IN THIS GUIDE · Establish qualifying employment and real managerial authority, not just a corporate relationship
Document the qualifying foreign employment
Generally, one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the relevant preceding three-year period must be established. Set out employers, dates and duties precisely, including any U.S. travel that could interrupt the qualifying period. Do not assume that a résumé written as one continuous role resolves a timing question created by a merger, sale or change of employer. Test authority against the organizational chart and operating records. A manager may supervise people or manage an essential function, but the record should show who does the underlying work and what decisions the transferee actually controls.
Describe authority through decisions, not titles
Hypothetical example: a Halifax seafood company's proposed transferee holds the title 'Export Director' but personally handles most day-to-day client negotiations rather than directing a team or function. Identify what the person would actually decide, who reports to them, and who performs the operating work, since the U.S. role must be primarily managerial or executive in fact. Read corporate records as a timeline. Share issuances, ownership transfers, board approvals, and payroll should tell the same story about the foreign and U.S. organizations. An unexplained change may be more important than a long narrative about corporate intent.
Prove the corporate relationship and, if relevant, a new office
The foreign and U.S. entities need a qualifying relationship such as parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate, supported by ownership records rather than a shared name. If the U.S. side is a new office, the evidence must show secured premises and an operation capable of supporting the role within one year, since initial new-office approval is limited to that period and extension relies on what actually developed. For a new office, preserve the forecast submitted with the petition and later compare it with real staffing, revenue, premises, and operations. Changes may be explainable; hiding the difference makes the extension review harder.
Calculate remaining L-1 time from travel records
Before planning the transfer’s duration, build a status chronology from approval notices, Forms I-94, passport entries, and evidence of days outside the United States. The general maximum is seven years in L-1A status and five years in L-1B status, subject to regulatory exceptions and recapture rules. A promotion or a new petitioner does not, by itself, erase earlier L-1 time. Resolve missing entry records before setting the assignment’s end date or asking the business to rely on recapture, because the evidence of physical presence decides the usable period more reliably than job titles or calendar estimates. Hypothetical example: a Halifax renewable-energy procurement executive previously completed two L-1B assignments, returned to Canada, and is now proposed for an L-1A position directing supplier strategy. The company should place every U.S. admission and departure on one timeline, distinguish time actually spent abroad, and have counsel calculate the remaining period before finalizing the transfer. If old passport stamps and electronic travel records conflict, investigate that discrepancy first. The executive’s new managerial duties may support L-1A, but they do not restart the statutory clock.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.