Identify which entity employed the applicant
Hypothetical example: an employee’s division is transferred to another group company while the U.S. expansion is being planned. Record the legal employer, effective dates and actual duties. Have continuity and the relevant qualifying year assessed rather than assuming a new payroll name either preserves or destroys eligibility automatically. Map ownership and control with records rather than marketing descriptions. Incorporation documents, share registers, operating agreements, and a dated ownership chart should show the parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate connection on the filing date. Then identify the foreign and U.S. entities’ active business operations. A shared brand or common founder may be relevant, but it does not itself establish the required corporate relationship.
Document ownership and control through the change
Provide corporate records and explain the relationship to the U.S. organization. Distinguish a branch from a separately incorporated company. A before-and-after chart helps organize the facts but should be backed by evidence; a website announcing one group is not proof of every qualifying relationship. For the employee, reconstruct the qualifying year from payroll, tax, leave, reporting, and job-duty evidence. The first review should locate an uninterrupted twelve-month period inside the three-year lookback and compare the foreign duties with the proposed role. A senior title is not decisive. Decision authority, managed staff or function, budgets, and the people who perform routine work are the records that show whether the role is principally managerial or executive.
Describe the U.S. management function in substance
Show authority, responsibilities and who performs the underlying work. If new-office rules apply, sufficient premises and an operation supporting a managerial or executive role within one year are required for L-1A. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year; no fixed headcount makes an inaccurate organizational account sufficient. The qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate entities must both remain active. The maximum L-1A stay is seven years. Time planning should include the statutory ceiling rather than only the first approval period. L-1A time normally cannot exceed seven years in total; L-1B has a five-year total limit. For a new office, initial approval is generally for one year, and the later extension asks whether the operation has developed enough to support the claimed managerial or executive position. Keep forecasts, hiring evidence, leases, and actual operating records together from the outset.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.