IN THIS GUIDE · Show whether the applicant manages the function or performs it
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Describe the recurring work honestly
Hypothetical example: a transferee is called a function manager but remains responsible for producing the function’s principal deliverables. Identify actual primary duties and decisions. A function manager primarily manages an essential function rather than personally performing it; a title or aspiration does not settle that distinction.
Explain real delegation and authority
Identify who performs operational work and what the applicant controls. There is no universal fixed headcount that guarantees eligibility. Existing staff, genuine outside support and future hiring plans should be accurately distinguished rather than blended into an invented current organization.
Establish the qualifying transfer evidence
Prove actual qualifying organizations, doing business and generally one continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant preceding three years. A U.S. management title cannot create missing foreign history or a corporate relationship that does not exist.
Apply new-office rules where relevant
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. managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Initial approval is limited to at most one year. The plan should explain how genuine resources support the intended role without treating future delegation as accomplished.
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.
Establish the ownership and control relationship with documents
The two organisations must stand in a qualifying relationship, as parent and subsidiary, as branch, or as affiliates under common ownership and control. The Canadian dealership and the U.S. location must be the same employer or a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, and both must be active businesses at the time of filing. An executive appointment to an established US division looks straightforward on an organization chart, yet the decisive evidence is what the person actually does each week. The general maximum is seven years in L-1A status and five years in L-1B status, subject to regulatory exceptions and recapture rules. A shell that exists only on paper does not support a transfer into an existing operation, and a subsidiary that ceased trading while the parent continued breaks the requirement that both remain active. The record should show when responsibility shifted, who reported to the employee, and whether the foreign organization had enough personnel for the claimed level of authority. Board minutes and an organization chart are helpful only when matched by payroll, client contracts, budgets, and authority records. An owner or major stockholder must also establish 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.