IN THIS GUIDE · A manager whose qualifying year is split across two companies in the same group
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
What the year abroad has to prove, and what it does not
The requirement is one continuous year of qualifying employment within the three years before the petition, in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity. It is not a requirement that the year be served under a single payroll number. Employment with a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate of the petitioning organization can count, so a move between two companies that the holding company owns and controls is not automatically fatal. What the evidence must establish is that both companies were qualifying entities throughout, that Bertrand's employment was continuous across the transfer, and that his capacity remained managerial in each period. Any of those three left unproven turns a workable file into a refusal.
The corporate evidence: ownership must be visible at every link
An organizational chart drawn for the petition proves nothing by itself. The file needs the underlying records: share registers for the holding company and each operating company, showing percentages and dates; the minute book entries recording any change; and, for the acquired U.S. business, the purchase agreement and the post-closing register showing the group as owner. If the acquisition was structured as an asset purchase into a newly formed U.S. company, the analysis shifts to the new-office rules, with a one-year initial approval and evidence of premises and capacity. Both the Canadian entities and the U.S. entity must be actively doing business, which payroll records, invoices and premises documents show.
The employment evidence: continuity and capacity, month by month
Bertrand needs an employment letter from each company giving exact dates, title and duties, plus payroll summaries covering the whole period without a gap. Where a payroll transfer happened mid-month, the two records should reconcile rather than overlap or leave a week unaccounted for. Managerial capacity then has to be shown separately for each stretch: an organizational chart with names, the supervisors and equipment leads who reported to him, hiring decisions he signed, budgets he approved. A description that reads as a senior operator who also did scheduling will not carry the capacity requirement, however long the service.
The proposed U.S. role has its own evidentiary burden
Running the hay-export operation must be primarily managerial or executive work. If the acquired business is thin on staff, the petition should show the structure Bertrand will direct — a yard supervisor, a logistics coordinator, an office administrator — together with the hiring plan for any position not yet filled and the money to fund it. Where he will personally drive loads or run a baler for much of the week, the role is operational and the category does not fit, whatever the title says. An established operating business supports an initial period of up to three years, with a seven-year ceiling in L-1A status.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.