IN THIS GUIDE · Proving an affiliate relationship when there is no parent and no subsidiary
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Know which limb of the definition you are relying on
The qualifying relationship can be parent and subsidiary, branch, or affiliate, and the affiliate limb itself has more than one form. Two subsidiaries of a common parent are affiliates. So are two entities owned and controlled by the same group of individuals in approximately the same proportion. Petitions get into trouble when they simply assert that the companies are related and leave the officer to work out how. State the limb, then evidence it. Here the claim is common individual ownership in approximately the same proportions, which means the file must show who owns what in both companies, and that the two ownership pictures line up.
Approximately the same proportion is measured, not asserted
Half and half in each company is the easy case. Real ownership is rarely that tidy: a spouse holds a few shares, an early employee took a small stake, or one sibling put in more money at the start and holds a different class. Each of those can move the two pictures out of alignment. Build a table setting out every holder of every class in both entities with percentages, and explain any difference between the two columns. Where classes carry different voting rights, control has to be addressed as well as ownership, because the definition speaks to both. If the alignment genuinely fails, say so and look at restructuring properly rather than describing it loosely.
Both entities must be doing business, and it must be visible
A qualifying relationship with a dormant company is not a qualifying relationship. Both entities must be actively providing goods or services on a regular, systematic and continuous basis, which is more than existing on a register and more than holding an agency agreement. For a machining business the evidence is straightforward when it is gathered: current customer orders, invoices, payroll, lease or premises documents, tax filings and bank activity for both sides. Assemble it for the same recent period on both, so that the two evidence sets can be read together. A U.S. entity that has been quiet while a certification was obtained needs an explanation in the petition rather than a gap.
Ownership can change, and the relationship must survive it
The relationship has to exist when the petition is filed and to continue while the transferee holds status. That makes a planned change in ownership an immigration event as well as a commercial one. If one sibling intends to sell a portion to a key employee, or to bring a partner into only one of the two companies, the proportional alignment can break and the affiliate claim with it. Raise those plans before filing, and if a change is coming, decide whether to complete it first and file on the new structure. Discovering the problem at an extension, with a family settled, is the outcome this section exists to prevent.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.