Read the general business expansion overview
Hypothetical example: a structural-steel fabricator in Orillia is forming a U.S. subsidiary to serve customers in a neighbouring state and wants to send its production manager, Iain, to set it up. Because the U.S. entity has no operating history, the petition is a new-office case: approval is limited to one year, physical premises must already be secured, and the group must show it can support a managerial role within that year. The filing must also prove the qualifying corporate relationship, Iain's one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the prior three years, and that the Canadian business will remain active while the U.S. office begins doing business. Hypothetical example: A Canadian maker of specialty bicycle components plans its first U.S. assembly and sales location. The decision is whether to secure premises and fund a hiring plan that will support a managerial or specialized-knowledge role within the initial year. Incorporation alone cannot answer that operational question.
Secure real premises before filing, not a mailbox
A new-office petition must show that sufficient physical premises to house the new office have been secured. For a fabrication business that means a signed lease or purchase of an industrial unit with the space, power and access the work needs, not a virtual office or a co-working desk. The lease should be in the U.S. subsidiary's name, with a term that outlasts the first year, and the file should include photographs, the floor plan and evidence of any equipment ordered. Officers read a premises document as a sign the company is serious; a month-to-month executive suite for a steel shop reads the opposite. A signed lease, floor plan, equipment orders and photographs show that the space can perform the proposed function. The company should select premises that match its real activities, not merely an address for mail.
Show the money and the plan to support a manager within a year
The petition must establish the financial ability of the group to start the U.S. operation and pay Iain, and that the new office will support a managerial or executive position within one year. That is a business plan question: projected contracts, a hiring schedule that puts fabricators and a shop supervisor under Iain, capital committed by the Canadian parent, and the parent's own financial statements. Iain's role should be described as directing the launch — hiring, purchasing, customer contracts — rather than as bending steel himself, even if in the first months he will do some of both. The budget and forecast should identify when staff take over production, sales and administration. That organization evidence determines whether the transferee can move into the claimed capacity by the extension stage.
Plan the extension from the day of approval
The first approval lasts one year. To extend, the group must show the U.S. office is actually doing business — contracts, invoices, payroll for the staff hired, tax filings — and that Iain is now primarily managing rather than performing hands-on work. A subsidiary that has not hired anyone by month ten will struggle to show a managerial role. Iain should keep a monthly record of hires, contracts and decisions from the first week, and the group should set internal checkpoints at three, six and nine months so the extension file writes itself. Time in the new-office year counts toward the seven-year L-1A maximum. Set monthly evidence checkpoints for payroll, customer orders, invoices and manager decisions. The concrete decision is whether the business is on track early enough to change course before the one-year review.
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.