IN THIS GUIDE · Assess the U.S. duties even when the applicant already manages a Canadian team
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Describe the new work without carrying over the old title
Hypothetical example: a Canadian manager is asked to personally implement a U.S. project before a team is established. Identify the actual implementation and management duties. Do not assume the Canadian title establishes the nature of the proposed U.S. work. Hypothetical example: a director for a maker of municipal floodgate sensors is sent to launch a U.S. operation, but the start-up plan has the director personally installing devices for most of each week. The operating plan, staffing schedule, and duty list decide whether management or executive work is actually primary. Resolve that question before the company uses the Canadian title in a support letter.
Explain authority and support in the proposed operation
Identify decisions, discretion and the people or arrangements performing routine work. Describe tasks retained by the applicant. A future plan to become a manager should not be presented as a current operating structure without the relevant new-office and role analysis. For each recurring operational task, identify the person, contractor, or team that performs it and the decision the applicant retains. A title may sound senior while the calendar shows hands-on production. The first review should compare the job description with payroll, vendor agreements, reporting lines, and the proposed budget so that the claimed level of authority can be tested against the available support.
Keep the foreign history accurate and separate
Prepare dated foreign employment and duties for assessment of the applicable capacity and continuous-year period. Preserve the genuine Canadian role without using it to fill gaps in the U.S. description. Provide the qualifying legal company relationship as its own evidence category. Count the qualifying foreign year backward from the contemplated admission date, then identify any break in employment, change of entity, or period spent in the United States that needs explanation. Keep ownership records, incorporation documents, and any affiliate chart with the relationship evidence rather than with the duty narrative. These records answer different questions and should not be made to do double duty.
Review the appropriate classification from the actual proposal
If the work is mainly a specialized-knowledge assignment, raise that distinction for assessment rather than forcing it into a management description. L-1A and L-1B have different role requirements. Neither a prior title nor a preferred category should replace analysis of the actual duties. A category choice should follow the documented role, not a preferred maximum stay. L-1A has a seven-year cap; L-1B has a five-year cap and distinct specialized-knowledge criteria. If the U.S. plan changes after admission, keep a dated record of the actual duties and obtain advice before assuming that a revised title preserves the original basis.
Plan the new-office year as a business project
US doing business for less than one year requires new-office premises and support for the qualifying role within a year, with initial approval limited to one year.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.