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Identify the responsibilities that need a real handover

Hypothetical example: the applicant currently handles key operating decisions abroad and plans to transfer to the U.S. organization. Identify who takes over those decisions and who performs ongoing delivery. Do not assume the applicant’s departure leaves the business unchanged without examining the work.

Distinguish confirmed support from a hoped-for successor

Describe actual assignments, authority and effective dates. A prospective replacement may be part of the business plan but should not be presented as already employed or operational. Explain how work is handled during any genuine transition period.

Show continuing foreign business on actual evidence

The qualifying organization’s U.S. and foreign business requirements remain relevant during the L period. Identify actual goods or services provided abroad and the operating arrangements supporting them. A named successor or retained address does not by itself establish ongoing business.

Explain the applicant’s actual U.S. role after the handover

Identify managerial or executive duties in the United States and any foreign responsibilities retained personally. Do not double-count the same capacity as fully available to both operations. Have the actual role, qualifying employment and company relationship assessed together.

Start with primary records: executed agreements, bank or payroll evidence, corporate registers, and the current duty description. L-1A generally requires one continuous qualifying year abroad in the three years before transfer, and the stay is generally capped at seven years. The U.S. role must be managerial or executive. A first review should identify which item is missing and whether it can be obtained before a material commitment is made.

Sequence the work deliberately: verify the controlling record, compare it with the proposed representation, then decide whether to proceed, revise the transaction, or obtain case-specific advice. A summary, title, payment receipt, or optimistic forecast cannot safely replace the record that answers the governing condition.

What managerial and executive actually mean here

Identify responsibility for personnel, an essential function or the direction of the organization or a component, as actually applicable. Identify the essential function, the applicant’s senior position in relation to it and the discretion exercised over its daily operations. L-1A moves a manager or executive from a Canadian company to a related U.S. entity: a parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate, both actively doing business. For a new office, sufficient physical premises and support for a managerial or executive position within one year must be established; initial new-office approval is limited to one year. Brief US trips need not break continuity, but their days do not count toward the foreign year.