Assess the complete role and actual authority rather than treat one approval requirement as decisive.
Explain the decisions within the applicant’s remit
Identify what the person directs, what support handles operational tasks and where headquarters retains authority. The record must substantiate primarily managerial or executive work rather than rely on a senior title.
A headquarters sign-off on specific matters does not by itself decide the classification; weigh it against everything else the applicant controls day to day. List the functions supervised, the professionals or managers who carry out production or service work, and which decisions the applicant makes without review. Reserved items such as capital spending, hiring above a threshold, or major contracts can coexist with an otherwise managerial or executive assignment. Separately confirm one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years before filing and an active parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship. A new office receives only a one-year initial approval, and total L-1A time generally cannot exceed seven years, so track any prior period. The error to avoid is arguing the reserved-approval point exhaustively while leaving the day-to-day duty distribution undocumented.
Hypothetical example: A quarry-operations manager near Saint-Charles-de-Bourget schedules production, supervises three shift leads, and sets safety and hiring policy, while the parent company must approve equipment purchases above a set amount. The petition lists which decisions stay with the applicant, the shift leads' own responsibilities, and the one continuous foreign year and corporate relationship, rather than resting the case on whether the purchase-approval limit alone proves an executive role.