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FORT ERIE · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Can the company describe planned replacement staff as already hired?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. State the actual stage and provide genuine evidence. A preferred transfer date does not make future support a completed fact.

Use a truthful transition chronology

Review the relevant foreign employment period, U.S. operating stage and actual next steps. A revised plan does not restart new-office history.

A newly established base abroad adds a parallel track of premises and funding evidence, and its initial approval period is short enough that the first year's plan must be genuinely achievable rather than optimistic. Work backwards from the season the U.S. operation is meant to serve, allow for a request for further evidence, and put the twelve-month extension review in the calendar on the day the first petition is filed rather than eleven months later. Ask explicitly whether waiting a few months would improve the chronology, since continuing in the qualifying role abroad may complete a cleaner period of service while further United States business travel may complicate one.