IN THIS GUIDE · Check whether a shared brand actually establishes a qualifying corporate relationship
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Trace ownership rather than relying on the brand
Hypothetical example: two businesses use the same commercial name but have different owners. Identify the legal entities and genuine ownership and control between them. A licence, supply agreement or franchise relationship does not by itself make one a qualifying affiliate. Explain any intermediate company and distinguish an agreed transaction from one still under negotiation.
Describe the proposed management work
The U.S. L-1A role must primarily be managerial or executive. A function manager works at a senior level over an essential function and manages rather than principally performs it. First-line supervision of nonprofessional workers alone is insufficient. Show the real decisions, reporting relationships and operating support; a brand’s standard manager title does not establish the applicant’s primary duties.
Establish the person’s foreign employment and continuing group
Generally one continuous full-time year abroad within the relevant preceding three years is required. The ordinary L rule permits foreign managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge employment, with the requested U.S. role assessed separately. Brief U.S. trips need not interrupt continuity, but U.S. days do not count toward that year. The qualifying group must do business regularly, systematically and continuously in the United States and at least one other country throughout the stay.
Assess an owner’s new operation using its real stage
A U.S. organization doing business for less than one year is a new office. L-1A specifically needs the foreign qualifying year in managerial or executive capacity, sufficient premises and an operation supporting the qualifying role within one year of approval; initial approval is capped at one year. An owner or major stockholder also needs temporary U.S. service and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence. Brand recognition and launch funding do not replace these conditions.
Prepare the foreign managerial or executive history
Doing business means the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, and it is more than having a corporate registration, a bank account and an address. The executive definition looks at whether the person directs the management of the organisation or a major component of it, establishes goals and policies, exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receives only general supervision from higher-level executives, the board or shareholders. An L-1A transferee to an established operation may receive up to three years initially, and can extend to a maximum of seven years in total. The U.S. company must be a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the Canadian one, evidenced by registry extracts, articles, share registers and the resolutions that issued the shares. The record should show secured physical premises and a credible plan for operations that can support a managerial or executive position after that period. For a plant role that means directing supervisors or managing an essential function, setting production policy, controlling hiring and budgets, rather than running a saw line. Describe which employees or functions will be managed, their level of discretion, and the transferee’s authority over goals or budgets. Sequence the review from the foreign payroll and leave history to corporate ownership records, then to US premises, budgets, and the organizational chart.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-08. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.