A qualifying corporate relationship, one year of employment abroad, and a role that is managerial or specialized — plus the shorter clock on a new office.
Reviewed by Ekaterina Fitenko, Esq. — Florida Bar #1064536. With 20+ years of experience in the legal field, she represents Russian- and Ukrainian-speaking clients in employment and investor visa cases, in English and Russian.
An L-1 requires a qualifying relationship between the employer abroad and the U.S. entity — parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate. It is proved with ownership and control documents: share registers, corporate resolutions, audited accounts. Common ownership described in a letter is not the same as ownership demonstrated in documents, and this is checked closely.
The employee must have worked for the qualifying organisation abroad for at least one continuous year within the three years preceding the petition, in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge role. Interruptions, changes of entity within a group and periods spent in the United States all affect this calculation, and it is worth computing before anything else is drafted.
L-1A covers managerial or executive capacity. Managing people is one route; managing an essential function is another, and the latter needs the function defined and evidenced rather than asserted.
L-1B covers specialized knowledge — knowledge of the organisation's product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management that is genuinely distinct, not simply hard-won familiarity. The recurring refusal here is a description that would fit any experienced employee in the industry.
Where the U.S. entity is new, the initial period granted is shorter, and extension depends on showing that the office has become what the petition described: staffed, operating, and supporting the role in the capacity claimed. Physical premises secured before filing are part of this.
A new office case is therefore two filings planned together. Treating the first as the goal is how businesses arrive at the extension with a plan that was never executed.
Charts showing both entities, reporting lines, positions filled and positions planned, with names and dates, answer several questions at once — the relationship, the capacity and the plausibility of the plan. Drawn carelessly, they contradict the narrative the petition is making.
Parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, demonstrated with ownership and control documents rather than described in a letter.
At least one continuous year with the qualifying organisation within the three years preceding the petition, in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity.
L-1A is for managerial or executive capacity, including management of an essential function; L-1B is for specialized knowledge of the organisation's products, services or processes that is genuinely distinct.
Yes. The initial period granted is shorter and the extension depends on showing the office is operating as described, so the two filings are planned together from the start.
Securing physical premises is part of a new office case, and a petition filed without it is asking the adjudicator to accept a plan with a visible gap.
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This article is informational only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules, fees and processing times change; confirm current requirements with the agency or with counsel before relying on anything here.
Fitenko Law PLLC, 11555 Heron Bay Blvd, Suite 277, Coral Springs, FL 33076 (main office); 600 Three Islands Blvd, Hallandale Beach, FL 33009 (by appointment only). Phone: (305) 315-3425. Email: fitenkolaw@gmail.com