Skip to content
APPLICATION ANSWERS · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does owning both the Canadian and U.S. companies make L-1A approval automatic?

Sources checked:

THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. Ownership can help explain the corporate relationship, but the qualifying employment abroad, the actual business activity of both organizations, and the managerial or executive nature of the proposed U.S. role still need to be independently established.

Separate the ownership fact from the working-role fact

Describe specifically what the applicant would do after the transfer and who they would direct, rather than treating ownership as the whole answer. Identify who currently performs the routine service or production work in the business. If there are multiple owners or a holding-company structure, have the actual control documents reviewed rather than relying on a summary diagram; the diagram can start the conversation, but it is not itself the supporting evidence. An owner or major stockholder also needs evidence of temporary U.S. services and a subsequent assignment abroad.

An internal grading structure exists for pay bands and reporting lines, whereas managerial capacity is judged on what the person supervises, hires, fires or directs, and at what level of the organization.