Read the general business expansion overview
A Portugal Cove-St. Philip's consultancy that provides occupational-health programs to employers and wants its founder to open a first U.S. office can use a new-office L-1A petition, which is approved for one year and extended only if the office has developed. The petition must show that U.S. premises have been secured, that the founder has one continuous year with the Canadian company and will be an executive or manager, and that the U.S. entity will support the role within the year. The Canadian company must continue operating. The founder must also decide whether the U.S. entity needs an executive immediately or whether the work can wait until premises, staffing, and funding are credible on paper. A new-office filing is not a permission to arrive and personally deliver every service indefinitely. Its plan should identify the early operational tasks, the people who will take them over, and the point at which the founder's work becomes primarily executive or managerial. That choice drives the lease, hiring budget, and the evidence preserved for the extension.
What a new-office petition must prove up front
Hypothetical example: a Portugal Cove-St. Philip's consultancy of six staff that designs fitness-for-work and health-surveillance programs for industrial employers incorporates a U.S. subsidiary to serve customers there. The founder will move as the subsidiary's president. Before filing, the subsidiary must have a signed lease or other evidence of physical premises adequate for the planned staff; a registered-agent address is not premises. The petition must also show the ownership link, the founder's continuous year with the Canadian company in an executive or managerial capacity, and a business plan describing the U.S. staff to be hired, their roles and the financial capacity to pay them within a year.
The one-year approval and the extension test
A new-office L-1A is approved for one year only. At the extension, USCIS looks at what has actually happened: whether the subsidiary has premises, employees and revenue, and whether the founder is now primarily managing people or an essential function rather than doing the consulting work personally. A founder who spent the year delivering health programs single-handed will struggle to show a managerial role. The plan should therefore front-load hiring, even of a small number, so that by month nine the founder is directing others. Financial statements, payroll records and the U.S. organizational chart at extension are the evidence that the plan was real. Hypothetical example: a water-quality consulting company forms a U.S. subsidiary to advise food processors and selects a modest office suite near its prospective clients. The founder must decide whether to spend first on a longer lease and coordinator hire or to submit a plan with only a serviced address. The lease, floor plan, hiring budget, and signed customer pipeline settle whether the office is a real operating launch rather than a mailing arrangement. Choosing actual premises and a credible first hire makes the first-year management plan testable.
Keep the Canadian company alive and the family in order
The qualifying relationship must continue, so the Portugal Cove-St. Philip's company needs someone to run it while the founder is away, and its own contracts, payroll and premises must continue. Name that person and describe their authority in the petition. The founder's spouse may accompany in L-2 status with work authorization incident to status, which can help a household absorb the risk of a one-year approval; children may study but not work and age out at 21. L-1A time is capped at seven years in total. Petition fees, including any new-office-specific requirements, are found in the USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055, at the time of filing. Set a month-six review before filing: compare hires, payroll, client work, and the founder's weekly duties against the submitted plan. If the business needs the founder to perform consulting longer than expected, decide early whether to accelerate a hire or revise operational expectations. Timesheets, invoices, payroll records, and an updated organization chart will explain the answer at extension. Waiting until the end of the year leaves little room to correct a role that has become primarily hands-on.
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.