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HUDSON · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does managing many properties automatically qualify for L-1A?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. The actual managerial or executive duties and other requirements need assessment. Asset count or value does not establish the nature of the applicant’s work. Ask instead which decisions the applicant makes that nobody reviews. That question separates a manager from a well-titled coordinator faster than any portfolio summary, and it can be answered from documents the company already holds: board resolutions, delegated signing authority, approved budgets bearing a signature. A file resting on the number of doors under management leaves the assessor to guess at the answer, and guesses run against the applicant.

Explain how the operation is managed

Identify decisions, discretion, supporting work and personal execution. A property-management title may describe several different combinations of duties, so the evidence must explain this particular position. The year abroad is a separate gate and it is easy to lose.

Qualifying employment must have run for one continuous year within the three years preceding the request, with an entity related to the United States employer. Gaps caused by a resignation, a switch to invoicing through a personal corporation, or a period paid by an unrelated firm can break the continuity even where the work looked identical. Pull the payroll records and the employment agreements for that whole window before drafting the duty description, since a well-argued managerial role fails anyway if the year underneath it does not hold.