IN THIS GUIDE · Distinguish delegated signature rights from the management decisions behind a contract
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify what signing authority actually permits
Describe limits by transaction type, value or policy, and who approves exceptions. Separate negotiating, approving and signing. A signature applied after mandatory approval elsewhere should not be portrayed as independent control over the transaction. Minutes, approval matrices and internal messages can show whether the applicant set commercial direction or simply confirmed that another decision-maker had approved it. Choose a small number of dated examples and identify the relevant policy, rather than producing unsigned templates with no link to actual practice.
Describe the position beyond individual agreements
Explain the personnel or essential function managed and how the role primarily involves management. For executive capacity, assess direction of the organization or a major component or function, goals and policies, wide discretionary latitude and only general higher-level supervision. Merely possessing a power of attorney does not establish all those duties. Hypothetical example: a manufacturer of deep-sea cable markers plans to transfer its regional director after the director signed supplier agreements under a capped delegation. The review compares reporting charts, budget approvals, personnel records and the agreements. The decision is whether the documented work is primarily management of a function or routine procurement execution.
Keep corporate authority separate from the company relationship
An individual’s signing rights do not themselves create a qualifying relationship between the foreign and U.S. entities. Document ownership and control, continuing qualifying operations in the United States and abroad, and generally one continuous year of qualifying full-time foreign employment within the relevant preceding three years. Identify any new-office case for its additional requirements before treating a commercial launch date as an authorized start. For a new-office L-1A petition, the qualifying foreign year must have been managerial or executive, with sufficient premises and support for the U.S. qualifying role within one year; initial approval cannot exceed one year. Set the intended filing date beside payroll, corporate ownership and premises records so each document covers the relevant period. If the transfer is a new-office matter, the extension review will test whether the operation actually grew into a role that can support qualifying managerial or executive duties; a projected chart alone does not settle that point.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The petitioner and the foreign employer must stand in a qualifying relationship — parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate — and both must be doing business, not merely existing on paper. A useful first review ends with a proposed organization chart for the first six months, naming who performs the operational work and who reports to the transferee. A manager may direct an essential function without a large staff, but the file must show discretion at a senior level and a credible plan for others to perform the function’s day-to-day work.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.