Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Establish the operating history
Provide accurate contracts, activity and premises records. A registration date alone does not establish the duration of doing business. Assess the applicable new-office framework on the actual history rather than choosing a label for convenience. A new office means US doing business for less than one year. Doing business requires regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, rather than registration alone.
Support the qualifying transfer
Prove the corporate relationship and required continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant three-year period. L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive work with real support, and the group must continue US and foreign business. A new office needs sufficient premises and capacity to support the role within one year; initial approval is limited to one year. The qualifying foreign year must be continuous full-time employment within the relevant three years; US days do not count, although qualifying brief trips do not themselves interrupt continuity. General foreign capacity may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the US role need not be the same capacity. New-office L-1A specifically requires the foreign year in managerial or executive capacity.
Managerial or executive duties, not general operational involvement
A manager may qualify by supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or by managing an essential function of the organization at a senior level without direct supervision of staff. Identify the organization or essential function managed, significant decisions delegated to the applicant and matters reserved for higher approval. The managerial or executive classification asks what the person does in an ordinary week: who reports to them, which decisions they take without approval, what function or budget they control, and how much of the time is spent doing operational work personally. For L-1A, explain the applicant’s managerial or executive responsibilities, the duties and level of supporting personnel, and who performs the operation’s routine work. Executive capacity means primarily directing the management of the organization, setting goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making and receiving only general supervision. 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. The evidence should show a business developing toward a supportable managerial structure, not an applicant performing every essential task under a senior title. If the transferee owns or is a major stockholder of the company, also establish temporary U.S. services and a subsequent assignment abroad.
Explain authority in the proposed organization
Explain who performs execution work, what the applicant manages or directs and the authority actually exercised. L-1A status is available for a maximum of seven years, and a new-office petition is normally approved for one year at first, with the extension assessed against what the office has actually become. Sign the facility lease second, because a new-office petition needs secured physical premises, not a letter of intent. A first review maps the foreign and proposed U.S. roles separately, using organization charts, payroll, delegated authority and evidence of the personnel or contractors who perform day-to-day production. An organization chart, job descriptions, and current hiring authority help settle whether the applicant will manage rather than perform the core service. The duty breakdown should show the percentage of time on setting strategy, approving budgets, hiring and directing supervisors, and acknowledge the operational tasks candidly while showing they are a minority. Signing authority and a spending limit describe what may be done; an executive-capacity claim rests on discretion over a major function and supervision flowing through subordinate managers.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.