Read the general business expansion overview
A new-office plan in which an outside firm delivers every service during the first year still has to explain what the transferee will personally do. There is no fixed headcount, but for L-1A the operation must support a managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Set out the contracts, the reporting lines and the applicant's own tasks with dates and documents.
Map who performs the work and who directs it
List each function — production, delivery, sales, bookkeeping, customer support — and state who performs it, under which contract, and who sets priorities and accepts the result. A subcontract can be an ordinary commercial arrangement; the question is whether the applicant's remaining role is managerial or executive in fact. Provide the contract, its scope, the pricing basis and the escalation path when the subcontractor fails to deliver. Where the applicant would perform delivery work personally, say so and give proportions rather than leaving the reviewer to infer them.
Check the qualifying facts before the plan
Hypothetical example: a company operating near Saint-Joseph-du-Lac wants to open a U.S. office with all operations subcontracted for the first year. The corporate relationship between the foreign entity and the U.S. entity must qualify, and the applicant needs one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the relevant three-year period, subject to individual timing. If specialized knowledge is proposed instead, that means special knowledge of the organization's interests and its application in international markets, or an advanced level of knowledge of the organization's processes and procedures — not general familiarity with the field. The qualifying foreign operations must continue doing business, and that may occur through another qualifying entity depending on the actual structure.
Plan the year you will later have to explain
Initial new-office approval is limited to one year, and sufficient physical premises must be secured for the proposed operation. Keep dated evidence of the subcontractor's performance, the invoices, the decisions the applicant made, and each hire as it happens. Record material changes as they occur instead of restating the original plan later, since a delayed hire explained with evidence reads differently from a history quietly revised. Confirm individual approval and status dates with whoever manages the filing, keeping filing, approval and admission separate.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?Why does an L-2 spouse’s admission record matter for work?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.