IN THIS GUIDE · A breeding-services director whose earlier American assignment complicates the qualifying year
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
The qualifying year is served abroad, and American time will not fill it
L-1A requires one continuous year of employment with the qualifying organization outside the United States within the three years before the petition is filed. Dermot's Ontario service runs well past a year, so the arithmetic looks safe until his Ohio assignment is placed on the timeline. Time worked inside the United States in L status is not credited toward that year. It does not destroy the continuity of his Canadian employment either, and the look-back is measured so the American interval does not simply consume it, but the year has to be found in months genuinely served in Ontario. There is a second consequence people miss entirely. Those nine months count against the seven-year maximum available in L-1A, because time held in L-1B is charged to the same overall limit. A transfer planned as a seven-year run is already shorter than it looks.
A signed agreement is not yet a qualifying relationship
The petition must show a qualifying relationship of parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate between the Canadian employer and the American entity, and that relationship has to exist when the filing is made rather than being expected shortly. An executed purchase agreement with conditions outstanding proves an intention. It does not prove ownership or control, and a petition filed against it is premature. The structure of the deal matters just as much as its timing. If the parent buys the shares of the Wisconsin company, an ordinary subsidiary appears and the relationship is easy to document. If it buys only the assets and folds them into a newly formed corporation, that corporation is a new entity whose ownership must still be traced back to the parent, and it may be treated as a new office in its first year. Both entities must also be actively doing business, meaning regular and continuous provision of goods or services, not merely an address.
Managerial capacity in a company where almost everyone is technical
Dermot supervises four technicians, a scheduler and a quality lead. First-line supervision of staff who are not professionals does not by itself make somebody a manager for this purpose, which surprises owners of small operating businesses. The route through is function management: he manages an essential function of the organization, sits senior in its hierarchy, sets the protocols the technicians follow, controls the budget for equipment and inventory, and exercises discretion over the day-to-day operations of that function without being directed on them. The evidence has to show the shape of the job, not assert a conclusion. Organizational charts before and after the acquisition, the approval limits he holds, and a duty breakdown separating what he decides from what he personally performs are worth more than any adjective in a support letter. Specialized technical knowledge, if that is the real strength of the case, belongs in an L-1B petition instead.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.