IN THIS GUIDE · Define the authority being transferred before naming the U.S. position
Choose decisions that illustrate the role
Use real examples: approving a budget, directing an essential function or setting an operational priority. Identify who makes the decision and who carries it out. A managerial or executive title does not establish the required capacity. Ask the reviewer to assess the proposed duties, including routine work, against the applicable standard. Three decisions described in a paragraph each are worth more than a list of twelve responsibilities. For each one, name the amount or scope involved, the person who currently decides it and the person who would decide it after the transfer. Where the last two answers name the same person, the decision does not illustrate transferred authority and should be replaced with one that does.
Locate authority within the company group
Map the actual Canadian and U.S. entities, rather than their trading names alone. Explain the ownership or control relationship with supporting records. A shared brand is not a substitute for a qualifying corporate relationship. If a board or parent company retains an approval power, describe that arrangement accurately instead of omitting it to strengthen the role description. Ask the corporate secretary, or whoever keeps the minute book, for the registration certificates, the share register and any shareholder agreement, then draw the chain from those documents rather than from an internal organisation chart. Charts are drawn for staff and often show reporting lines instead of ownership. Where a holding company sits between the two operating entities, name it, because omitting it is what usually turns a straightforward relationship into a request for further evidence.
Connect the appointment to the employment history
Prepare the dates, employer names and duties for the employment abroad. L-1 generally requires a continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the relevant preceding three-year period, with a case-specific timing analysis. Do not infer that the requirement is met merely because the person founded the business or has been associated with its brand for several years. Set the chronology out month by month, with the employer's legal name at each stage, and mark any period of leave, secondment or contractor engagement separately. L-1A generally requires one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years preceding the request, and that year is assessed against such a record rather than against a summary of tenure. If a gap exists, describe it and its dates plainly, since the reviewer can only assess what is visible.
Test the operating plan against the promised duties
For a new office, examine how the operation is intended to support the qualifying role within one year. Who will perform the work that the beneficiary is not supposed to handle personally? Discuss proposed staffing and other arrangements without inventing hires. Keep the actual business plan distinct from what has already been achieved. For a new office the initial approval period is limited to one year, so the plan has to say what will exist at the end of it. Name the functions that must be running by then, and beside each one write whether it is intended to be staffed, contracted out or deferred. A function that is neither staffed nor contracted is work the beneficiary would perform personally, and that is precisely the material the extension review examines.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.