Read the general business expansion overview
Hypothetical example: a sawmill-automation company near Roxton Pond files a new-office petition for its engineering director, supported by a business plan lifted almost unchanged from the Canadian parent’s own plan, with no United States staffing, premises detail or revenue projection of its own. A new office is approved for one year initially, and the extension is measured against what the office has actually become — which means the plan needs to describe the American entity specifically.
One year, then a real review
The initial approval period for a new office is one year, which is short by the standards of building anything. The extension request is not a formality: it is assessed against evidence of what happened, so the first year should be run with that assessment in mind from week one. Keep the evidence as it is generated rather than reconstructing it later — payroll, contracts, invoices, the lease, photographs of premises in use, and a record of what the transferee actually spent time on. Companies that treat year one as a grace period frequently arrive at month eleven with a functioning business and no organised proof of it.
Premises and capacity are evidence, not intentions
A new-office petition should show that physical premises have been secured and that the enterprise will be able to support a managerial or executive position within one year. Both of those want documents. A signed lease with a term and an address is evidence; a verbal understanding about space in an associate’s building is not. A funding plan showing where operating money comes from, a hiring schedule with dates, and equipment orders all speak to capacity. The transferee will inevitably do hands-on work in the early months, which is expected, but the plan should show when and how the role becomes primarily managerial or executive.
The plan has to be about the United States entity
A plan copied from the parent company describes a business that already exists somewhere else. What is needed is a document about this entity: its market, its customers, its costs in that location, its staffing by role and date, and its projected revenue with the assumptions visible. The qualifying relationship between the two companies must be evidenced separately, and both must be doing business. So must the transferee’s own qualifying year abroad within the preceding three years. Where the plan and the corporate evidence contradict each other on something as basic as who owns what, that contradiction will be found.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?Why does an L-2 spouse’s admission record matter for work?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.