Possibly, but not because of the title. The test asks whether he will be employed primarily in a managerial or executive capacity, which is measured by what the role actually consists of. A week split between budgets and engine repairs has to be described accurately, and the case then stands or falls on the proportions and on how the subordinates are characterized.
Describe the week, then decide the theory
Hypothetical example: Desmond is the hands-on general manager of a Callander marina and boat-service operation whose owners have bought a comparable American business. Two routes exist to managerial capacity and they are proved differently. Personnel management requires supervising and controlling the work of other supervisory, professional or managerial employees, with authority over hiring, firing and personnel decisions.
Managing an essential function requires that Desmond operate at a senior level within the organization with respect to a function rather than a headcount, and that others carry out the operational work of that function. A marina general manager who repairs engines in August may still qualify on either theory, provided the hands-on work is incidental to the managerial role rather than the substance of it. What defeats these petitions is a description that inflates the job, because the organizational chart, the payroll and the size of the operation are all visible and will be read against the narrative.
Accuracy about the proportions is the strongest available position.
- USCIS: L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2 Part L, Intracompany Transferees
- eCFR: 8 CFR 214.2(l), Intracompany transferees
- Department of State: 9 FAM 402.12, Intracompany transferees
- USCIS: employment authorization for certain spouses, Policy Manual Volume 10 Part B Chapter 2