IN THIS GUIDE · A small contractor's general manager whose team is trades crews rather than professionals
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Managerial capacity has a definition, and supervision alone is not it
The regulations describe managerial capacity as an assignment in which the employee manages the organization or a department, subdivision, function or component of it; supervises and controls the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, or manages an essential function; has authority over personnel actions or, where no staff are supervised, operates at a senior level within the function; and exercises discretion over day-to-day operations. Two branches matter for Deirdre. The first-line supervision branch is unhelpful to her if the people she directs are trades workers rather than supervisory or professional staff. The function-manager branch may fit better, but it requires the function to be identified, shown to be essential, and shown to be run at a senior level rather than performed personally.
Design the U.S. role before describing it
The most common failure in a small-company transfer is that the petition describes the job the person will actually do on the ground — quoting, scheduling, standing on site — and then asserts that it is managerial. The remedy is to design the role first. If Deirdre will manage the estimating and delivery function for the U.S. entity, decide now who will perform the estimating and the site supervision, whether they are employees or contracted firms, and what decisions she alone will make. A role that consists of directing a small U.S. staff plus contracted crews, setting pricing policy, approving subcontracts and controlling the entity's budget can be described honestly. A role that is mostly hands-on production cannot, however senior the title on the business card.
The qualifying year and the corporate relationship
Separately from the duties, two conditions have to be met. Because this is an L-1A new-office petition, Deirdre must have been employed abroad by the qualifying organization for one continuous year within the three years preceding the petition in a managerial or executive role; specialized-knowledge employment alone does not satisfy this new-office L-1A requirement. Four years as general manager satisfies that comfortably, provided payroll records show continuous employment rather than a period of contracting. The two entities must stand in a qualifying relationship — parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate. The established Canadian company must continue doing business, while the new U.S. entity must be positioned to commence and continue doing business; it need not already be operating when the initial new-office petition is filed. A wholly owned Washington subsidiary is the simplest relationship, evidenced by incorporation documents, the share register and records showing that the Canadian company continues to operate after the transfer.
New office, one year, and the seven-year ceiling
Because the Washington entity is new, a petition for Deirdre would be treated as a new-office case and, if approved, granted an initial period of one year. The petition needs evidence that physical premises have been secured and that the business will support a managerial position within that year, which means a staffing and revenue plan that is defensible rather than aspirational. An extension at the end of the first year is decided on what actually happened, so the plan is worth writing conservatively. Over the long run, time in L-1A is capped at seven years in total, and periods spent in the United States count toward it, which is a fact to note early if the family is thinking about permanent residence later.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.