IN THIS GUIDE · A specialist whose first two years with the company were as an independent contractor
Start with the L-1B eligibility and application overview
Count the qualifying year the way the rule counts it
The requirement is one continuous year of full-time employment abroad by the petitioner or its parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate within the three years immediately preceding the petition, in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity. The U.S. petitioner and foreign employer must have a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship, and the qualifying organization must continue doing business in the United States and at least one other country throughout the L-1 stay. Employment means an employment relationship, so a period spent invoicing the same company as an independent business generally does not count, however continuous or specialized the work was. The year must be continuous, so a break of several months in the middle cannot simply be added around. Tomás is one month short. The practical answer is to file after the twelfth month of payroll employment is complete and keep the payroll records that prove it.
Describe the knowledge as the company's, not the industry's
Specialized knowledge means special knowledge of the petitioning organization's product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management, or an advanced level of knowledge of its processes and procedures. Hydraulic engineering as a discipline is taught, examined and widely held; it is not specialized knowledge in this sense. What may qualify is Tomás's knowledge of this company's own control architecture, its calibration sequences, the fault library built from a decade of field returns, and the way its attachments are configured for particular machine platforms. The petition should say how he acquired that knowledge, how many people in the organization hold it, and what it would cost in time to bring someone else to the same level.
Where the work will physically happen changes the analysis
If Tomás will spend most of his time at dealer premises rather than at the affiliate's own site, the placement rules apply. An L-1B employee stationed primarily at the worksite of an unaffiliated company must not be there under an arrangement that is essentially the provision of labour for hire, and must remain principally controlled and supervised by the petitioning employer. Commissioning the company's own equipment under its own service contract, directed by a named supervisor at the affiliate, is defensible. Being absorbed into a dealer's service department and working on other manufacturers' machines is not. The service agreements and a placement letter should make the difference visible.
Plan the five years from the start
Time in L-1B is limited to five years in total, and periods spent physically in the United States count toward that limit. A specialist who arrives without a plan for year five often finds the options narrower than expected. Some organizations use the period to develop the role into a managerial one, which is a different classification with its own requirements and cannot be assumed. Others prepare a permanent-residence process well in advance. Either way, the decision belongs at the beginning rather than in the final months, and it should be discussed with a licensed U.S. immigration attorney rather than settled internally.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.