Three findings have to hold together: a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship between the two companies, both of them actively doing business, and one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the preceding three years. The American position must then be primarily managerial or executive.
Four elements, none of which substitutes for another
Applicants tend to lead with the strongest element and hope it carries the rest. It does not work that way, because each element is found separately. The corporate relationship is proved from ownership and control documents rather than from shared branding, a common surname or a supply arrangement.
Active business means both entities regularly provide goods or services, which construction companies with live projects can usually show through contracts, payroll and permits. The qualifying year is Thibault's own, counted backwards from the petition, and it must have been continuous and with a qualifying entity. The American role then has to be described in terms of authority: what he decides, who executes it, which budget and which policies fall to him.
A senior title, a long tenure and a genuine acquisition can all be present while the role as drawn remains that of a hands-on superintendent, and that combination is refused. Fixing the structure before filing is ordinary corporate housekeeping; arguing it afterwards is litigation with worse odds.