IN THIS GUIDE · Explain the actual duties when foreign and U.S. titles use different terminology
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Describe the U.S. role in terms of duties and authority
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive duties. A function manager acts at a senior level over an essential function and manages rather than principally performs the work. First-line supervision of nonprofessionals alone is insufficient. A title translated as director does not establish those duties without the actual organizational facts.
Use the correct foreign-year capacity rule
Generally a continuous full-time foreign year within the relevant preceding three years is required. Under the ordinary L rule, the foreign capacity may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the U.S. L-1A role is assessed separately. Brief U.S. visits need not break continuity, but U.S. days do not count. Explain the genuine foreign duties instead of assuming the titles must be identical.
Make the real corporate relationship understandable
Actual ownership and control must establish a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship. The qualifying group must regularly, systematically and continuously do business in the United States and at least one other country during the stay. Different legal names need an accurate explanation, not a rewritten chart that hides the entities involved.
Retain new-office and owner-specific evidence
A U.S. organization doing business less than one year is a new office. L-1A specifically requires the foreign year in managerial or executive capacity, sufficient premises and support for the qualifying role within one year of approval; initial approval is at most one year. An owner or major stockholder also needs temporary U.S. service and a subsequent foreign assignment. The words used in a title cannot waive these conditions.
Managing a function without managing managers
The petition should state what proportion of the transferee's time will go to managing people or a function, setting policy, hiring and firing, and budget authority, and what proportion to hands-on operational tasks. Identify the organization or major component directed, the goals and policies the applicant establishes and the discretion exercised. Directing an operation, setting its goals, controlling its budget and supervising other supervisors or professionals points one way; personally routing trucks, loading, and covering shifts points another, however senior the title. For a manager that means directing the organisation or a department, supervising professionals or other managers, holding authority to hire and fire, and exercising discretion over daily operations. The requirement contemplates the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, so a U.S. company incorporated last month with no premises, no capital and no activity does not satisfy it merely by existing. Use calendars, approval records, budgets, delegation instruments, and descriptions of subordinate functions to show how authority operates. The decisive record may be the organization chart together with payroll, job descriptions, budgets, and examples of delegated work. L-1A status is generally subject to a seven-year maximum, so the review also needs the applicant’s prior L time and any recapture question; a senior title cannot answer either issue.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.