IN THIS GUIDE · Separate the management transfer from proposed outside consulting work
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Define the actual receiving organization and duties
Identify the employer, the qualifying relationship and the U.S. managerial or executive job. The role must primarily involve qualifying duties, supported by the real organization. Do not combine unrelated consulting duties with company management in a single vague description. The initial file should also show who performs the operational work, what decisions the transferee controls, and why the U.S. position is chiefly managerial or executive. A title, salary, or reporting line cannot settle that question by itself. Where the organization is small, identify the actual staff, contractors, and service providers rather than assuming a broad title supplies the missing structure.
Describe additional activity for separate assessment
Record who would receive the services, where the applicant would work and what the person would do. An activity for another group company may raise different facts from services for an unrelated client, but a familiar business connection alone does not establish permission. Obtain review before beginning outside work. Before accepting another engagement, identify whether it would be performed in the United States, for whose benefit, on which schedule, and under whose direction. The relevant question is the work actually done, not only where payment originates. A first review can produce a short activity ledger that distinguishes authorized company work, personal preparation, and work that needs separate immigration analysis.
Keep the qualifying transfer evidence complete
Generally document a continuous year of qualifying full-time foreign employment in the relevant preceding three years, a qualifying corporate relationship and continuing qualifying operations in the United States and abroad. Revenue from outside consulting cannot replace those requirements or establish that the proposed U.S. management position qualifies. Check the dates before investing in the transfer: the applicant generally needs one uninterrupted qualifying year of full-time foreign employment during the three years immediately before the application. Time in L-1A classification is ordinarily limited to seven years, while L-1B time is ordinarily limited to five. Prior status and recapture questions can affect the available period and should be documented from actual records.
Weigh managerial capacity against specialized knowledge first
L-1A allows a company to move an executive or manager from a related foreign entity to a U.S. parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate. Explain the personnel or essential function managed and how the role primarily involves management. For an ordinary individual L petition, the qualifying foreign year may have involved managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge work; the U.S. work need not be identical. A useful first review produces a working organization map, not a title-driven chart: who carries routine work, who has authority over people or a function, and what evidence confirms both. For a new office, the decision is whether the premises, capitalization, business plan, and hiring timetable support a managerial or executive role after the first year.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.