Do not assume that all service years are qualifying employment. Examine the actual relationship, duties, location and applicable rules for each relevant period.
Establish the required employment rather than a long association
A strong client history may show experience while leaving the continuous qualifying foreign year unproven. Conversely, a contract label alone should not replace review of the true arrangement. Build a timeline identifying which specific qualifying organization directed and paid for the work during any period claimed as foreign employment, rather than simply aggregating scattered engagements performed for different clients under one broad narrative.
Confirm whether the arrangement during that period was full-time and continuous for the qualifying organization, since a strong client history built across many short projects for different payers can still leave the required unbroken year unproven even when the total time involved looks substantial. Identify who controlled the work, set the schedule and could terminate the arrangement, because those specific facts distinguish genuine employment from an independent engagement that is merely labeled as a contract for convenience. Separate any period spent providing services to an unrelated party from any period spent working for the qualifying organization itself, and document each period with its own dates, payer and job description rather than treating years of general association as freely interchangeable with qualifying foreign employment.