Read the general business expansion overview
A foreign job title, translated literally, tells an American reader almost nothing about what a person actually did. The petition has to describe duties, reporting lines and the real relationship between the two companies in plain terms, and every description has to match the documents sitting behind it. Where a title flatters the role, the safer course is to set the title aside and write out the work.
Describe the real relationship and operating stage
Hypothetical example: a Canadian company describes its U.S. entity as a division, a word that appears nowhere in the corporate records. What matters is whether the two are genuinely parent and subsidiary, branch, or affiliates under common ownership and control, and that has to be shown with share registers, resolutions and filings rather than with an internal label. Both organizations must be doing business — the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services — with the group active in the United States and in at least one other country throughout the stay. A U.S. operation that has been doing business for less than a year is a new office for these purposes, and that is a question about trading activity, not about the date a name was registered or a bank account opened.
Use actual foreign duties for the managerial launch test
For a new-office L-1A the qualifying foreign year has to have been managerial or executive work specifically, performed continuously and full time within the three years before the petition, and a translated word such as directeur does not settle which it was. Describe who reported to the person, what they decided without seeking approval, and which functions or budgets they controlled. The U.S. side needs premises already secured and an operation capable of supporting a primarily managerial or executive role within a year of approval. Supervising non-professional staff at first line is not, on its own, managerial for this purpose. Where the transferee is an owner or major stockholder, the petition must also show that the U.S. service is temporary and that a foreign assignment follows it.
Explain the specialist route without jargon as a shortcut
L-1B is the subcategory most often damaged by internal vocabulary. Specialized knowledge means a distinctive understanding of this company’s own product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management, not a project codename and not a skill the wider labour market also holds. Write down what the person knows, how the company became the only place to learn it, and what they will do with it. The new-office version needs secured premises and evidence the entity can pay the wage and start trading. The general foreign-year rule accepts managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge employment; days spent in the United States do not count toward it, although short visits need not break continuity. A first new-office approval runs one year whichever subcategory is used.
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: 2026-09-08. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.