IN THIS GUIDE · Whether a construction general manager transfers as a manager when the American chart shows no subordinates
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
The corporate relationship has to exist in records, not in the family's understanding of itself
L-1 begins with a qualifying relationship between the sending and receiving entities as parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, and family sentiment does not create one. What creates it is ownership and control that can be traced on paper: share registers naming the holding company, the purchase agreement by which it acquired the Trent Lakes builder, directors' resolutions, and equivalent records on the American side. Common control through the same individuals can qualify an affiliate relationship, but the percentages and the voting arrangements must be legible to somebody who has never met the family. Both companies also have to be doing business, meaning the regular provision of goods or services, so a dormant holding vehicle or an address that exists only to receive mail will not carry the relationship on its own.
Managerial and executive are separate findings and the chart is what decides them
L-1A requires that the American role be primarily managerial or executive, which is a description of authority rather than of importance. A manager directs an organization, department, subdivision or an essential function, supervises professional or supervisory staff or manages that function at a senior level, and holds discretion over day-to-day operations. An executive directs management, sets goals and policies, exercises wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and answers only to general supervision from owners or a board. A chart in which Thibault supervises nobody supports neither finding. The group must either build the American structure the role assumes, showing who reports to him and what they do, or make a considered essential-function case with evidence of the function's significance and of his authority over it. Deciding that after a request for evidence arrives is far more expensive than deciding it now.
The qualifying year and the seven-year ceiling are both calendar problems
One continuous year of qualifying employment with a qualifying entity abroad must fall within the three years immediately preceding the petition, and Thibault's five years satisfy it comfortably provided he has not spent long stretches working inside the United States that would interrupt the count. Time already spent in L status is deducted from a maximum of seven years for L-1A, so a family group planning a multi-year build-out should map the ceiling before the first petition rather than discovering it at a second extension. Where the receiving company had been newly created, a new-office petition would be approved for one year initially, with the extension examined against what the year actually produced. The petition is filed on Form I-129 with the L classification supplement, and a Canadian citizen may in defined circumstances have it presented at a port of entry, though the evidence required does not change with the venue.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.