Corporate documents showing that the Canadian company owns and controls the U.S. subsidiary, and operational records showing both entities are doing business: leases, payroll, bank statements and customer contracts.
Ownership on paper and activity in practice
Hypothetical example: a Frontenac Islands hay producer incorporated its New York subsidiary two years ago but the U.S. entity has no employees yet; hay has been delivered by the Canadian company's own trucks. The qualifying relationship is shown by the subsidiary's certificate of incorporation, its share register listing the Canadian company as sole shareholder and the Canadian company's own articles and shareholder list.
Doing business is the harder part: USCIS looks for the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services by both entities. The subsidiary should be able to show a yard lease in its own name, a state employer registration, a bank account with customer receipts and invoices it issued. If it has been a shell while the parent did the work, the petition either becomes a new-office case, approved for one year, or waits until the subsidiary has genuinely operated.
The intercompany hay-supply agreement should be written and priced. Hypothetical example: A Frontenac Islands greenhouse-supply distributor wants to move its Canadian logistics director to a recently acquired U.S. warehouse.
The first review should produce an ownership chart, payroll records for the qualifying year, and a duty comparison for the Canadian and U.S. roles. The share ledger and acquisition agreement settle the corporate relationship; an informal management-services agreement does not.
If the warehouse is new, its lease and operating plan must also show a real business will be managed.