Have the immigration implications assessed before relying on the new arrangement. Internal authorization and immigration permission are different determinations. Work backwards from the last company step, not from the promotion date. The employer must complete the corporate evidence, define the position and staff the handover before a petition can be filed, and the applicant’s authority to act in the new role follows from the immigration outcome rather than from the internal approval. Ask the company which of those steps is scheduled and which has only been agreed in principle.
Resolve the transition before acting on assumptions
Provide the actual current status, proposed duties and effective date. Have required steps and timing reviewed for the individual case; do not assume an existing approval automatically covers every promotion. Three things can be done while a decision is outstanding, and one thing should not.
Gather the foreign employment records for the qualifying year, obtain the dated organisational chart in its pre-promotion form, and confirm each dependent’s current document expiry. What should wait is the operational change itself. Beginning to manage on the strength of an internal approval creates a period in which the activity performed and the classification held may not match, and that mismatch is difficult to unwind afterwards.
Where the business genuinely cannot wait, ask counsel what the applicant may do in the current classification in the meantime, and record the answer before the date rather than reconstructing it later.