The actual ownership, control and organizational relationship need evidence.
Identify the legal connection
A shared name should not be used as a substitute for the qualifying relationship. Review the effective arrangement rather than assuming every business displaying the brand belongs to the same qualifying group.
Test the corporate connection through ownership and control, not public-facing branding. Prepare a chart identifying the foreign and US entities, their shareholders, voting rights and governing agreements; a franchise or trademark licence alone is insufficient. The transferee must also have worked abroad continuously for one qualifying year in the preceding three with a related organization, and the proposed US work must be primarily managerial or executive rather than routine production. Both organizations generally must conduct active business. New-office cases receive an initial one-year period and must show premises and capacity to support the qualifying role within that year. Count planned L-1A time against the seven-year maximum.
Hypothetical example: a Canton of Hatley bookbinding-supplies manufacturer shares a retail name with an independently owned American distributor and wants to transfer its operations director. The catalogue and licence invoices show cooperation, but no parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship. She should obtain share registers and the distribution contract before treating the transfer as viable. Even if the businesses later create a genuinely controlled subsidiary, payroll must document her qualifying foreign year and the US plan must place her over functions or professional staff. The matching name cannot repair missing control.