IN THIS GUIDE · Let the org chart and the payroll history decide, not the title
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
First-line supervisor or manager: the reporting line decides
A manager in the L-1A sense primarily manages the organisation, a department or an essential function, supervises other supervisory or professional employees or manages a function, and has authority over hiring and discipline or recommends it. A person whose main job is directly supervising non-professional technicians is a first-line supervisor, not a manager, unless the technicians are themselves professionals. The way out is not a new title but an accurate account: does he manage the service function through a shop foreman and a parts lead, does he set budgets and warranty policy, does he decide who is hired? If the honest answer is that he turns wrenches half the day, the case needs rethinking.
Read the layoffs before claiming a continuous year
L-1A requires one continuous year of full-time qualifying employment abroad within the three years before the petition. A seasonal layoff can either be a genuine end of employment followed by rehire, or a temporary interruption within a continuing relationship, and the difference is factual. Gather the records of employment, payroll registers, any layoff and recall letters, and whether benefits continued. If the most recent twelve months are unbroken, the earlier layoffs may not matter at all; if the last year contains a layoff, the petition may need to wait until a clean year has run. Decide this from the documents, not from the employer's memory.
Both dealerships must be related and doing business
The qualifying relationship is a matter of ownership and control: parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate. Two dealerships owned by the same family in the same proportions can be affiliates; two dealerships that merely share a brand franchise are not. Obtain the share registers or operating agreements for both entities and be ready to show that the U.S. dealership is actively selling and servicing equipment today. A relationship that exists only on paper, or a U.S. entity that has stopped trading, fails at the threshold regardless of how the manager's duties are described.
Describe the U.S. role as managerial from the first day
The U.S. position must itself be managerial or executive; it is not enough that the person was a manager in Canada. Write the U.S. duties around the department he will run, the supervisors or professionals who will report to him, the budget and hiring authority he will hold, and the proportion of time spent on management rather than repairs. Where the U.S. service department is small, say so and explain how it is staffed, because a department of two technicians rarely supports a full-time manager. Keep this description consistent with the Canadian role account and with the organisational charts filed for both entities.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.