Read the general business expansion overview
For an L-1A new office, the qualifying year abroad must have been in a managerial or executive capacity. Build the employment and location chronology before relying on a senior title. Missing records, U.S. travel and changes in role should be resolved with counsel before the petition timetable is set.
Separate dates, location and capacity
Record when the person worked for each qualifying entity, where the work occurred and what role was performed. Payroll supports employment but may not establish physical location or qualifying duties. Match it with appropriate travel and role records, identifying uncertain periods instead of treating the entire employment relationship as qualifying time.
Check the role during the claimed period
Use contemporaneous organisation charts, reporting records and examples of authority to explain the foreign position. A recent promotion cannot simply be applied retrospectively to earlier years. USCIS guidance distinguishes L-1A new-office managerial or executive experience from specialised-knowledge experience, so ask counsel to assess the actual period being relied upon.
Set the filing plan after review
Give counsel the completed chronology before selecting a filing date. Time physically spent working in the United States does not supply the required foreign employment year; detailed continuity and lookback questions need legal assessment. Do not adjust dates or omit trips to make the arithmetic fit an intended launch announcement.
Test the period against dates that can be documented
The qualifying employment abroad is generally a continuous year within the three years preceding the filing or admission, so the first task is to fix the window and then establish what the records show within it. Take payroll, tax filings, employment agreements and any variation to them, and mark the start and end of each period of employment with the relevant entity. Look for the interruptions that are easy to forget: unpaid leave, a period of engagement through a different company, a gap between contracts, or a spell of parental or medical leave. Establish what each was as a matter of fact before deciding how it should be treated, and let counsel assess the effect rather than assuming continuity or its absence.
Check the capacity, not only the employment
Presence on a payroll for a year is one element; the character of the work performed during that year is another, and it is regularly overlooked. For an L-1A new-office petition, the qualifying foreign employment must have been in a managerial or executive capacity, so assemble evidence of what the person actually did: duty descriptions in force at the time, reporting lines, decisions they made, and work products they produced. Contemporaneous material is what carries weight here, since a description written now about work performed two years ago is inherently weaker. Where the role changed during the period, map the changes with dates rather than describing an average, since which part of the period is being relied upon may matter.
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.