Read the general business expansion overview
A Shediac company preparing a new U.S. office should distinguish an accepted employment arrangement from a promising interview. The useful preparation task is to show how the proposed transferee’s duties depend on each staffing assumption.
Annotate the staffing plan with actual recruitment stages
For each position, record whether it is occupied, accepted with a future start, vacant or merely proposed. Identify the duties that person is expected to perform and who covers them before arrival. An L-1A transferee must primarily manage or act as an executive; calling someone a manager does not qualify a first-line supervisor of nonprofessional workers. If a hire is delayed, explain whether the applicant would take on operating work rather than leaving that consequence hidden behind the chart.
Tie recruitment assumptions to the applicable first-year showing
First establish that the US organization has been doing business for less than one year; that is the new-office threshold. A new-office L-1A needs adequate premises and a supported plan for the managerial or executive position within one year of approval. Its qualifying continuous foreign year must have been managerial or executive, unlike an ordinary L-1A case that may also use qualifying specialized-knowledge employment abroad. For an L-1B proposal, establish the required knowledge, sufficient premises and financial ability to compensate the employee and commence business. Initial new-office approval cannot exceed one year; a delayed recruit does not extend it.
Identify the evidence owner for every important dependency
Use the actual qualifying corporate relationship and foreign-employment records to establish a continuous full-time qualifying year abroad within the relevant three years. Count the foreign service itself: days in the United States do not count toward that year, although brief trips do not automatically interrupt continuity. The group must continue doing business in the United States and abroad. Assign someone to update the case team when a candidate declines, a start date changes or work is reassigned. This is a way to maintain accurate evidence, not a promise that any revised staffing arrangement will support the classification.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?Why does an L-2 spouse’s admission record matter for work?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.