager may supervise people or manage an essential function, but the record should show who does the underlying work and what decisions the transferee actually controls.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.