IN THIS GUIDE · Examine how a reorganization changes the proposed managerial role
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Show what the manager will actually do after the change
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive U.S. duties. A function manager must act at a senior level over an essential function and manage rather than principally perform it. First-line supervision of nonprofessional employees alone is insufficient. Identify operational work that remains with the applicant if positions are removed or hiring is delayed.
Reconcile the corporate relationship with the reorganized business
The entities need a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship based on actual ownership and control. The group must do business regularly, systematically and continuously in the United States and at least one other country throughout the stay. A rebranding notice does not establish either the legal relationship or continuing operations.
Preserve the individual employment chronology
Generally the applicant needs one continuous full-time foreign year in the relevant preceding three years. Under the ordinary L rule, that work may be managerial, executive or specialized knowledge; the requested U.S. L-1A role has its own test. Brief U.S. visits need not interrupt continuity, but U.S. days do not count toward the year. A group-wide personnel history is not the individual’s chronology.
Apply the special launch and owner conditions where relevant
For a U.S. organization doing business less than one year, new-office L-1A requires the foreign qualifying year specifically in managerial or executive work, sufficient premises and support for the qualifying role within one year of approval. Initial approval is limited to one year. An owner or major stockholder also needs temporary U.S. service and a subsequent foreign assignment. A planned reorganization does not waive these conditions.
Show a receiving organization that can support an executive
Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component, setting goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision from higher executives, the board or shareholders. A new operation abroad is normally approved initially for one year with evidence of secured premises and the capacity to support the role, and the managerial classification carries a seven-year outer limit. A general manager who directs installation supervisors, approves bids, hires and disciplines staff, and sets the subsidiary's operating budget meets the definition. Where an employee primarily supervises staff who are neither professional nor themselves supervisory, the statute treats that person as a first-line supervisor rather than a manager, unless the employees supervised are professionals. L-1 doing business means regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services; incorporation and one unusually strong invoice cannot establish that record. A useful first review ends with a proposed organization chart for the first six months, naming who performs the operational work and who reports to the transferee.
Separate managing the function from performing it
A director of golf operations who will direct a general manager, a superintendent and a food and beverage manager fits the first branch comfortably, and the organizational chart makes the argument. Create a decision inventory showing who sets policies, controls budgets, directs managers, and handles routine work. Obtain the intercompany services agreement, the payroll registers and the tax filings, then establish whether the paying entity is itself a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the petitioner. Separate managing people or an essential function from personally performing the organization's routine output. The proposed organization chart, delegation records and descriptions of subordinate roles should show authority in practice, not merely a managerial title.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.