IN THIS GUIDE · Prove the corporate relationship survived a family restructuring
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
The relationship must be traced through every share transfer
Hypothetical example: an Otonabee-South Monaghan dealership that installs and services milking parlours and robotic milking systems has owned a small United States service company for six years. Two years ago the founders moved their shares into a family holding company for succession planning. The subsidiary relationship still exists, but it now runs through the holdco. The petition has to show that chain with share registers, directors' resolutions and the reorganisation documents, not with an organisational chart drawn from memory.
Both companies must be doing business, and that means trading
Doing business means the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, by both the Canadian and the United States entity. A dormant American company kept alive to hold a trademark does not satisfy it. Assemble the evidence a bank would want: invoices, service contracts, payroll records, tax filings, lease or property documents. If the United States service company has been quiet for a year, that is a fact to address before filing rather than a fact to hope goes unnoticed.
Managerial duties are described by what the person decides
L-1A requires that the transferee will be primarily managerial or executive. For a service operations manager that means the file should show authority: who is hired and fired on the manager's decision, which budgets are set, which technicians and supervisors report in, what discretion exists over scheduling, warranty policy and pricing. Counting heads is not the test, but a manager with no subordinate professionals or supervisors and a day spent doing installations personally is a technician with a title.
The year abroad is measured, and interruptions matter
The transferee needs one continuous year of full-time employment with a qualifying entity within the three years immediately preceding the petition. Time physically spent working in the United States for that group does not count toward the year, although brief trips do not break the continuity. A leave of absence, a period of self-employment or a gap between contracts can move the qualifying year outside the window entirely. Build a dated employment chronology from payroll records before assuming the year is there.
Supervising a crew is not by itself managerial capacity
Managerial capacity can rest on supervising other employees, in which case the subordinates and their own duties are examined, or on managing an essential function of the organization at a senior level, in which case the function itself must be identified and its importance demonstrated. The managerial classification carries a seven-year maximum, a newly established operation is normally approved for a first year with evidence of premises and capacity, and continuation depends on what the operation actually becomes.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.