IN THIS GUIDE · Explain a management role when software performs part of the operating workflow
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Map the workflow rather than counting software as staff
Identify what the system completes, what needs human review and who handles exceptions. Do not list automated tools as employees on an organization chart. Explain the applicant’s personal operational tasks as well as authority over the process. The next review should preserve the dated source document, identify who can confirm it, and record the consequence if it remains incomplete; a label alone does not settle the point.
Assess the claimed management basis
If the role manages an essential function, identify that function, the senior level of the applicant, discretion over its operations and duties that primarily manage rather than perform it. A small team or extensive automation is not a universal shortcut in either direction. If personnel management is claimed, describe the actual employees and their roles. The next review should preserve the dated source document, identify who can confirm it, and record the consequence if it remains incomplete; a label alone does not settle the point.
Retain the corporate and foreign-employment evidence
Generally establish a continuous year of qualifying full-time employment abroad in the relevant preceding three years, a qualifying corporate relationship and continuing qualifying operations in the United States and abroad. A software subscription does not establish the international organization or the employee’s prior capacity. Assess any new-office case under its additional requirements. New-office L-1A requires a managerial or executive foreign year, sufficient premises and support for the qualifying role within one year after approval; the initial period is at most one year. The next review should preserve the dated source document, identify who can confirm it, and record the consequence if it remains incomplete; a label alone does not settle the point.
Establish the qualifying foreign year and active organizations
The qualifying relationship is a matter of ownership and control: parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate. Describe the applicant’s responsibility for budgets, priorities or a defined function and any approvals retained by others. L-1A status is available for a maximum of seven years, and a new-office petition is normally approved for one year at first, with the extension assessed against what the office has actually become. US days do not count toward the qualifying foreign employment year; a trip does not automatically break continuity. Performing the operation's skilled work most of the week does not, however senior the title.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.