Knowledge and qualifying employment are separate issues. Assess the actual relationship and period under the applicable rules.
Keep the history precise
Do not turn informal collaboration or another arrangement into employee service merely to fill a timeline. Relevant expertise may have an earlier origin without resolving the employment requirement.
An L-1B assessment has two distinct gates: the organizations must have the required qualifying relationship, and the person must have both the necessary foreign employment history and specialized knowledge for the US assignment. Start by identifying the knowledge precisely: a company process, product architecture, implementation method, or advanced procedure. Then identify why it is special in the organization and how it will be used. General talent, a favourable title, or earlier contractor familiarity does not replace an uninterrupted year of qualifying full-time foreign employment within the relevant three-year window. The first review should produce a chronology with employer, payroll status, location, supervisor, and duties for each period. L-1B time is generally limited to five years. Hypothetical example: a medical-device distributor wants to transfer a calibration specialist who learned its proprietary validation sequence. She consulted informally for six months before joining payroll. The decisive documents are the employment agreement, pay records, training log, and controlled procedure showing her advanced role. The file can acknowledge the consulting history, but must not count it as employee service unless the records genuinely establish qualifying employment.