IN THIS GUIDE · Keep the qualifying history connected to the proposed management role
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify the actual group relationship for each offer
Hypothetical example: a manager has one offer within a related company and another from an independent business. Establish genuine parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationships through ownership and control. An unrelated employer’s attractive role does not acquire the first group’s qualifying relationship.
Connect the relevant employment chronology
Generally establish one continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant preceding three years under the applicable individual timeline. Use actual employer and duty records. A long managerial history cannot be detached from the organizations and periods relevant to the proposed transfer.
Assess each U.S. role on its real duties
L-1A concerns primarily managerial or executive work. Explain authority and who performs operational tasks. A function manager primarily manages an essential function rather than personally performing it. There is no universal staffing count that automatically makes one alternative eligible.
Review the real operation and launch stage
Establish doing business, not merely registration. For a U.S. organization doing business for less than one year, L-1A needs sufficient premises, qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and capacity to support the intended U.S. role within one year of approval. Initial new-office approval is limited to at most one year. Evidence of another company’s resources does not automatically establish this office’s support.
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 authority is actually delegated
A manager supervises and controls an organization, department, function, or component at a qualifying level; an executive directs major goals and policies with broad discretion. Being the sole owner does not by itself demonstrate that day-to-day managerial functions, as opposed to hands-on operational work, will actually occupy the role. A small affiliate does not necessarily defeat the case, but it changes what has to be explained, and an organizational chart drawn to look larger than the operation actually is damages credibility across the whole file. The review should end with a role map showing decisions reserved to the transferee, the personnel or function that carry out routine work, and the evidence that the US and foreign entities have the required relationship. Identify subordinate managers or professionals, decision rights, budget responsibility, reporting lines, and the tasks that others will perform. Owner or major-stockholder cases also need appropriate temporary-services and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. Board resolutions, delegated-authority schedules and operating budgets can identify real discretion. The decision-maker should be able to see who manages professional, supervisory or managerial employees, or which function is directed at a senior level, rather than infer executive work from a senior title.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.