Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Ask what the corporate relationship rests on
Parent, branch, subsidiary and affiliate are the four permitted shapes. Here there is no parent; the link is that the same two individuals hold the same proportions in both entities. That is an affiliate relationship in principle, but it has to be proved with share registers, subscription documents and evidence that the percentages have not drifted through later issuances. Ask the corporate lawyer for the current register of both companies rather than the incorporation package. Compare voting rights as well as share percentages. A register may show matching holdings while a shareholders agreement gives a different person practical control. The decision record is the current register, the agreement, and every amendment; an accountant's informal confirmation is only a pointer to those records.
Ask whether both companies are really doing business
A qualifying relationship on paper is not enough; for an established-office petition, both entities must be engaged in the regular provision of goods or services throughout the transfer. Ask for the United States entity's contracts, payroll records, insurance and bank activity. If the American company has been doing business for less than one year, it may instead use the new-office rules: the initial approval is limited to one year and the filing must show sufficient premises and capacity to support a managerial or executive position within that year. Separate a future launch from current operations. If the U.S. entity is not yet regularly providing goods or services, plan under the new-office rules rather than describing anticipated customers as present business. Signed customer commitments and bank activity help show which side of that line the company occupies.
Ask what the general manager will actually direct
L-1A requires duties that are primarily managerial or executive. Supervising installation crews is not automatically managerial: the question is whether he manages an organisation, a department or a function, supervises other supervisors or professionals, and exercises discretion over day-to-day operations. Ask for the proposed organisation chart with named positions and salaries, and ask honestly how much of his week will be spent estimating, quoting and running sites himself. Make a weekly duty list before choosing the classification. Budgeting, hiring authority, vendor selection, and direction of subordinate managers point in one direction; personally installing arenas or producing estimates most of the week points in another. The owners must decide which tasks will be delegated and document the staffing plan that makes delegation real.
Ask how the qualifying year abroad is being counted
He needs one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad with the group within the three years before the petition. This candidate took four months of unpaid parental leave inside that window, so the arithmetic matters: ask whether employment continued during the leave, what the payroll records show and whether the year can be established from an earlier stretch instead. Bring the record of employment and the payroll register rather than a letter summarising them. L-1A status is subject to a seven-year aggregate maximum. Build a month-by-month chronology from payroll, tax records, leave documentation, and job titles. A continuous qualifying employment year abroad must fall within the prior 36-month period. A leave should be analysed against the actual employment record, not assumed either to preserve or to break the continuity. The aggregate period of L-1A stay is generally capped at seven years, so that ceiling belongs in the first staffing and succession discussion rather than at renewal.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.