Possibly only if the actual employers have the required qualifying relationship and all other L-1A requirements are met. The franchise agreement or common brand alone generally does not establish that relationship.
Look behind the trade name
Identify the legal entities, their owners and their control arrangements. Then assess the beneficiary’s qualifying foreign employment and proposed managerial or executive duties. A working owner who primarily serves customers or performs production may have a role problem even when corporate affiliation is established.
If the U.S. operation is new, its specific first-year evidence requirements also apply. Verify the two halves separately, because a case can pass one and fail the other.
Hypothetical example: a survey-instrument dealership operates under the same franchise brand in both countries, and the ownership check shows the U.S. outlet belongs to an unrelated local investor who licenses the brand independently. The affiliation fails there, whatever the signage says.
Where affiliation does hold, verify the role next, since a working owner who primarily serves customers or performs field calibration may have a duties problem even with the corporate relationship established. Identify the legal entities, their owners and their control arrangements, then assess the qualifying foreign employment and the proposed managerial or executive duties. New U.S.
operations carry their own first-year evidence requirements.