Employment records — offer letters, payroll history, and duty descriptions — kept separate from share-ownership records such as the cap table, shareholder agreement, and any dividend history.
Keep the employee file and the shareholder file apart
A reviewer needs to distinguish the applicant’s actual employee duties and reporting responsibilities from shareholder rights. A controlling owner can also qualify; the point is to prove the work performed, not to manufacture independence from ownership. Where the applicant is an owner or major stockholder, provide the required temporary U.S. services and subsequent foreign-assignment evidence.
Create two evidence tracks. Employment evidence should cover payroll, tax records, charts, job descriptions, approvals, and authority throughout the relevant foreign year. Ownership evidence should show share issuances, transfers, voting rights, governing agreements, and the parent, branch, subsidiary, or affiliate link. L-1 generally requires one continuous year of full-time employment physically abroad within the relevant preceding three-year period, plus a qualifying relationship and a managerial or executive U.S. role for L-1A. Do not rely on a title or dividends while leaving supervision, function management, and reporting lines undocumented.
Hypothetical example: A LaSalle commercial-bakery finance manager acquired eight percent of the Canadian employer after several years on payroll and is proposed for its American affiliate. Counsel could use dated budgets, staff reviews, delegated signing limits, board minutes, and payroll records to explain employment, while the securities register and affiliate ownership documents explain the separate investment. Resolve any inconsistency about acquisition dates or authority openly. A tidy cap table cannot prove qualifying duties, and salary evidence alone cannot establish the corporate relationship between the two organizations.