Skip to content
LES CÈDRES · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Should the business restructure before requesting an L review?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

First identify the actual structure and have the applicable relationship requirements assessed. Do not assume a corporate change is necessary merely because someone used an imprecise label.

Separate corporate planning from immigration preparation

Clarify professional review, relevant evidence work and current official charges. Business structure decisions may require separate advice; a filing label should not determine them without assessment of the actual facts. Take the corporate question and the immigration question to different advisers and ask each for a written scope.

A restructuring undertaken for immigration reasons alone can carry tax and liability consequences the immigration adviser is not positioned to weigh, and a structure chosen for tax reasons may be harder to explain in a request. Hypothetical example: a hydroseeding and erosion-control contractor is told to convert its United States operation into a wholly owned subsidiary before any request is made. Before acting on that, ask what the current structure actually is, whether it already supports a qualifying relationship, and what the conversion would cost in professional fees, filing charges and disruption.

Then ask what would change in the immigration analysis if nothing were done at all. Confirm current official charges as each step arrives rather than budgeting from a figure quoted months earlier, and keep the invoices, because a file showing real spending on real advice reads differently from one that does not.