The actual doing-business history and applicable rules need assessment. Registration and operating activity are different events.
Explain when business began
Use relevant evidence of the real operation rather than deciding solely from the certificate date. Do not backdate actual activity to make the case appear established.
The relationship comes first: parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, proved through incorporation records and share registers rather than through an organizational chart drawn for the occasion. L-1A preparation should explain each person’s actual authority and primary responsibilities instead of assuming that a shared function proves both roles or automatically prevents either role from qualifying. Every L-1 case needs one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the prior three years, a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, and continuing foreign business plus either active U.S. business or, for a new office, the ability to commence it. The U.S. role must also be primarily executive or managerial rather than a working-surveyor position with incidental authority, assessed in the context of the organization's actual staffing and operations. Time in L-1A status is capped at seven years, and an L-1A new-office petition must show at filing that the intended U.S. operation will support the managerial or executive role within one year; any initial approval is limited to no more than one year. A primarily managerial or executive role can include senior management of an essential function, but chiefly doing its work is different; first-line supervision of nonprofessionals alone does not qualify.