A qualifying corporate relationship, one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad in the past three years, and a U.S. role that is primarily managerial or executive rather than operational.
Owning the company proves none of it
The relationship comes first: parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, evidenced by registry records, articles and share registers, with both entities actively doing business rather than merely registered. The qualifying year comes next, continuous and full-time with the foreign entity or another qualifying organization, evidenced by payroll rather than by a founder's own account of his career. The role comes last, and for a founder it is usually the hardest of the three. Executive capacity means directing the organization or a major component, setting goals and policies and exercising wide discretion; managerial capacity means directing a component, supervising professional or supervisory staff, or managing an essential function. Performing the company's core operational work is neither of those. Where the office is new, approval runs for one year and the extension is judged on results.
Hypothetical example: a marine-equipment distributor wants to transfer its regional director after the Canadian parent bought a minority interest in a U.S. dealer. The first review maps ownership and control before assessing the director's title, because a title cannot repair a missing qualifying relationship. Registry extracts, share ledgers, purchase documents, payroll, and the reporting chart settle different elements. Build the record in that order: relationship, full-time foreign employment during the relevant 36-month period, then the proposed managerial or executive duties. The recurring error is describing operational authority as executive authority while the transferee still performs the central sales or service work. A sound review identifies who will do that work, on what payroll, and why the proposed role will primarily manage people, a function, or the organization.