IN THIS GUIDE · Distinguish project leadership from primarily managerial work
Examine an ordinary working week
Hypothetical example: a project leader allocates assignments but also produces much of the technical deliverable. Identify which duties involve management and who performs the underlying operational work. Use a realistic allocation rather than a job description consisting only of high-level verbs.
Explain authority and organizational support
Document actual decision-making, reporting relationships and the people or arrangements supporting execution. A function-manager proposal needs to show management of an essential function rather than primarily performing it. No universal minimum headcount alone settles the managerial question.
Establish the transfer foundation
Provide entity ownership and control evidence, relevant foreign employment dates and locations, and actual operating records. The required qualifying foreign employment generally includes one continuous year within the applicable preceding three-year period, with the individual timeline assessed. Time in the United States does not count toward the foreign year.
Treat a new operation as a separate analysis
Where the U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year, review new-office requirements. L-1A requires sufficient premises, the required foreign managerial or executive employment and ability to support the proposed managerial or executive role within one year of approval. A plan needs a credible basis, not a promised title alone.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The foreign employment generally must include one continuous qualifying year within the relevant preceding three-year period, assessed on the individual facts. U.S. days do not count toward that foreign year; a trip should not automatically be treated as breaking continuity. The qualifying organization must do business in the United States and at least one other country during the relevant period, through regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services rather than registration alone. Ordinary L-1A can use qualifying foreign managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge employment; new-office L-1A specifically requires the qualifying managerial or executive foreign year. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year. Owners or major stockholders also need evidence of temporary U.S. services and a subsequent foreign assignment.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.