Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Define the function and the applicant’s authority
Explain why the function is essential, its scope, the senior level at which the applicant operates and the discretionary decisions made. Distinguish managing the function from personally performing its routine tasks. Identify the staff or other actual resources that support the work; assess the organization’s reasonable needs instead of inventing a universal headcount threshold.
Document the corporate and foreign-employment foundation
The organizations need a qualifying parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch relationship and the required continuing business in the United States and another country. For an ordinary L-1A case, the qualifying continuous full-time year abroad within the relevant three-year period may be managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge employment; the proposed U.S. role must meet the managerial or executive standard. Do not impose a foreign managerial-only rule on every ordinary petition.
Apply the additional new-office conditions when relevant
A qualifying U.S. organization doing business for less than one year is a new office. L-1A new-office evidence includes sufficient physical premises, qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and a showing that the office will support the relevant role within one year of approval. Initial new-office approval cannot exceed one year, while ordinary individual initial approval may be up to three years. The general L-1A maximum is seven years, with applicable counting and exceptions assessed.
Show the operating model that will actually exist
Use genuine reporting, contracts and role evidence rather than a chart with positions that have no support. Explain who performs sourcing, order entry and supplier administration while the applicant manages the function. If an owner or major stockholder is involved, address the required temporary U.S. services and subsequent foreign assignment evidence.
Time physically spent outside the United States can matter
Explain whether the applicant directs people or a function, sets priorities and exercises relevant discretion, or mainly coordinates work decided by others. Directing an operation, setting its goals, controlling its budget and supervising other supervisors or professionals points one way; personally routing trucks, loading, and covering shifts points another, however senior the title. Time physically spent working in the United States for that group does not count toward the year, although brief trips do not break the continuity. The requirement contemplates the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, so a U.S. company incorporated last month with no premises, no capital and no activity does not satisfy it merely by existing. Supervising a group of employees who are not professionals does not by itself make a person a manager; the analysis looks for management of an organisation, department, subdivision or function, supervision of other supervisors or professional staff, and authority over hiring, firing and daily operations. Managerial duties must be primary; a manager who mostly drives a forklift because the site is short-staffed is not primarily managing. Describe which employees or functions will be managed, their level of discretion, and the transferee’s authority over goals or budgets. The Canadian company and the U.S. subsidiary must be parent and subsidiary, branch, or affiliates under common ownership, shown by share registers and incorporation documents, and both must continue active operations for the whole period.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.