Premises evidence should explain what the business can actually do at the location. A lease may establish a commitment without showing that access, equipment or necessary operating permissions are ready. Identify those separate facts before describing the office as functioning. Hypothetical example: a commercial-drone mapping company has formed a U.S. subsidiary but has only a month-to-month virtual-office subscription. The decision is whether it has secured suitable physical premises and can document the financial capacity and staffing plan needed for a new office, or whether the launch must be sequenced differently. Incorporation alone does not establish a functioning office.
Record possession and readiness separately
Hypothetical example: a lease starts this month but the landlord will deliver the unit only after work is completed. Keep the lease, handover conditions and expected access date. Describe what can be performed there now and what depends on unfinished work. Do not treat a mailing address or paid deposit as evidence that the planned operation already exists. Identify the foreign entity, U.S. entity, ownership trail, and the individual’s employment history separately. Share records prove one fact; payroll and duty evidence prove another. The decision is whether both the corporate relationship and the one-year qualifying employment abroad can be documented without filling gaps through assumptions.
Connect premises to the intended role
For new-office L-1 treatment, sufficient physical premises must be secured. For L-1A the operation must support a managerial or executive role within one year, and initial approval is limited to one year. Explain how the premises, staff and service delivery fit together. There is no universal floor-area or employee-count rule that resolves the applicant’s managerial duties. For a new office, obtain executed premises evidence and a launch budget before filing. The operating plan should show personnel, services, projected revenue, and how the transferee will become primarily managerial or executive within the first year. The decision is whether the plan can support that role, not merely whether there is a U.S. address.
Preserve the rest of the qualifying foundation
Document the qualifying organizations and the applicant’s continuous qualifying year abroad in the relevant three-year period, with individual timing reviewed. Show ongoing business abroad and the intended U.S. activity. If handover or hiring changes, retain dated evidence and update the plan honestly. A later extension must be supported by the facts that developed, not by an unchanged initial forecast. Retain invoices, payroll, customer contracts, bank activity, and revised organization charts from day one. The initial new-office approval may last no more than one year, and later evidence tests the company that actually operates. The decision is whether staffing and business activity developed as projected or whether a changed plan needs to be assessed before extension.
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.