No single signing right establishes the category. Explain the applicant’s overall managerial or executive duties and how the delegated authority operates in practice.
Identify the decision before the signature
A contract may be signed by someone who has no discretion over its terms. Alternatively, the decision-maker may direct another person to sign. Preserve that distinction in the evidence instead of equating document execution with management.
A senior policy decision differs from personally performing ordinary service delivery. Identify whether the applicant sets priorities, directs a function or merely processes decisions made elsewhere. Shared subject matter does not replace evidence of each applicant’s primary duties or automatically mean the positions are identical. The record must substantiate primarily managerial or executive work rather than rely on a senior title. An interim Canadian replacement neither defeats nor establishes those elements; the error is using that person’s title as a shortcut for the applicant’s history and future duties. For a new-office L-1A, the foreign year must have been in a managerial or executive capacity. Identify who performs the operational work, which staff or essential function the transferee manages, and what authority is exercised. Only the period on the company's payroll counts, and it must include twelve continuous months inside the three years before filing.