Read the general business expansion overview
A Vaudreuil-sur-le-Lac company may plan to begin in one space and add another later. Describe the premises available for the proposed operation rather than presenting a future location as already secured. The first review should result in a premises timeline: signed rights, access date, permitted use, opening work, and the people who will occupy or operate from the space. Hypothetical example: A manufacturer of rainwater cistern liners has a signed short-term warehouse licence and is negotiating a separate office lease. The decision is whether the secured premises are sufficient for the U.S. activity described now, or whether the petition improperly relies on the second location as though it were already available.
Match the space to the work proposed now
Record the actual right of access, permitted use and activities planned in each location. Distinguish a signed arrangement from a location still under discussion. A floor plan helps explain practical use, but square footage alone does not establish that the premises are sufficient for the particular operation. Collect the signed agreement, amendments, site details, and evidence of the holder's right to use the space. Then compare them to the operating plan: receiving goods, meetings, production, storage, or staff work. The decision is factual and current; a broker's expectation, a related company's informal permission, or a future expansion does not prove present secured premises.
Connect present capacity with the first-year plan
New-office treatment concerns U.S. doing business of less than one year. L-1A needs sufficient premises, the qualifying continuous foreign managerial or executive year in the relevant three years and support for the U.S. qualifying role within one year. Identify which part of that plan depends on the second space and what remains unresolved, without treating a proposed expansion as completed evidence. Build the first-year staffing and authority chart beside the premises record. The transferee needs one qualifying continuous year of foreign employment within the three years before the relevant filing or admission point, and the new operation must support the claimed L-1A role within the first year. L-1A has a maximum aggregate stay of seven years, so the plan should not assume temporary status can cover an indefinite buildout.
Address a specialized-knowledge proposal on its own terms
New-office L-1B also requires sufficient premises, qualifying continuous foreign employment, specialized knowledge and financial ability to pay the employee and begin business. Neither category is established by a lease alone: the qualifying relationship and required international business must be shown. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year; owners or major stockholders also need temporary-services and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. Keep the L-1B analysis distinct even where the same premises support both possibilities. The beneficiary still needs a qualifying continuous foreign year within the relevant three years and evidence of specialized knowledge, alongside the relationship and business evidence. L-1B has a maximum aggregate stay of five years. Decide which role is truly proposed before drafting rather than combining managerial language and specialized-knowledge claims without support.
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.