Read the general business expansion overview
An Orford company should assess actual employment and travel dates alongside the resources needed for the new US operation. The decision that most often stalls a new-office case is where the U.S. business will physically operate. The petition must be filed with premises already secured, so the company must choose, before filing, between a lease it may not yet need and a delay it may not be able to afford.
Distinguish excluded days and continuity
The case needs a continuous qualifying foreign year within the relevant three-year period. US days do not count toward it, but a trip should not automatically be treated as breaking continuity. Use the actual record and applicable rules.
Support the qualifying role
L-1A requires primarily managerial or executive duties; first-line nonprofessional supervision does not qualify by title alone. L-1B requires actual special or advanced company knowledge, even for a brief assignment.
Document the active organizations and resources
The US and foreign entities must have a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship and both must conduct regular, systematic and continuous business. A new office concerns US doing business for less than one year and needs sufficient premises; L-1A needs support for the managerial or executive role within one year, while L-1B needs financial ability to pay and commence business. Initial approval is limited to one year. Primary work at an unaffiliated client site must remain controlled by the petitioner and must not be labour-for-hire. Total stays are capped at seven years for L-1A and five years for L-1B.
Secure premises that can be shown, not described
Hypothetical example: an Orford maker of ski-tuning and waxing equipment wants to open a U.S. sales and service office and send its sales director for the first year. To save money, the company registers a Delaware entity at a mail-forwarding address and lists a month-to-month coworking membership as the office. A new-office L-1 petition requires evidence that sufficient physical premises to house the new office have been secured; a forwarding address is not premises, and a desk membership that can be cancelled with a week’s notice is a weak demonstration that the business has a place to operate and receive equipment for repair. The stronger file shows a signed lease for a small unit with a service bench, photographs, the landlord’s confirmation and a floor plan tied to the staffing forecast. The company must decide to sign that lease months before revenue exists, or to delay the petition until it does; there is no third option in which the office exists only on paper.
Match the lease term to the one-year approval
Initial new-office approval runs for one year, after which the company must show the office has grown into a position that supports primarily managerial or executive duties for the director. A lease that expires before that first anniversary invites the question of whether the operation was ever meant to continue. Choose a term that reaches past the extension filing, keep the rent and fit-out invoices, and record when the first U.S. employee starts, since a director who is still packing and shipping wax alone at month twelve is not yet a manager. The sales director’s own continuous year with the Orford company must also be complete before filing; days spent at U.S. trade shows do not count toward it.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?Why does an L-2 spouse’s admission record matter for work?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.