IN THIS GUIDE · A U.S. branch versus a separate subsidiary
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Identify the legal structure precisely
A trade name or U.S. mailing address does not reveal whether the operation is a branch or separate company. Review registration and governing records to identify the legal employer. A branch relationship relies on the same organization operating in another location, while a subsidiary requires proof of the separate entity’s ownership and control.
Use evidence suited to that structure
For a branch, relevant registrations, tax and employment records may explain the foreign company’s U.S. operation. For a subsidiary, ownership and governance documents explain the corporate link. Avoid supplying only incorporation records for a branch claim or assuming a lease proves a parent-subsidiary relationship; the evidence must fit the legal facts.
Separate structure from office age
Either arrangement still requires an analysis of the actual U.S. operation. New-office status concerns doing business for less than one year, not simply the selected entity label. Document the start of activity and apply the appropriate evidence framework for premises, operations and the beneficiary’s proposed managerial or executive duties.
Coordinate business advice and immigration facts
Tax, liability and corporate-law considerations require their own professional review. This guide does not recommend a structure based solely on immigration convenience. Once the business chooses and implements an arrangement, keep employer names, ownership evidence, payroll explanations and the transfer narrative consistent with the actual organization.
What the entity choice does not decide
Ownership paperwork proves a relationship between companies; it proves nothing about the person being transferred. The beneficiary still needs one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad with a related entity within the three years preceding the petition or admission, and the U.S. position still has to be primarily managerial or executive rather than merely senior-sounding. No branch registration supplies either element. Hypothetical example: a SaaS analytics firm registers a U.S. branch instead of forming a subsidiary and assumes the simpler structure shortens the evidence list; the qualifying-year question and the role analysis are untouched, and the only thing genuinely shortened was the corporate filing. Scope the file around the individual as well as the entity, because the two halves fail independently.
Qualifying relationships have a shelf life
Qualifying relationships must exist when the petition is filed and continue while the status is held, so evidence of how matters stood at incorporation reaches less far than companies expect. A divestment, a new investor, an internal reorganisation or the winding down of the foreign operation can each disturb the link the classification depends on, and nothing in the branch or subsidiary label protects against that. Treat the relationship as a condition to be maintained and periodically re-evidenced rather than a box ticked once. Where a corporate change is contemplated, ask what it does to the qualifying relationship before it is executed, since unwinding a completed restructuring to preserve a transfer is rarely practical and sometimes impossible.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.