Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Describe the operating chronology
Identify formation, premises, staffing and actual business activity as separate events. New-office treatment depends on the applicable doing-business facts; an older registration does not alone establish an established operation.
Support the transfer and role
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive duties with operational support; first-line nonprofessional supervision does not qualify by title alone. Establish the qualifying corporate relationship, continuous qualifying foreign employment year within the relevant three years and continuing US and foreign business. A new office needs sufficient premises and support for the qualifying role within one year; initial approval is limited to one year. 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 cleaning contractor’s regional operations manager
Hypothetical example: a View Royal commercial-cleaning contractor formed a US corporation four years ago, kept it dormant, and now proposes to transfer its regional operations manager to run the first US contracts. She has held that title for two years and oversees three site supervisors, who each direct their own crews, hire casual staff and sign off timesheets. The reviewer’s first request is not the title but the structure beneath it: a chart naming each supervisor, their own position descriptions, payroll records showing they are employed by the Canadian company, and the manager’s authority to hire, discipline and set budgets for the sites. Because the people she manages are themselves supervisors, her duties can be primarily managerial even though the crews perform nonprofessional work. Had she directed the cleaners herself, the same title would read as first-line supervision. Her two years on the Canadian payroll satisfy the one continuous qualifying year within the three years before filing, provided she was not seconded to the United States during that time.
Sequence the reactivation before the petition
The dormant corporation is a new office because it has not been doing business in the United States for a year, whatever its certificate says. The sensible order is: sign a lease for space adequate for a dispatch office and equipment storage, open the US bank account and fund it from the Canadian company, execute the first cleaning contracts or at least signed letters of intent, then file the L-1A petition with a staffing plan for the first year. Approval would run for one year. The extension petition must show that the office is actually operating: contracts performed, US employees on payroll, invoices issued, and the manager still spending her time on management rather than filling in on night shifts. Time already spent in the United States in L or H status counts toward the seven-year L-1A maximum, and her spouse, admitted in L-2 status, is employment-authorized incident to that status; their children may study but may not work.
What usually goes wrong after year one
The most common failure at extension is a manager who became the workforce. If the first-year hires did not materialize, the file shows her cleaning, quoting and invoicing personally, and the position no longer looks managerial. A second failure is a Canadian company that stopped trading once its founder’s attention moved south; both entities must continue doing business throughout the L-1 period. Keep the Canadian payroll, contracts and filings current, and document each US hire as it happens rather than reconstructing the year later.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.