EB-1C Requirements: What the Manager and the Company Each Must Prove

Written by the Ellis Porter content team. This article has not been reviewed by an attorney. It is general information, not legal advice.

Part of Ellis Porter’s guide to the EB-1C multinational manager green card.

If your company is ready to sponsor you, here is who proves what

If you are a manager or executive and your company has offered to sponsor your green card, or you work in HR and have been handed this file, the EB-1C can feel like a wall of corporate paperwork. It gets easier once you see that the requirements split into two piles: what the employee must show, and what the company must show.

This page walks both piles and ends with an evidence checklist you can work from. It focuses on eligibility. For how long each stage takes, see our guide to EB-1C processing time, and for how EB-1C fits alongside EB-1A and EB-1B, start with our EB-1 visa overview.

What are the EB-1C requirements?

The EB-1C requires five things under 8 CFR 204.5(j): at least one year of managerial or executive work abroad for a related company within a three-year window, a qualifying parent, subsidiary, or affiliate relationship, a permanent managerial or executive US job offer, a US employer doing business for at least one year, and the employer’s ability to pay.

Here is how those requirements divide between the two parties:

In practice the employer files everything. Under the regulation, the petition must include a statement from an authorized official of the US employer covering the year abroad, the corporate relationship, and the year of doing business. So even the employee’s facts reach USCIS through the company’s signature, which is why both of you need to work from the same accurate record.

What the employee must prove

The employee’s side comes down to two questions: did you spend a qualifying year abroad, and is the role (both then and now) genuinely managerial or executive? Most of the hard evidence sits in the second question.

The year abroad: one year in three, and it need not be continuous

You must have been employed outside the US for at least one year in a managerial or executive capacity by the related company, within a three-year window. Which three years depends on where you are:

• If you are outside the US, it is the three years immediately before the petition is filed.
• If you are already in the US working for the same company group, it is the three years before you entered as a nonimmigrant.

One detail many guides get wrong: the year does not have to be continuous. The USCIS Policy Manual contrasts the L-1 visa, which requires one year of continuous employment abroad, with the EB-1C statute, which requires employment abroad for "at least 1 year." Shorter stints that add up inside the window can count. Confirm the math with counsel before relying on it.

Already in the US on an H-1B or L-1A

You can be in the US on another status, including H-1B or L-1A, and still qualify. Your time working in the US does not count toward the year abroad, but it does not erase a qualifying year that happened before you entered.

The risk is a break in the relationship. The Policy Manual describes a decision, Matter of S-P-, holding that someone who worked abroad for at least a year but then left the organization for more than two years after being admitted as a nonimmigrant no longer meets the requirement. To cure that, the person would need a new year of qualifying employment abroad. If you have changed employers since arriving, raise that early.

Managerial or executive capacity: the title is not the test

USCIS looks at what you actually do, not what your business card says. The regulation defines two capacities, and you need to fit one of them, abroad and in the US:

Two rules trip up many petitions. First, a first-line supervisor does not qualify merely by supervising, unless the people supervised are professionals (8 CFR 204.5(j)(4)(i)). Second, the word "primarily" matters. The Policy Manual states that someone who primarily performs non-managerial duties does not qualify, and that a job description which only repeats the regulation’s language does not carry the employer’s burden.

So the duty description needs specifics, and if you do some hands-on work, it should show what share of your time is managerial and what share is not.

Function managers: managing without a large team

You can qualify as a manager without supervising a team directly. The Policy Manual recognizes the function manager: someone primarily responsible for managing an essential function within the organization, who works at a senior level and exercises discretion over that function’s day-to-day operations.

The Policy Manual summarizes an adopted AAO decision, Matter of G-, which sets out what the petition must show:

1. The function is a clearly defined activity.
2. The function is essential, meaning core to the organization.
3. You will primarily manage the function, not perform it.
4. You will act at a senior level in the organization or with respect to the function.
5. You will exercise discretion over the function’s day-to-day operations.

Point three is where function-manager cases usually turn. In the Matter of G- example, organizational and workflow charts showed a finance leader supported by direct and indirect reports who handled the routine work, which freed the manager to set goals and strategy. Your evidence should answer the same question: who does the work if you are managing it?

What the sponsoring company must prove

For the HR or finance reader, the company’s side is mostly documentary, with a few traps for growing businesses. Each item below must be true when the I-140 is filed, and several must stay true until the green card is issued.

A qualifying relationship, and why a US branch cannot sponsor

The US employer must be the same employer as, or a parent, subsidiary, or affiliate of, the foreign company where the employee worked. The Policy Manual puts it simply: either entity must own and control the other, or both must be owned and controlled by the same parent entity or person.

The regulation’s definitions are precise:

• A subsidiary is an entity the parent owns more than half of and controls; owns half of and controls; owns 50 percent of in a 50-50 joint venture with equal control and veto power; or owns less than half of but in fact controls.
• An affiliate is one of two subsidiaries owned and controlled by the same parent or individual, or one of two entities owned and controlled by the same group of individuals in roughly the same proportions.

Here is the trap: a foreign company’s US branch that is not a separate US legal entity cannot file. The Policy Manual says the petitioner must be a US citizen or a US corporation, partnership, or other legal entity. A US corporation with a branch abroad may petition, but a foreign corporation running an unincorporated US office may not. A sole proprietorship also cannot petition for its own owner, though a corporation owned by one person can, because it is a separate legal entity.

The relationship has to hold until the decision

Getting the structure right on filing day is not enough. The Policy Manual cites Matter of F-M-Co, which holds that the qualifying relationship must exist when the petition is filed and must be maintained until the petition is decided. Both the US employer and at least one related company abroad must also keep doing business until the visa is issued or adjustment of status is granted.

If a sale, merger, or restructuring is on the horizon, plan around it. The same decision allows a petitioner to show that a restructured foreign employer continues to exist and do business through a valid successor entity, but that has to be proven. Where control rests on proxy votes, the Policy Manual requires that the proxies be irrevocable from filing through adjudication.

Doing business for at least one year, so no new offices

The US employer must have been doing business for at least one year when it files. Doing business means the regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods or services, and it does not include the mere presence of an agent or office.

A company that was incorporated years ago but only started real operations recently does not qualify yet: the Policy Manual measures the year of active business, not legal existence. Providing services to related companies in a regular, systematic way can count. And there is no new-office option for EB-1C. The Policy Manual states that people coming to open a new US office are not eligible, because that option belongs to the L-1 visa.

Ability to pay and a written job offer

Because EB-1C requires a job offer, the employer must prove it can pay the offered wage under 8 CFR 204.5(g)(2), starting when the priority date is established and continuing until the employee becomes a permanent resident. The standard evidence is annual reports, federal tax returns, or audited financial statements. For employers with 100 or more workers, USCIS may accept a statement from a financial officer.

The job offer itself is a statement that the employee will work in the US in a managerial or executive capacity, and it must clearly describe the duties. No PERM labor certification is required, so there is no recruitment campaign or labor market test, which is a large part of what makes this path attractive to employers.

Is the EB-1C hard to get?

The EB-1C is demanding on evidence, not on prestige. You do not need awards or publications. You need a corporate structure and a job that hold up under close reading. Two questions most often decide a case: is the role primarily managerial or executive, and is the US company big enough to need one?

Small US entities draw the closest look. The Policy Manual says the petitioner must show the US entity is doing business at a level that requires someone primarily engaged in managerial or executive work. Staffing levels are judged against the reasonable needs of the business in light of its purpose and stage of development, and the company carries the burden of showing those needs.

A one-person US office is not ruled out, but the Policy Manual is candid that it may be very difficult to show the sole employee primarily manages instead of doing the work. A prior L-1A approval helps less than people expect. The Policy Manual says it may be relevant but is not binding if the facts do not support the green card petition.

Your EB-1C evidence checklist

Use this as a working list for the employee and the HR team together. Not every item fits every case, and your attorney may add or cut items based on your facts.

From the employee:

• Employment verification from the foreign company showing dates, title, and that the role was managerial or executive
• A detailed description of your duties abroad, with the share of time spent on each
• Foreign organizational chart showing your position, your reports, and their roles and qualifications
• Payroll or tax records abroad that confirm the dates of the qualifying year
• Your US immigration history, including entry date and status, if you are already in the US
• For a function manager: workflow charts and evidence of who performs the function’s routine work

From the company:

• Signed statement from an authorized official covering the year abroad, the corporate relationship, and the year of doing business
• Ownership and control documents for both entities, such as stock certificates, share registers, operating agreements, and annual filings
• Evidence of a year of active US business, such as invoices, contracts, customer records, and payroll
• Evidence the foreign entity is still doing business
• US organizational chart showing the offered position and the staff who carry out non-managerial work
• A permanent job offer that clearly describes the US duties
• Ability-to-pay evidence: annual reports, federal tax returns, or audited financial statements
• Notes on any pending merger, sale, or restructuring that could affect the relationship

The petition itself is Form I-140, filed by the US employer. Check the official USCIS EB-1 page and the current fee schedule before filing, since forms and fees change. For other employer-sponsored routes, see our employment-based immigration overview, and for how EB-1C fits with the other first-preference categories, our EB-1 visa guide.

Having your facts assessed

Most EB-1C questions do not have yes-or-no answers in the abstract. Does a role with a few professional reports count as managerial? Did a restructuring break the corporate relationship? Does a gap in the year abroad still add up? Those answers live in your specific documents.

If you and your company are weighing an EB-1C, a licensed Ellis Porter attorney can review the corporate structure, the duty descriptions, and the employment timeline before anything is filed, and tell you honestly where the case is strong and where it needs work.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Eligibility depends on the specific facts of your case. Consult a licensed immigration attorney.

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