Executive and managerial status is limited to seven years in total. The clock counts time spent in the classification, and time spent physically outside the United States can generally be recaptured. A new office petition is approved for one year initially, with extensions granted on evidence that the office has developed.
Plan the assignment against the ceiling from the first day
Seven years sounds distant when a first petition is filed and arrives quickly once extensions begin. Two features of the count are worth understanding early. Time spent in the classification accrues toward the ceiling, so a person who has previously held the status in another assignment starts partway through it.
Time spent physically abroad during the period can generally be recaptured with evidence, which means travel records and passport stamps are worth keeping from the beginning rather than reconstructing later. Where the American entity has been doing business for less than a year, the first petition is a new office petition approved for one year, and the extension is decided on what the office has actually achieved. Any plan that assumes permanence should be tested early against an immigrant route, because reaching the ceiling with nothing filed is a difficult position to unwind.
- USCIS: L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
- eCFR: 8 CFR 214.2, Special requirements for admission, extension and maintenance of status
- USCIS Policy Manual: Volume 2, Part L, Intracompany Transferees
- USCIS Policy Manual: Volume 10, Part B, Chapter 2, employment authorization for certain spouses
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule