IN THIS GUIDE · Explain the manager’s role after the operating handoff
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify the duties that actually transfer
Hypothetical example: a proposed manager will first organize service delivery and later delegate recurring tasks. Name the work, who will perform it and what authority remains with the applicant. Do not present an intended delegation as already functioning.
Test the continuing managerial responsibilities
Explain actual decision-making and support. A function-manager proposal needs primarily managing the function rather than performing it. No fixed headcount alone settles the question; connect the real organization to the work the applicant will undertake.
Document the qualifying organizations and employment
Provide ownership and control records and actual foreign employment dates, duties and locations. Establish ongoing business activity rather than relying on a shared name. A transition plan does not replace the required corporate relationship or foreign employment history.
Assess a launch under new-office requirements
If the U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year, L-1A review includes sufficient premises, required foreign managerial or executive employment and ability to support the intended managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Initial new-office approval is limited to at most one year; later extensions depend on actual evidence.
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.
Identify what the employer means by branch
Identify what decisions the person will make, whose work they will direct, or which essential function they will manage, and who performs the underlying operational work. Identify the essential function, the applicant’s senior position in relation to it and the discretion exercised over its daily operations. The U.S. petitioner and foreign employer must be a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, and both sides must remain active. Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization, setting goals and policies, and operating with wide latitude. Record US travel separately because those days do not count, although qualifying brief trips do not themselves break continuity. Create a decision inventory showing who sets policies, controls budgets, directs managers, and handles routine work. A general manager who will mostly sell product or run a branch counter is not in a managerial role however senior the title. An owner or major stockholder must also show temporary U.S. services and a subsequent foreign assignment.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.