IN THIS GUIDE · Proving two family companies are affiliates rather than partners
Start with the L-1A eligibility and application overview
Affiliation by common ownership has to be shown, not asserted
A qualifying relationship may be parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate. Two companies neither of which owns the other can still be affiliates where the same person or group owns and controls both in substantially the same proportion. That is a factual claim about percentages, and it is proved with share registers, share certificates and, where trusts or holding companies are involved, the documents that reveal beneficial ownership. Families rarely hold two companies in identical proportions by design, so the actual numbers should be checked before the petition is drafted. A difference discovered late is sometimes fixable by restructuring, but restructuring undertaken to create a relationship raises its own questions.
Both entities must be doing business, and that has a meaning
Doing business means the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services, and it is more than having a corporate registration, a bank account and an address. For carriers the evidence is straightforward when it exists: dispatch records, customer invoices, fuel and maintenance records, payroll, financial statements and tax filings. Where the United States company has been dormant or is a small operation that runs only seasonally, that should be described honestly, because it affects both the relationship analysis and the assessment of whether it can support a managerial position. A company that is not yet trading is a new-office case, which is a different filing with different requirements.
Describe the receiving role by what it decides
A terminal manager may or may not be managerial in the sense the classification uses. The question is whether Dana will primarily manage the organization, a department or an essential function, supervise other supervisory or professional employees, or exercise executive authority, rather than personally performing the operational work. In a small carrier the honest answer often involves managing a function: controlling dispatch and fleet operations, setting safety and compliance policy, holding budget authority and hiring authority. If she will also be taking dispatch calls and driving when the schedule is short, that operational share should be stated and the plan for reducing it explained.
Verify the qualifying year against payroll, not memory
The year must be continuous employment by the qualifying organization within the three years before the petition, in a managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity. In family businesses this is where files fail quietly: a manager who was paid partly by a related but non-qualifying entity, or who was on contract for part of the period, or who took an unpaid stretch, may not have the continuous year the record needs to show. Payroll registers, employment agreements and tax slips settle it. The seven-year maximum for this classification, and any prior time already spent in the United States in L or H status, should be checked in the same review.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.