IN THIS GUIDE · Show that the proposed U.S. role is genuinely managerial or executive
Document the qualifying period of foreign employment
The rule generally requires one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years preceding the filing or admission being sought. Lay out the exact dates, the employing entity for each period, and any prior U.S. work or travel for review. Do not assume a tidy résumé narrative resolves the timing question if the applicant changed employers or the company reorganized. Use payroll, tax, employment, travel, and corporate records to build the one-year timeline day by day where necessary. The requirement is a qualifying year abroad during the relevant three-year lookback; a résumé alone rarely resolves interruptions, payroll gaps, or a change of legal employer. Resolve those facts before deciding which entity will petition.
Describe authority in terms of actual decisions
Identify what decisions the person will make, whose work they will direct, or which essential function they will manage, and who performs the underlying operational work. Hypothetical example: a Hamilton employee holds a director title but personally handles most client deliverables day to day. The proposed U.S. role needs its own factual description; the title cannot stand in for it. List the decisions reserved to the proposed manager or executive, the employees or managers below that role, and the operational work performed by others. This makes it possible to distinguish authority over an organization, department, function, or component from personal delivery of its routine services. A senior title does not settle that distinction.
Establish the corporate relationship with records, not branding
The foreign and U.S. entities must have a qualifying relationship, such as parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate, established through actual ownership and control documents. Gather records for any intermediate holding companies and explain changes in structure. A shared brand or a joint marketing partnership is not the same as the legal relationship the case requires. Trace every ownership link with contemporaneous formation records, share ledgers, operating agreements, and board actions. The result should show the required relationship on the filing date as well as any restructuring that occurred earlier. Brand licensing, common customers, or a loose commercial alliance cannot substitute for legal ownership and control.
Treat a new-office plan as a business forecast, not a finished fact
For a new office, the evidence should show secured premises and a credible plan to support the managerial or executive role within one year, since initial new-office approval is limited to that period. Describe staffing and financial plans honestly as projections, and keep the actual operating records from the first year available for the later extension review. For a new office, pair the business forecast with a one-year evidence calendar. Track premises, capitalization, hiring, revenue, and the beneficiary's actual decisions from the first month. The extension asks whether the operation became capable of supporting the intended managerial or executive post, so a revised forecast cannot stand in for operating proof.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.