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APPLICATION ANSWERS · L-1A FIELD GUIDE

Does budgeting for two incomes prove both people may work for a Charlottetown applicant?

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THE DIRECT ANSWER

No. A household forecast does not establish immigration permission.

Separate expected income from authorization

Review each intended activity and actual status before relying on earnings. Confirm current government charges and professional scope separately from living costs.

Hypothetical example: a precision-glass manufacturer relocating an executive while financing a leased warehouse and initial supervisory payroll. Separate filing expenses from the operating capital needed to make the proposed managerial structure credible. The review should show what has been paid, what remains contingent, and who bears each corporate obligation. A thin budget can undermine a new-office narrative if it leaves no practical way to employ people who would perform day-to-day work. Keep lease terms, payroll forecasts, invoices, and board approvals aligned. The decision is whether the organization can support the claimed role without counting the transferee as both executive and primary production worker.

L-1A depends on a qualifying connection between the foreign and U.S. organizations and on a genuine managerial or executive position. The person must have worked for the qualifying organization outside the United States for one continuous year during the prior three-year lookback. Time in L-1A normally cannot exceed seven years; the separate L-1B maximum is five years.

Use records created closest to the event: signed agreements, payroll or bank evidence, corporate records, licences, civil documents, and dated correspondence. A careful review identifies what each record proves and what it does not prove. Do not solve a factual gap by copying a favourable label from another route. Make the next decision only after the missing fact is either documented, changed, or plainly described as unresolved.