IN THIS GUIDE · How to sequence an L-1A when parental leave interrupted the year abroad
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Decide whether the leave breaks the year or merely delays it
The rule requires continuous employment for one year within the three-year window, not continuous presence at a desk. Whether a period of parental leave during which the employment relationship continued counts toward or interrupts the year is a question the petition must address directly, with payroll and HR records showing the relationship was maintained. The safer path, where available, is to identify a separate continuous year within the three-year window that does not include the leave. Her second and third most recent years, spent entirely at the Rothesay head office, may provide that year on their own.
Establish that her Canadian role was managerial, not just senior
A vice-president in a family company may hold the title while working largely as a dispatcher. The petition needs evidence that she directed the operations function: hiring and terminating drivers and dispatchers, approving equipment purchases, negotiating carrier agreements, setting routes and rates policy. Board minutes, signed contracts, budget approvals and an organization chart with real subordinates show this. Her family relationship to the owner should be disclosed, and her own shareholding, if any, described, because ownership does not disqualify her but must be explained.
Document the relationship and both operations
The Canadian parent's share register showing its ownership of the U.S. subsidiary, the subsidiary's state filings, its lease for the terminal, payroll for the dispatch team, customer contracts and interstate operating authority together show a qualifying relationship and an active U.S. business. Because the subsidiary has operated for years, this is not a new-office petition. The U.S. role should be described with the same specificity as the Canadian one: the staff she will direct, the decisions she will make and the reporting line back to the parent.
Plan the family's status from the outset
Her spouse is employment-authorized incident to L-2 status, which matters if he intends to work. Their infant may accompany as an L-2 child. L-1A time is capped at seven years in total, and any earlier L or H periods count against it. If the family's long-term intention includes permanent residence, the managerial record built under L-1A may be relevant to a later employment-based immigrant petition, which should be raised early rather than discovered late.
Show a receiving organization that can support an executive
Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component, establishing its goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision from higher-level executives, the board or shareholders. The regulation recognises a parent, a branch, a subsidiary or an affiliate, and affiliation is the one that most often exists here without anyone having planned it. The decision is whether the planned operation can support a principally managerial or executive position within that first year, not whether the transferee can personally keep the venture alive.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.