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SENNEVILLE · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does an appointment’s effective date authorize U.S. work?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. The applicable immigration requirements and process remain separate from the corporate appointment.

Coordinate the actual activities

Identify which duties would begin, where they would occur and the intended date. Have the activities and appropriate immigration steps assessed before relying on the resolution. A signed appointment is not an individual work authorization.

A corporate appointment and an immigration filing are two separate legal actions, produced by two different processes, and only the second one actually authorizes work for the individual. The organization's resolution can confirm that a person now holds a position and describe the authority that comes with it, but it does not substitute for the petition, the approval, and the grant of status, whether through admission, a change of status, or an extension, that together establish permission to work. Confirm which of those immigration steps has actually been completed, and which remain outstanding, before treating the corporate action as if it closed the gap on its own.

A pending filing is not the same as an approved one, and an approved petition is not the same as an individual actually being admitted or granted the corresponding status, so each stage needs its own confirmation rather than being inferred from the others. Keep a simple record of exactly which stage the case has reached, since the appointment's own effective date says nothing about where the immigration process itself currently stands.