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WELLAND · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does responsibility for an important function automatically establish L-1A?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Explain the actual managerial role, senior-level authority and the work others perform. Importance of the activity alone is not the whole assessment.

Describe the function and the applicant separately

Identify what the business needs and what the applicant personally does. Do not equate performing an essential task with managing the function.

Collect examples that reveal what the applicant really does: approving a departmental plan, setting priorities for a defined function, selecting senior staff, controlling a budget, or directing managers and professionals. Managerial capacity is usually shown by supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, having authority over hiring and firing or recommending those actions, and exercising discretion over day-to-day operations. Executed service agreements, invoices, reporting routines, and evidence of real authority may show that a manager is relieved of routine production, but a vendor does not automatically count as a subordinate. The requirement remains one continuous year of qualifying employment with the organisation abroad within the three years preceding the filing, in a managerial, executive, or specialized-knowledge capacity, and shareholding does not establish it.