Not automatically. The actual ownership, control and legal relationship must be assessed under the applicable requirements. A commercial agreement alone does not settle the issue.
Identify what the agreement actually creates
Distinguish cooperation on a contract from any genuine corporate relationship or separate entity. The applicant’s role may be important while the required intracompany relationship remains unestablished.
The regulation defines subsidiary in terms of ownership and control: a firm of which a parent owns more than 50 percent and controls it, or owns exactly 50 percent with control, or owns less than half but in fact controls it. Identify the essential function or personnel managed, the applicant’s actual discretion and the people or resources delivering routine tasks. Map every operational task to the person or provider who actually performs it, then separate directing employees from simply overseeing a contractor's results. L-1A preparation should identify the applicant’s actual authority and primary responsibilities rather than equate every committee seat with executive control or assume shared decision-making defeats managerial capacity. The underlying L-1 test does not change with geography: the applicant needs a full year of qualifying work abroad within the three years before transfer, and the U.S. and foreign companies need the required corporate tie, parent to subsidiary, branch, or affiliate. Test the threshold facts before refining the executive narrative: the entity relationship, the continuous year abroad, and the character of both roles.