IN THIS GUIDE · Test a transfer plan that depends on future staffing
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Mark which positions actually exist
Hypothetical example: the U.S. team has two confirmed staff and additional roles awaiting budget approval. Explain what each person does and which work the applicant would perform meanwhile. Do not count proposed hires as current operating capacity.
Describe the manager’s actual authority
Identify decisions, discretion and responsibility for staff or an essential function. Explain who performs underlying operational work. No universal headcount substitutes for the actual managerial or executive analysis.
Identify whether new-office provisions apply
Have the relevant U.S. business history assessed. New-office L-1A has specific requirements, including qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and an operation intended to support the role within one year of approval. A new team within an established business is not automatically a new-office case. A U.S. operation doing business for less than one year is a new office; sufficient physical premises are required and initial approval is limited to one year.
Review changes before relying on the original plan
If hiring, duties or company relationships change, provide the revised facts for assessment. A business staffing deadline does not authorize work or establish that an earlier filing covers every later arrangement.
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.
Complete service, duties and new-office evidence
The entities must have the actual parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship, supported by ownership and control. A manager supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manages an essential function. An owner or major stockholder needs temporary U.S. service and a subsequent foreign assignment. A manager who will personally dispatch trucks, load pallets and handle customer calls because the U.S. site has four employees is doing the work, not managing it. A small team may be credible, but unsupported claims that the transferee manages everything can point toward nonqualifying hands-on duties. Executive and managerial status is capped at seven years in total, which shapes any plan that assumes an indefinite stay. The decision is not whether the title sounds senior; it is whether the evidence supports a primarily managerial or executive position by the end of the new-office first year.
Prove the function through decisions and delegation
An executive directs management, sets goals and policies, exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and answers only to general supervision from owners or a board. A manager of the function decides which procedures the company will adopt, assigns audits to site safety coordinators or external consultants, approves training programs, signs off on regulatory submissions prepared by others and answers to the executive team for outcomes. Organization charts, budgets, delegation policies, payroll records and examples of prior decisions can show who sets goals, allocates resources and evaluates subordinate work.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.