Read the general pathway comparison overview
An employee offered a group transfer and an opportunity to buy an unrelated service provider faces two different proposals. For a Rocky View County applicant, compare the employer’s promised assignment with the ownership and financial exposure created by the purchase. A customer interested in both arrangements does not make their immigration requirements interchangeable.
Follow the employer’s assignment to its real destination
For the transfer option, identify the foreign employer and its qualifying U.S. parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, then describe whether the U.S. job is managerial, executive or specialized knowledge. The ordinary foreign-history requirement is one continuous full-time year in managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity within the relevant three years. Brief trips to the United States do not necessarily interrupt continuity, but U.S. days cannot supply that year. The group must maintain regular, systematic and continuous business in the United States and at least one other country. If the client wants to supervise the employee at its own site, assess the L-1B offsite limits before treating the contract as a transfer: when principally stationed at an unaffiliated worksite, principal control and supervision by that employer or essentially supplying labor for hire instead of the petitioner’s product or service requiring its specialized knowledge disqualifies the placement.
Read the purchase as an investor’s separate commitment
Obtain the provider’s proposed ownership agreement and acquisition budget instead of copying the employer’s transfer letter. E-2 needs the applicant’s relevant treaty nationality and at least 50% relevant treaty-national ownership of the enterprise. The investor must develop and direct it through at least 50% ownership or other qualifying operational control. Trace lawful funds into a substantial committed investment at risk; there is no universal dollar minimum. A customer deposit and an employer’s resources are not automatically the buyer’s investment. Borrowing secured by the enterprise’s assets is excluded even with additional personal collateral, while personal unsecured borrowing or security over the investor’s own non-enterprise assets may qualify. Identify precisely which money and decision rights the signed purchase would create.
Decide what happens if the customer leaves
For the acquired business, test whether it can provide more than minimal living for the investor and family or make a significant economic contribution without assuming every prospective contract will close. Future nonmarginal capacity should generally be realizable within five years. The applicant must intend to depart when E status ends, and Canadian citizens generally require an E visa. On the transfer side, losing the customer calls for reassessment of the actual assignment and employer operations, not automatic conversion to E-2. If a U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year, new-office L-1A specifically requires a qualifying foreign managerial or executive year, sufficient premises and support for the U.S. managerial or executive role within one year of approval; initial approval cannot exceed a year. Compare the resulting obligations with the household’s actual resources before choosing, and preserve separate accounts of employment authority and ownership risk.
What else is on your mind?
Does being a business owner or director qualify me for L-1A?What employment history should an L-1 transfer review cover?What makes a new-office L-1A case different?How should an owner compare L-1 and E-2?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.
- USCIS — L classification documentation and evidence
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.12
- USCIS — employment authorization for certain spouses
- ICE — nonimmigrant classes that may study
- USCIS — fee schedule
- 8 USC 1184 — specialized knowledge definition
- Department of State — treaty investors
- Department of State — 9 FAM 402.9
- 8 CFR 214.2(l), current regulation