Do not rely on an anniversary alone. Have the qualifying period and the applicable process assessed using the actual employment and status history.
Confirm the basis before making commitments
Identify which facts remain uncertain and whether new work or travel changes the analysis. A calendar calculation should follow the relevant rules, not replace them. Keep the proposed U.S.
start subject to the appropriate immigration steps. Anniversary arithmetic is where these plans break. Someone counts twelve months from a start date, books the transfer for the day after, and the review then finds an unpaid leave in the middle that the calendar never saw.
The record that settles whether the year is continuous is the leave and absence history from the employer, showing each period, its type, and whether the employment relationship continued through it. Obtain that before a date is promised to anyone. The condition is worth restating without hedging it away: the qualifying year must fall within the three years preceding the request, and time spent working in the United States for the same organization may affect how that window is counted.
Hypothetical example: a reinsurance treaty analyst reaches the twelve-month mark in June on paper, while a nine-week unpaid leave in February means the qualifying period has to be assessed rather than assumed.