IN THIS GUIDE · Ask the employer the questions an officer will ask about the client site
Start with the L-1B eligibility and application overview
Is the knowledge the company's, or the industry's?
Specialized knowledge may be special knowledge of the petitioning organization's product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management, or advanced knowledge of its processes and procedures; it need not be proprietary or unique. Ines's familiarity with PLCs and flotation chemistry is general industry skill. Her deeper knowledge of the employer's control software, tuning methodology and failure modes may qualify if the evidence shows that it is special or advanced under the totality of the circumstances. Difficulty transferring that knowledge to another worker is relevant evidence, but L-1B does not require proof that qualified U.S. workers are unavailable. A good comparison names the internal material without disclosing unnecessary trade secrets: controlled manuals, configuration histories, restricted repositories, and training modules. It should also identify why the U.S. role needs that knowledge now. Mere rarity in the labour market cannot take the place of an organization-specific explanation.
Who directs her work at the customer's mill?
When an L-1B employee is placed at a client site, the placement must not be labour for hire. The affiliate must continue to control her work, and the work must be principally the affiliate's own, linked to its product. Ask the employer for the services contract. If the customer sets her hours, assigns her tasks and supervises her day, the placement looks like staffing and will be refused. If the affiliate manages the commissioning under a deliverables contract and she reports to its project lead, the placement is defensible. Read the customer agreement as an operations document. Locate who assigns work, approves leave, evaluates performance, and bears responsibility for the deliverable. If those answers point to the customer, revise the arrangement before filing rather than trying to explain away a staffing model after the fact.
Does the foreign year match the knowledge claimed?
Ines must have at least one continuous year with the Logan Lake company within the last three years, in a capacity involving specialized knowledge. Her time on site at Canadian concentrators counts if she remained on the Canadian payroll. The petition should show how the knowledge was acquired: training records, project assignments and internal documentation she authored. Knowledge claimed to be unique but gained in eight months rarely survives a request for evidence. Training logs and project records should show a progression from basic access to advanced judgment. The decisive point is whether the claimed knowledge existed during the qualifying foreign employment, not whether Ines could acquire it after transfer. Dates therefore matter as much as technical detail.
Are both companies active and related?
The U.S. affiliate must be a qualifying organization related to the Canadian employer through ownership, and both must be doing business throughout her stay. If the affiliate exists mainly to invoice this one customer, be prepared to document its premises, staff and other contracts. L-1B is limited to five years in total; time spent in the United States in H-1B status counts against it. Count prior U.S. time accurately before promising a multi-year assignment. The five-year L-1B ceiling is a planning constraint, not a filing preference. A company that needs a longer deployment should assess alternatives early instead of discovering the limit after a client contract is signed.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.