IN THIS GUIDE · A qualifying year abroad that a secondment may have quietly consumed, and a managerial claim that has to survive an organizational chart
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Counting the qualifying year when part of it was worked on the wrong side of the border
The requirement is one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years immediately before the petition. Time Thibault spent working in the United States for the same organization is generally not interruptive, but neither does it count toward that year, and the three-year window is ordinarily extended by the same period rather than the year being destroyed. The consequence in his case is arithmetic rather than tragedy: nineteen months minus five spent in the United States leaves fourteen months abroad, which is sufficient, but only if those fourteen were continuous and qualifying. If the secondment sat in the middle of a probationary appointment, or if he was on the American entity's payroll for part of it, the count changes again. This is the sort of calculation to run against the regulation and current policy before a petition is drafted, not after a request for evidence asks for it.
Managerial capacity is a description of a week, not a rank
L-1A requires that the transferee act primarily in a managerial or executive capacity. Managing people means directing subordinate supervisors or professional staff, with authority over hiring, firing and their day-to-day direction. Managing a function means running an essential activity of the organization at a senior level without necessarily supervising anyone. Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component, setting goals and policies, and operating under only general supervision. Care operations make this awkward because senior people frequently cover shifts. If a fifth of Thibault's week is spent doing rostering himself, another fifth handling family complaints personally, and the rest running a facility through directors of care, the petition should say so plainly and argue the function and the organization it sits in, rather than assert a title and hope the chart is not read closely.
Both companies must be doing business, and the ownership has to be shown rather than described
A qualifying relationship exists where the two entities stand as parent and subsidiary, as branches of one employer, or as affiliates under common ownership and control. The group knows perfectly well that it will own both, but a petition is decided on records: share registers, the purchase agreement and its closing documents, resolutions appointing directors, and financial statements showing each company regularly and systematically providing goods or services. A holding structure created a week before filing, or an American company that has done nothing since incorporation, invites a different set of questions and possibly a different rule about first-year approvals. Sequencing matters here, because the relationship has to exist when the petition is filed, not merely when the transferee is due to arrive.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.