Read the general business expansion overview
Hypothetical example: a dental-laboratory owner in L'Ancienne-Lorette wants to open a U.S. laboratory to serve American dental clinics and to run it herself for its first year. She has arranged bench space and a milling machine in a shared technical facility rather than leasing a stand-alone unit. A new-office L-1A requires secured premises sufficient for the business and evidence the operation will support a managerial or executive role within one year. Whether shared space is sufficient depends on what the plan says the laboratory will do there, and on her own year of qualifying employment and the corporate link.
Show the premises fit the business described
Secured premises does not require a stand-alone building; it requires physical space adequate to the operation the petition describes, held under a binding agreement. A licence agreement for a defined bench area, equipment access and storage in a shared technical facility can satisfy that if the agreement is for a term, names the space and matches the plan. Attach the agreement, a floor plan marking the laboratory's area, and the facility's confirmation of the equipment available. Then make sure the plan does not describe a twelve-technician laboratory that the licensed area could never hold; the premises and the plan must describe the same business, and a reviewer will compare them.
Prove her own eligibility and the corporate link
As owner-manager of the Québec laboratory she must show one continuous year of employment with it in the last three, in a managerial or executive capacity, which her payroll and her role directing technicians and client accounts should establish. The U.S. laboratory must be owned by the Québec company, or by her in a structure that makes the two affiliates under common control, with the share ledger and formation documents proving it. Both entities must operate: the Québec laboratory's clients, staff and financials on one side, and the U.S. entity's bank account, licence agreement and equipment on the other. An owner transferring herself is scrutinized on whether her U.S. week will be managerial or whether she will be at the bench making crowns.
Write a first-year plan that supports a manager
The plan should show the U.S. laboratory hiring technicians and a delivery or account coordinator during the year, winning clinic accounts, and reaching a scale where her time is spent on quality control, pricing, client relationships and staff rather than on production. Set hiring dates and revenue assumptions the Québec laboratory's own history can support, and show the parent's financial capacity to carry the U.S. payroll until the accounts arrive. Approval will be for one year; keep monthly records from the first day so the extension reports on a real operation. The Québec laboratory must keep operating with a manager in her absence, and the seven-year L-1A ceiling and any permanent-residence objective should be noted from the outset.
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?Why does an L-2 spouse’s admission record matter for work?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.