Potentially, as a new-office petition, if the qualifying relationship, the year of foreign employment and secured premises are shown and the plan demonstrates the operation will support a managerial or executive role within one year. Approval in that case is limited to one year.
What has to be true on filing day
Four facts must already exist when the petition is signed. The U.S. entity must be formed and owned in a way that makes it a parent, subsidiary, branch or affiliate of the Québec company.
The director must have completed one continuous year of qualifying employment with the Québec company inside the last three years, in a managerial or executive capacity. The premises must be secured, meaning a signed lease or deed for space adequate to the plan. The Québec company must be operating, with staff and revenue, and must have the financial capacity to fund the facility while it grows.
What may still be in the future is the U.S. headcount, provided the business plan explains credibly how the cross-dock reaches the size that makes the director's role primarily managerial. A plan that has him personally loading trailers for the first year describes a different job than the one L-1A covers.