The general L rule permits qualifying foreign managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge employment. The actual U.S. L-1A role must still be managerial or executive.
Distinguish the frameworks
New-office L-1A has the specific foreign managerial or executive requirement. Do not transfer the general rule into that exception.
Executive capacity means directing the management of the organization or a major component, setting goals and policies, exercising wide latitude in discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general supervision from higher-level executives, the board or shareholders. L-1A managerial or executive capacity can rest on managing an essential function rather than supervising staff directly, but the function itself — not the title — must be primarily managed at a senior level, with decision-making authority over its goals and results. Confirm payroll, duties, and the parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate link; for a non-new office, the qualifying organization must be doing business as an employer in the United States and at least one other country, while a new office must meet the separate commencement requirements. The regulation requires the foreign entity to be doing business, meaning the regular and systematic supply of goods or services, so the petition must show what is still running rather than pass over the closure in silence.