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NIAGARA FALLS · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Do frequent visits to a U.S. operation establish managerial capacity?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Explain the applicant’s actual principal duties and authority. Travel frequency is context, not a role qualification.

Identify the decisions behind the visits

Distinguish oversight from personal operational delivery. A person attending many meetings is not automatically performing primarily managerial or executive work.

The regulation asks whether the employee primarily manages the organization or a department, supervises and controls the work of other supervisory or professional employees or manages an essential function, has authority over hiring and firing, and exercises discretion over day-to-day operations. Executive capacity is described in terms of directing the organization or a major component of it, setting goals and policies, exercising wide discretion, and receiving only general supervision. A first review should produce three separate findings: the companies have the required relationship, the employee completed qualifying work abroad in the relevant period, and the proposed position is managerial or executive in substance. Most companies already hold a document listing who may authorise spending, hiring and terminations at each level, and that document usually answers the managerial-capacity question faster than a role description written for the file.