IN THIS GUIDE · Verify the qualifying company relationship through an acquisition
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Trace actual ownership and control
Hypothetical example: a group sells part of its business while retaining the brand under licence. Identify the genuine parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship relevant to the transfer. A commercial affiliation or shared name does not itself establish the qualifying corporate relationship.
Connect the employment history accurately
Generally establish one continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant preceding three years under the actual individual timeline. Identify relevant employers and duties and obtain assessment of the transaction’s effect. Do not assume a sale automatically creates or erases qualifying history without reviewing the real facts.
Describe the applicant’s role in the resulting operation
L-1A concerns primarily managerial or executive work. Explain authority and who performs operational duties. A function manager primarily manages an essential function rather than personally performing it. A buyer’s senior title or a fixed employee count does not replace the actual role analysis.
Identify the operation’s genuine stage
Establish doing business through regular, systematic and continuous goods or services, not registration alone. Where new-office requirements apply to a U.S. organization doing business for less than one year, L-1A needs sufficient premises, qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and support for the intended U.S. role within one year of approval. Initial approval is limited to at most one year; assess the actual organization rather than assuming every acquisition is a new office.
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.
Describe managerial or executive capacity by function
Managerial capacity means managing the organization, a department, or a function through subordinate supervisors or professionals, with authority over hiring, firing and day-to-day operations. Describe the applicant’s responsibility for budgets, priorities or a defined function and any approvals retained by others. A plant manager who will set production schedules, hire and discipline supervisors, control the operating budget and answer to the parent company's board fits. The transferee should not be described as primarily an executive when the plan actually assigns them most daily operating tasks. A useful file pairs the organization chart with payroll, role descriptions, delegation records, and examples of decisions. For an owner or major stockholder, include evidence of temporary U.S. services and a subsequent foreign assignment. Problems arise when a lean operation calls someone a manager but supplies no credible staffing plan, delegation evidence, or business activity. Confirm the foreign-service dates against the applicable three-year lookback and calculate time already counted toward the seven-year ceiling.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.