Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Explain what has actually been delegated
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive duties. Identify who decides, who performs operations and which responsibilities remain with the applicant. First-line supervision of nonprofessional workers does not qualify merely through a title.
Support the qualifying transfer
Establish the organizational relationship, continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant three years and continuing US and foreign business. New-office L-1A needs sufficient premises and support for the qualifying role within one year; initial approval is limited to one year. A future delegation plan should remain identified as future evidence where applicable. The qualifying relationship must be a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, both entities must remain active, and L-1A status is capped at seven years.
Employment days and actual business activity
US days do not count toward the qualifying foreign employment year; a trip does not automatically break continuity. The qualifying organization must provide goods or services regularly, systematically and continuously in the United States and at least one other country. New-office treatment concerns actual US doing business for less than one year, rather than incorporation alone.
Hypothetical example: a campground operator’s general manager who still takes the bookings
Hypothetical example: a Sooke company operating a campground and RV resort buys a similar property in a US state and proposes to send its general manager to run it under L-1A. The Canadian transfer plan says reservations, maintenance scheduling and seasonal hiring will be delegated to an office coordinator and a grounds lead once the US site opens. In practice, the general manager still answers the booking line, walks the sites with a clipboard and calls contractors herself, because the coordinator was hired only last month and the grounds lead has not yet been recruited. What usually goes wrong is a petition written from the plan rather than the present: the officer reads the duties list, sees that most of the hours are operational, and concludes the role is not primarily managerial. The honest account describes what is delegated today, names the people who hold those tasks, and shows when the remaining positions will be filled and by whom, with the manager’s own time apportioned truthfully.
Which document decides the managerial question
For a manager of people, the deciding records are the organizational chart with names rather than boxes, each subordinate’s position description and start date, and payroll or contractor invoices proving those people exist and are paid. A named coordinator and grounds lead may support the claim only if she primarily directs them and they actually relieve her of operational work; the chart alone does not make her a second-level manager. The Canadian company must also prove her one continuous qualifying year abroad within the three years before filing, that both companies remain active, and that the US property was acquired by a parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate rather than by her personally. If the US resort has been operating under the group for less than a year it is a new office, approved for one year with premises and staffing evidence, and the extension will be judged on whether the delegation actually happened. L-1A is limited to seven years in total.
Sequence the hiring against the filing date
Recruit the grounds lead and confirm the coordinator’s role in writing before the petition is signed, so the chart reflects people rather than intentions. Keep the Canadian operation staffed and trading; a resort left to a caretaker is not a qualifying organization doing business abroad. A spouse admitted in L-2 status may work incident to that status; children may study but not work.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.