Read the general business expansion overview
A Vaudreuil-Dorion company may lose an expected U.S. customer during its launch. Preserve the changed facts and explain what the operation can now support rather than presenting the first forecast as an achieved result. A first review should compare the original forecast with current premises, funding, staffing, contracts, and customer evidence. L-1 generally requires a continuous qualifying year of full-time foreign employment within the preceding three years; the overall maximums are generally seven years for L-1A and five years for L-1B. Hypothetical example: a permafrost soil-sampling equipment maker loses its launch customer but keeps a signed premises agreement and a revised pipeline of orders. The decision is whether the revised record can support the qualifying U.S. role within the first year without treating prospective work as completed business.
Record the lost work and the remaining obligations
Identify the contract’s actual status, the work already performed and any staff or premises costs that remain. Keep a cancellation separate from a delayed order. Describe replacement business as prospective until it becomes real; the purpose is to make the operating record assessable, not to guarantee that a lost customer will be replaced. The records that settle the change are the cancellation notice, updated customer correspondence, funding evidence, and revised operational plan. Decide whether the forecast needs revision before filing or extension rather than leaving the old assumption unexplained.
Assess the relevant role and resources
A U.S. operation doing business for less than one year falls within the new-office framework. New-office L-1A needs the qualifying continuous foreign managerial or executive year within the relevant three years, sufficient premises and support for the U.S. qualifying role within one year. For L-1B, assess the continuous qualifying foreign year, specialized knowledge, sufficient premises and financial ability to pay the employee and begin business against the changed plan. A first-year assessment should keep L-1A managerial or executive duties distinct from L-1B specialized-knowledge duties. The reader must decide which role the operation can actually support, based on evidence rather than the title selected for the transfer.
Build an honest first-year comparison
Initial new-office approval cannot exceed one year. Compare actual work, staffing and funding with the original assumptions for any extension assessment; neither a disappointing result nor a revised forecast alone decides the case. Preserve the qualifying relationship and required international business evidence, plus temporary-services and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence for an owner or major stockholder. Preserve both the original and revised plans with their dates. That sequence explains a genuine business change while allowing the reviewer to assess whether the qualifying relationship, operations, staffing, and role remain supportable.
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.