IN THIS GUIDE · Explain how a regional management role works across several business units
Identify the decisions assigned to the role
Describe the business decisions the employee can make and how they are carried out in each unit. Distinguish directing a function from personally handling routine work. Use concrete responsibilities instead of assuming the word regional tells the reader how the position operates.
Show the reporting arrangements accurately
If employees report through local managers, explain those relationships. Where reporting is shared, identify which person controls which decisions. A simplified chart should not turn a collaborative relationship into authority the applicant does not actually hold.
Support the foreign history independently
Provide dated records of full-time qualifying foreign employment, generally one continuous year within the relevant three years, and identify the role held during that period. Brief U.S. visits need not break continuity, but U.S. days do not count toward the foreign year. An expected promotion does not rewrite past duties. For an L-1A new office, the required foreign year must have been managerial or executive.
Apply the transfer thresholds
Show the qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship and regular, systematic, continuous business in the United States and at least one other country through the qualifying organization. A U.S. operation doing business for less than one year is a new office: secure sufficient physical premises and demonstrate that it can support the managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Initial new-office approval is limited to one year. If the transferee owns or is a major stockholder of the company, supply evidence that U.S. services are temporary and that the person will return to an assignment abroad afterward.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.