A qualifying corporate relationship, one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the past three years, and a U.S. position that is primarily managerial or executive. All three are documented rather than asserted.
Three findings, examined in that order
The relationship comes first: the U.S. entity must be a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the Canadian employer, proved by incorporation documents and share records, and both entities must be doing business rather than existing on paper. The employment year comes second, and must be continuous, full-time and inside the three years preceding the petition, evidenced by payroll rather than by a letter summarising a career. The role comes third. Managerial capacity means directing the organization or a component of it, supervising professional or supervisory staff, or managing an essential function; executive capacity means directing the company at a high level with wide discretion. A first-line supervisor of non-professional staff is generally neither. Where the U.S. office is new, the petition is approved for one year and the extension is judged on results rather than on the original plan.
Hypothetical example: a scientific-glassware distributor wants to move its Canadian warehouse director to lead a U.S. branch. The first review should produce an ownership map, a foreign payroll timeline, and a future organization chart allocating daily warehouse work to named staff. Corporate records settle the relationship, payroll settles the qualifying employment, and the chart tests the managerial role. Check those items in that order. A common failure is proving that the employee is important while leaving them responsible for routine picking, dispatch, and sales work that undermines a primarily managerial description.