IN THIS GUIDE · Explain a U.S. management assignment when payroll remains with a related foreign company
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify the entities behind the payment
Record who employs the applicant, who pays them and who receives the proposed services. Explain a payroll-processing or reimbursement arrangement accurately. The fact that money passes through a foreign account does not itself establish a qualifying parent, branch, affiliate or subsidiary relationship. Compare the role description with organizational records, reporting lines, and dated payroll evidence. The decision is whether the documents show qualifying management and corporate relationship, rather than a title or payment arrangement considered alone.
Describe the U.S. authority in operational terms
Identify the personnel or essential function managed, the applicant’s discretion and who performs routine work. The U.S. position must primarily involve qualifying managerial or executive duties. A foreign employment contract should not be used to avoid explaining the job the person will actually perform in the United States. Compare the role description with organizational records, reporting lines, and dated payroll evidence. The decision is whether the documents show qualifying management and corporate relationship, rather than a title or payment arrangement considered alone. Begin with an allocation for an ordinary week, rather than a title. Separate decisions the applicant can make alone from recommendations requiring another person’s approval, then match each claimed authority to the record that fixes it: a delegation matrix for spending, signed evaluations for supervision, and meeting minutes or job descriptions for function-level priorities. If the proposed U.S. team has not been hired, describe it as a plan and identify who will cover the work in the meantime. A staffing forecast may explain a future management structure, but it does not establish that routine work is already delegated. The practical decision is whether to present current facts, wait until support exists, or use a new-office explanation that accurately addresses the initial one-year period. An unfilled position, an unsigned vendor arrangement, or a generic organization chart is weak because it does not identify who will carry the operational duties at the relevant time.
Reconcile compensation with the qualifying history
Generally establish a continuous year of qualifying full-time foreign employment in the relevant preceding three years and continuing qualifying business in the United States and abroad. Match payroll evidence to actual employment and location records; payment during a period does not by itself prove that every day was qualifying work abroad. Assess a new office separately, including its additional premises, foreign managerial/executive-year and one-year support requirements. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year. Compare the role description with organizational records, reporting lines, and dated payroll evidence. The decision is whether the documents show qualifying management and corporate relationship, rather than a title or payment arrangement considered alone.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.