IN THIS GUIDE · Distinguish a future successor from today’s qualifying manager
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Date the authority you are relying on
Record the qualifying foreign employer, duties and continuous employment year within the relevant three-year period. Establish the qualifying relationship to the US organization. Separate signed effective agreements from succession discussions and explain any ownership changes before relying on them. For ordinary L-1A, the qualifying foreign year may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the U.S. role must be primarily managerial or executive. U.S. days do not count toward the foreign year, though brief visits do not automatically interrupt continuity. The qualifying foreign employment must be full-time.
Show who carries out the operating work
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive duties. Identify the staff or supported function that allows the transferee to perform that role, rather than simply assigning a senior title. A first-line supervisor does not qualify merely by supervising nonprofessional workers.
Explain the premises delay honestly
For a new office, sufficient physical premises and a plan to support the qualifying managerial or executive role within one year matter. An unresolved lease or utility issue should be described with its actual effect on operations. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year; a delivery deadline does not relax the evidentiary requirements. A new office means the U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year. New-office L-1A specifically requires the qualifying foreign year to be managerial or executive, with the U.S. role supported within one year of approval.
Preserve the group’s continuing business
The organization must keep doing business in the United States and at least one other country, directly or through a qualifying related organization, during the relevant stay. Identify how the Canadian or other qualifying foreign operation will function after the transfer, especially if succession also changes who runs it.
Managing a function without managing managers
L-1 rests on ownership and control between the two employers — parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate — and no amount of trading history substitutes for it. A director of golf operations who will direct a general manager, a superintendent and a food and beverage manager fits the first branch comfortably, and the organizational chart makes the argument. A shared brand, registration or unused premises does not prove regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services. Owner or major-stockholder cases also require applicable temporary-service and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. 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. Use calendars, approval records, budgets, delegation instruments, and descriptions of subordinate functions to show how authority operates. Provide the organisation chart with the subordinates' own roles described, since a manager who supervises other professionals or supervisors is in a very different position from one whose team performs routine work.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.