IN THIS GUIDE · Distinguish delegated signing authority from principally managerial duties
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Explain how authority is exercised
Hypothetical example: a person may sign routine orders but must obtain approval for all substantive decisions. Describe the real authority and escalation process. Conversely, a reporting relationship does not automatically eliminate managerial discretion. Choose representative decisions and show who can authorize them, which decisions must be escalated and who performs the resulting operating tasks. A delegated signature may concern routine purchases with little discretion, while genuine function management may involve authority exercised within broader corporate reporting lines. Explain the limits accurately. If the proposed U.S. role changes the approval structure, identify what agreement establishes that change and when it takes effect, rather than carrying a foreign signing-authority description into the petition unchanged.
Identify operating work and management
The proposed duties must be primarily managerial or executive. A function manager manages the essential function rather than principally doing its tasks. Show how others carry out operations without inventing a universal employee count or percentage test. 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.
Preserve the company-transfer evidence
Show a qualifying relationship, continuing U.S. and foreign business and the required continuous qualifying foreign employment year in the relevant period. A current delegation letter does not create a historic role that was not performed. Under the general L rule, the qualifying foreign position may be managerial, executive or involve specialized knowledge; the proposed U.S. L-1A role must still be managerial or executive.
Address the actual office stage
New-office L-1A requires sufficient premises and an operation supporting the qualifying role within one year of approval; initial approval is limited to one year. Owner or major-stockholder cases also require the applicable temporary-service and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. New-office L-1A specifically requires the qualifying foreign year in a managerial or executive capacity. A new office means less than one year of U.S. doing business.
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.
Managerial or executive, and the seven-year ceiling beyond it
A qualifying relationship exists where the two entities stand as parent and subsidiary, as branches of one employer, or as affiliates under common ownership and control. The U.S. branch must be a parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch of the Canadian company, established by ownership documents rather than by a shared name. An organization chart of the co-packing plant, with names and titles, and a description of hiring, firing, budget and scheduling authority does more than adjectives about leadership. Managerial capacity generally concerns direction of the organization, a department, subdivision or function, or supervision of professional employees; executive capacity generally concerns direction at a broad policy level with wide latitude in decision-making. L-1A time has a seven-year aggregate ceiling; a new office also must later show that it can support the claimed managerial or executive role.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.