IN THIS GUIDE · Explain the managerial assignment independently of the proposed travel pattern
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Describe what the applicant manages
Hypothetical example: an executive expects to visit the U.S. operation repeatedly while coordinating other locations. Explain actual decisions, reporting and the work others perform. Frequent travel is neither a managerial title nor evidence of the required duties.
Preserve the qualifying foreign history
Generally document one continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant preceding three years. Identify actual work locations and dates accurately. Do not count U.S. work days as foreign employment merely because payroll remains abroad.
Show the qualifying organizations and support
Establish the parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship and continuing qualifying business in the United States and abroad. Explain operational resources supporting the applicant. For a function manager, show the essential function and who performs its routine work. A function manager must act at a senior level over an essential function and primarily manage it. First-line supervision of nonprofessional workers alone is insufficient.
Apply the actual operating-stage conditions
New-office L-1A requires sufficient premises, qualifying foreign managerial or executive employment and support for the U.S. managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Initial approval cannot exceed one year. A travel calendar does not replace the launch evidence. A new office means less than one year of U.S. doing business. An owner or major stockholder must also show temporary U.S. services and a subsequent foreign assignment.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The qualifying foreign employment generally must be one continuous full-time year within the relevant preceding three years. Its capacity may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge under the ordinary L rule; the proposed U.S. role has its own category test. Brief U.S. trips do not necessarily interrupt continuity, but U.S. days do not count toward the foreign year. The qualifying group must provide goods or services regularly, systematically and continuously in the United States and at least one other country throughout the relevant stay; registration alone is insufficient.
Describe managerial or executive capacity by function
Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component, establishing its goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision from higher-level executives, the board or shareholders. The general maximum for managerial or executive L stay is seven years, subject to the applicable rules and individual facts. If the transferee is the only layer, describe instead the essential function managed and the professional or supervisory staff relieved of routine duties. Managerial duties must be primary; a manager who mostly drives a forklift because the site is short-staffed is not primarily managing. The Canadian company and the U.S. subsidiary must be parent and subsidiary, branch, or affiliates under common ownership, shown by share registers and incorporation documents, and both must continue active operations for the whole period. A promotion to vice-president three weeks before filing is worth less than a documented history of setting budgets, hiring and directing supervisors. A working manager can qualify in some settings, but performing the regular service work must not overwhelm the claimed management duties. A managerial or executive position is a defined description rather than a level of seniority, so the redrawn chart should show what the person will actually direct: functions, subordinates or a component of the organisation.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.