For an L-1A new-office proposal, distinguish the existing foreign business from the U.S. operation being established. The initial review addresses the company relationship, qualifying employment, premises and the operation’s ability to support a managerial or executive role within one year of approval. A company registration alone does not answer those questions. Prepare two documents that answer different questions: one describing the foreign business as it operates today, and one describing the United States operation as it is intended to run. Hypothetical example: a dictionary and reference data company established abroad plans a United States office to serve institutional customers, and the second document has to say who will do that work rather than merely that the work exists.
Show the relationship and employment history
Draw the current ownership chain and identify the documents supporting each connection. Then set out the applicant’s relevant foreign employment dates and actual duties. Explain any reorganization or name change using dated records. Keep the proposed U.S. duties separate from the past role so the reviewer can assess both rather than infer eligibility from a title or ownership interest. Attach a dated source to every link in the chain: an incorporation certificate, a share register entry, a resolution, a purchase agreement. Where a company was renamed or amalgamated, include the document recording the change rather than explaining it in prose. For the applicant's own history, list the employer's legal name for each period, because a person may have worked continuously while the employing entity changed more than once, and that sequence has to be visible before it can be assessed.
Test who will perform the operating work
Hypothetical example: a Montréal business owner plans to open the U.S. operation personally and recruit a team afterward. Identify the launch tasks, planned hires and responsibilities that would remain with the applicant. Explain the resources and timing supporting the plan. This is not a fixed headcount exercise; the evidence must make the proposed managerial or executive capacity understandable in the actual business context. Write the first year as a sequence of months, marking when each function is expected to start and who would perform it. Then read the list again and mark every task with no name against it. Those unassigned tasks are the ones the beneficiary would perform personally, and the plan should either accept that openly or resolve it. Describe planned hires as planned, with the intended role and the point at which recruitment would begin, rather than presenting them as though they already existed.
Prepare to explain what develops
Initial new-office approval is limited to one year. At extension, the actual operation matters, including doing business, staffing, duties, finances and continuing qualifying organizations. Retain the original plan and record material changes as they occur. A delayed hire or changed service should be explained with evidence rather than removed from the history. Confirm the individual approval and status dates with the person managing the filing. Keep a running record of what actually happens during that first year, dated as it occurs, rather than assembling it at the end. A delayed lease, a customer who did not sign, a hire made three months late are all ordinary events, and a contemporaneous note explaining each one is far more credible than a reconstruction. At extension the operation is assessed on what exists, so the useful evidence is the record of the year rather than a restatement of the original plan.
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.