Explain how that knowledge remains relevant to the actual US assignment and establish the qualifying foreign employment history separately.
Connect the historical work to current duties
Do not assume the date of knowledge acquisition alone answers every employment or role requirement. Assess the complete facts without inventing a universal recent-training rule.
If the project changes materially during preparation or after approval, assess the immigration effect rather than assuming any internal assignment is covered. Establish the position early, tell the American side what it means for the start date, and use any waiting period productively by assembling the specialized-knowledge documentation. Confirm as well the employee's continuous qualifying foreign year within the preceding three, the active parent, subsidiary, affiliate or branch relationship and the petitioner's control over any client-site work. The beneficiary must also have completed one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad with the group within the preceding three years, which should be verified from payroll at the start rather than assumed. If the employer needs the person on site by a fixed date, the blocking question is remaining time; if the duties have changed since the last approval, it is whether the new work still rests on specialized knowledge. The five-year maximum and the qualifying-year test answer different questions; a technically strong assignment may still need a different timing decision when either calendar is short.