Read the general business expansion overview
A new-office proposal should identify which foreign and U.S. entities are involved after any reorganization. Preserve the historical employment record and explain the changes in ownership or entity names. The qualifying relationship and employment analysis should follow the actual corporate history rather than a simplified diagram that omits an important event. Start with a dated corporate and employment timeline. The transferee generally must have completed one uninterrupted qualifying year abroad during the three years before the petition, so the first review should identify the foreign employer, pay records, and exact filing date before drawing conclusions from a title.
Date the changes in the structure
Hypothetical example: a Côte Saint-Luc business reorganized shortly before proposing a U.S. office. List the effective dates and the documents explaining what changed. Distinguish a name change from a change in ownership or employing entity, and have the legal significance assessed rather than treating them as the same event. Hypothetical example: a custom hearing-aid mould manufacturer plans a first U.S. workshop and proposes to transfer its production director. The decision is whether the foreign employer and new entity have the required corporate connection, and whether the director’s documented duties are managerial or executive rather than hands-on production. Formation papers and payroll records answer different parts.
Connect the employee’s history to the entities
Show which entity employed the applicant during the relevant periods and what duties were performed. Keep payroll, employment and corporate records distinguishable so a reviewer can follow the connections. An unbroken résumé description does not itself establish the qualifying employment or relationship where the underlying companies have changed. Make a chronology that pairs each payroll period with the entity shown on tax, employment, and corporate records. A transfer, unpaid leave, or contractor period may matter to the uninterrupted year and should be described accurately. The reviewer needs to identify the exact qualifying employer, not infer it from a shared trade name.
Assess the proposed operation on its own evidence
Add the actual U.S. premises, funding, staffing and proposed duties to the corporate history. For an L-1A new office, explain support for the managerial or executive role within the first-year framework. A verified company relationship does not replace the operating evidence, and a business plan does not cure an unresolved relationship question. For a new office, secured premises and capacity to begin business must be demonstrated, and the operation must be able to support the claimed L-1A role within the initial one-year approval. Plan beyond that first year: L-1A classification has a seven-year maximum, whereas L-1B has a five-year maximum. Choose a role description that the staffing plan can actually support.
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.