A vacancy calls for an accurate operating explanation, not an automatic conclusion.
Explain the continuing business
Describe how the foreign operation continues providing goods or services and who handles the transferred person’s former duties. An unsupported promise to hire later cannot substitute for facts that are already required.
A foreign vacancy is a fact to explain, not an automatic disqualification. Map the transferred executive’s routine tasks to named employees or genuine contractors, supported by payroll, schedules, agreements, and operating records. Separately prove a parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship, continuing foreign business and either active U.S. business or, for a new office, the ability to commence it, and one continuous qualifying year abroad within the previous three. The proposed United States position must be primarily managerial or executive, not daily production under a senior title. For a new office, initial approval is one year and evidence must show premises plus capacity to support the qualifying role within that year. Total L-1A time is generally capped at seven years.
Hypothetical example: a North Hatley cabinetry manufacturer transfers its plant director while the Canadian production-supervisor position remains open. The company should identify who assigns shifts, approves materials, and handles quality exceptions, instead of saying recruitment will solve everything. Meanwhile, the director’s American plan should show decisions, budgets, and subordinate operations rather than cabinet assembly. A documented interim contractor and updated responsibility chart may explain continuity; an empty organizational box and unchanged description would not.