Read the general business expansion overview
A La Prairie company may have an otherwise developed U.S. expansion plan while its intended premises remain unresolved. Describe the actual access and operating arrangements, not the building you hope to occupy. Describe the space the company can actually occupy on the intended start date, with the document that proves it. Where that document is a letter of intent rather than a lease, say so, because the difference is visible to any reader who turns to the signature page.
Separate a proposed address from supported premises
Identify the current agreement, permitted use, access dates and practical suitability for the intended operations. Do not present a negotiation as a signed lease. The evidence needs to explain the premises actually secured for the new-office case. Sufficient premises is a question of fitness for the intended operations, not floor area alone. Record what the operation needs, whether the space provides it, and what work remains before it does. Hypothetical example: a regulatory submissions project manager is to lead a new U.S. office needing secure document storage and controlled access; a shared desk arrangement may be genuine premises for some operations and plainly inadequate for that one, and the file should address the fit rather than the address. Where a landlord will not commit before the case is decided, ask what interim arrangement the company could document instead, and describe that arrangement rather than the one the company hopes for.
Connect the premises with the applicable category
The new-office framework concerns less than one year of U.S. doing business, with initial approval limited to one year. L-1A requires the relevant continuous foreign managerial or executive year, sufficient premises and an operation capable of supporting the qualifying role within a year of approval. New-office L-1B requires qualifying specialized knowledge and foreign employment, sufficient premises and evidence of financial ability to remunerate the beneficiary and commence business. Where the premises are not ready, the useful question is what the first year would actually look like. The new-office framework contemplates a one-year initial approval, so the plan should describe what will be operating within that year: the hiring, the customers or contracts expected, and the organisational structure the role will sit in. A file treating the first year as preparation invites the question of what the role will manage.
Keep company and role evidence alongside the lease
The qualifying corporate relationship, foreign employment and continuing U.S. and foreign business requirements still apply. A lease does not prove them. Explain any change to the actual expansion plan rather than assuming that commercial delay automatically extends immigration dates. Keep the corporate and personal evidence moving while the property question is unresolved, because it is the part that does not depend on a landlord. The qualifying relationship documents, the foreign employment records covering the qualifying year and the description of the proposed role can all be assembled in parallel. Once the premises are settled, the file should be waiting on that one item and nothing else.
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.