Read the general business expansion overview
A Ferland-et-Boilleau business should show what its transferee will actually do during the launch and who supports operational delivery. The first review should produce the premises record, a staffing and financial plan, the qualifying-relationship documents and a realistic first-year duty schedule. It should decide whether the planned US work can become primarily managerial or executive for L-1A, or remains specialized-knowledge work for L-1B. The initial new-office approval is limited to one year, so the first-year evidence must be assembled before the extension decision.
Distinguish temporary assignment labels from qualifying duties
For L-1A, describe primarily managerial or executive work and actual supporting resources; a first-line nonprofessional supervisor does not qualify by title alone. The general foreign-capacity rule includes specialized knowledge, but new-office L-1A specifically requires foreign managerial or executive service. Use the real continuous foreign year within the relevant three years, excluding US days without assuming every trip interrupts continuity. The foreign payroll, job description, reporting structure and travel history should establish the qualifying year and capacity before the US launch narrative is written. L-1A and L-1B have total limits of seven and five years respectively, making prior L admissions a separate timing check. Hypothetical example: An industrial-sonar instrument distributor proposes that its foreign operations lead open a US office but has no plan for who will process orders. The company must decide whether it can document staffing and delegated operations, or whether the L-1A role would be too operational.
Support the actual new-office conditions
Qualifying entities need the proper relationship and regular, systematic, continuous business in the US and another country. New-office treatment concerns US doing business for less than a year, with sufficient premises. L-1A must support the qualifying role within one year; L-1B needs qualifying knowledge and financial ability to pay and commence operations. Initial approval is limited to one year, and an internal extension of coverage does not extend status automatically. A lease or other premises record should be read with capitalization, projected payroll and the first-year organizational chart. The extension file needs evidence of the work actually performed, staffing and the US operation’s financial position; a forecast cannot replace those later records. Sequence the launch documents first, then preserve invoices, payroll and decision records as the office begins doing business.
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.