IN THIS GUIDE · Ask the Lévis employer the questions that turn a specialist's know-how into an L-1B record
Start with the L-1B eligibility and application overview
Ask the employer what only this company does that way
Hypothetical example: a marine-systems planner at the engineering arm of a Lévis shipbuilder has spent six years applying the group's hull-outfitting sequencing method, an internal process that dictates how modules are staged and fitted. The U.S. affiliate is starting a comparable programme and wants her to install the method. The question to put to the employer is not whether she is good, but what in her knowledge is specific to the group's process and would take a newly hired U.S. planner months to acquire. The answer, written down, is the core of the petition.
Show how the knowledge was acquired and where it is written down
Knowledge that exists only in one person's head is hard to prove; knowledge documented in internal manuals, training records, project close-out reports and certifications is easier. Gather the group's own documentation of the process, the record of the employee's training and the projects on which she applied it. The employer can redact commercially sensitive detail, but it must leave enough for an officer to see that the process is real and that the employee has an advanced grasp of it.
Tie the knowledge to the U.S. assignment on paper
The petition must explain what the employee will do in the United States and why that work needs the claimed knowledge. A general assignment description invites the conclusion that any experienced planner could do it. Describe the deliverables, the U.S. staff who will be trained, the duration and the reporting line. If any of the work takes place at a client's yard, the letter should show that the Lévis group's U.S. affiliate assigns, supervises and evaluates the work, not the client.
Keep the L-1A comparison open until the duties are clear
Where the same transferee will also lead a team, decide honestly which category fits the primary duties. A planner who mostly applies a method herself is an L-1B candidate; a planner who mostly directs other planners may be an L-1A candidate, with a longer maximum stay. Choosing the label after the duties are written, rather than before, avoids a petition that describes managerial work under a specialized-knowledge heading.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.