IN THIS GUIDE · An owner who runs the machines must still be primarily a manager
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Count the hours before choosing the title
L-1A requires that the employee has been employed abroad for one continuous year within the three years before the petition in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity, and will serve the U.S. entity in a managerial or executive capacity. Primarily is the word that matters. A general manager who hires crews, prices contracts, negotiates with landowners and decides which jobs to take is managing; the same person in the trencher seat for twelve weeks is producing. Prepare a month-by-month split for the past year and for the proposed U.S. role. If hands-on time dominates, the honest response is to restructure the U.S. role, not to inflate the chart. The first review should end with a duty ledger, not only a job title. Match pay records, calendars, crew rosters and signed contracts against the monthly split; inconsistencies usually produce follow-up questions because they suggest that the claimed role was reconstructed for the petition. The U.S. plan must identify which operational tasks subordinate staff will perform, so the reader can decide whether managerial work is genuinely primary.
Show both companies alive and connected
The Canadian company must continue doing business after the owner leaves, and the U.S. subsidiary must be a real operating employer. Because the subsidiary was acquired rather than founded, it is not a new office, and its existing payroll, contracts and equipment help; but the parent still needs someone in Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade running crews, invoicing and answering the telephone. Provide share registers showing the parent's ownership of the subsidiary, financial statements for both, and a delegation plan naming who manages in Québec.
Ownership is a fact to disclose, not a bar
A majority shareholder can be transferred under L-1A when the petitioner is the U.S. company and the qualifying relationship exists between the two corporations. Corporate documents, not personal ones, should show the relationship. Because the owner controls both entities, the file should demonstrate that the subsidiary has a genuine need for a manager, has staff to be managed, and can pay the offered salary. L-1A permits a maximum of seven years; an L-2 spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, while L-2 children may study but not work.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.