EB-1C Multinational Manager and Executive Petitions: Filing and Denials

The EB-1C visa is a first-preference employment-based green card that lets a U.S. company permanently bring over a manager or executive who has already worked for the same multinational organization abroad. To qualify, the person must have worked outside the United States for the company (or a parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or branch) in a managerial or executive role for at least one year out of the three years before the petition is filed, and must be coming to the U.S. to fill a managerial or executive position.¹ The U.S. employer files Form I-140 on the worker’s behalf. Because the EB-1C skips the labor certification step that slows down most other employment-based green cards, it is one of the faster paths on paper, but adjudicators scrutinize both the individual’s role and the corporate structure behind the petition, so preparation matters more than speed.

Who Qualifies for an EB-1C

Four things have to line up. The U.S. and foreign entities need a qualifying corporate relationship. The U.S. entity must have been doing business for at least a year. The worker must have spent at least a year abroad in a managerial or executive role within the last three years. And the U.S. job itself must be managerial or executive. Missing any one of these ends the petition.

A Qualifying Corporate Relationship

The petitioning U.S. employer has to be the same organization as the foreign employer, or its parent, subsidiary, affiliate, or branch.² USCIS recognizes four structures:

Parent and subsidiary, where the parent owns more than half of the subsidiary and controls it. Exactly 50 percent also qualifies with actual control, and even a minority stake can work if the parent demonstrates de facto control.
Affiliates, meaning two entities owned and controlled by the same parent, or two entities owned and controlled by the same group of individuals in roughly equal proportions.
Branch, an operating division of the same organization in a different location.
Joint venture at 50-50 with equal control and veto power, which qualifies as a subsidiary relationship.³

Ownership has to be documented, not described. Stock certificates, articles of incorporation, partnership agreements, operating agreements, and merger documents are the standard evidence. For multi-layered structures, trace ownership through every intermediate entity. Organizational charts help but do not substitute for the underlying corporate records.

One Year of Doing Business in the U.S.

The U.S. employer must have been actively doing business for at least a year before the petition is filed.⁴ “Doing business” means regular, systematic, and continuous provision of goods or services. A registered agent or an empty office does not count. Tax records and financial statements have to show real commercial activity across that year.

There is no “new office” exception for the EB-1C. If the U.S. entity is less than a year old, the petition cannot be filed no matter how established the parent is abroad.² Companies planning ahead often bring the executive over on an L-1A first, run the U.S. business for a year, and file the EB-1C after that threshold is met.

One Year Working Abroad

The person must have worked outside the U.S. in a managerial or executive role for at least one year during the three years before the petition is filed. If they are already in the U.S. working for the same employer under a nonimmigrant status such as L-1A, the three-year window is measured backward from the date of their most recent lawful nonimmigrant admission.⁴

The foreign year does not need to be continuous, just twelve months total inside that window. But it has to have been managerial or executive work. Time abroad in a specialized knowledge role or any non-qualifying position does not count, even for the same company. Time working in the U.S. for the petitioner generally does not count toward the one year either.

Payroll records, employment contracts, foreign tax records, and a detailed job description from the foreign role are the primary evidence. The foreign job description matters as much as the U.S. one, because both have to show leadership-level responsibilities.

A Managerial or Executive U.S. Role

The U.S. position must be either managerial or executive. These are distinct legal categories with defined content, and the petition needs to fit cleanly into one of them. Adjudicators read for the substance of the role, not the job title.

What Managerial and Executive Capacity Actually Mean

A manager primarily directs an organization, department, subdivision, or function, and supervises the work of other supervisory, professional, or managerial employees. When the person has direct reports, the petition must show authority to hire, fire, promote, and approve leave.² Someone who spends most of the day doing the operational work of the business rather than directing others is unlikely to qualify regardless of title.

An executive directs the management of the organization or a major component of it. The focus shifts from supervising people to setting goals and policies, exercising broad discretionary decision-making, and receiving only general oversight from a board or higher-level executives.² The duties described should reflect strategic leadership, not administrative work.

The Functional Manager

A functional manager can qualify without directly supervising professional staff, but these petitions draw the heaviest scrutiny. USCIS requires the petitioner to show all of the following:

The function is a clearly defined activity.
The function is essential to the organization’s operations.
The person primarily manages the function rather than performing the tasks within it.
The person operates at a senior level in the organizational hierarchy or with respect to the function managed.
The person exercises discretion over the function’s day-to-day operations.⁵

The distinction between managing a function and performing it is the single most contested issue in EB-1C adjudications. Describe the function specifically. Explain why it is core to the organization. Break down daily duties by proportion of time spent on strategic oversight versus hands-on work. Vague phrasing like “manages the marketing function” invites a request for evidence.

The Employer’s Ability to Pay

The U.S. employer has to show it can pay the offered wage. USCIS accepts one or more of the following:

Federal tax returns with all schedules, for each year since the priority date.
Annual reports, including SEC Form 10-K for publicly traded companies. Private company annual reports carry more weight when the financials are audited.
Audited financial statements examined under generally accepted accounting principles, with an auditor’s report.
For employers with 100 or more workers, a detailed letter from a financial officer in place of the documents above.⁶

USCIS looks at net income and net current assets relative to the offered salary. For a startup or small company, this can be the tightest bottleneck in the whole petition. If the numbers are marginal, bank statements, revenue contracts, or proof that the worker is already on payroll at the offered wage can supplement the record. Massive profits are not required; a plausible financial picture that supports the wage commitment is.

Filing the I-140 Petition

The employer files Form I-140, Immigrant Petition for Alien Workers. The quality of the initial filing strongly influences whether the case moves to approval or stalls in a request for evidence. Core documentation includes:

A letter from an authorized U.S. employer official describing the qualifying relationship, the foreign employment, the proposed U.S. role, and the company’s history of doing business for at least a year
Organizational charts for both entities showing the person’s position, direct reports, and the reporting structure above
Detailed job descriptions for both the foreign role and the U.S. role, with duties broken down by percentage of time
Corporate documents establishing the qualifying relationship, tracing ownership through any intermediate entities
Tax returns and financial statements for both entities
Payroll records, employment verification letters, and contracts covering the qualifying foreign employment
Evidence of ability to pay the offered wage⁷

Foreign-language documents need certified English translations.

Fees and Premium Processing

The base filing fee for Form I-140 is $715. Most employers also owe an Asylum Program Fee: $600 for employers with more than 25 full-time equivalent employees, or $300 for employers with 25 or fewer. Nonprofits may be exempt.⁸ Count full-time equivalent workers across U.S. affiliates and subsidiaries, but not employees of a parent company or parents of affiliates.

Premium processing is available by filing Form I-907 for a $2,965 fee. USCIS guarantees an adjudicative action within 45 business days for EB-1C petitions.⁹ Adjudicative action does not always mean approval. It can also be a request for evidence or a notice of intent to deny, which restarts the clock. Standard processing without premium can stretch well beyond a year.

The Green Card Backlog and the Visa Bulletin

An approved I-140 does not by itself produce a green card. EB-1 visa numbers are subject to annual limits and per-country caps. When demand outruns supply, a backlog forms, and the State Department’s monthly Visa Bulletin sets cutoff dates by preference category and country of birth.

As of the May 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-1 final action dates for applicants born in mainland China and India are April 1, 2023. Filing dates for both countries are December 1, 2023.¹⁰ Applicants born in most other countries face no backlog, so a visa number is immediately available on I-140 approval.

If your priority date (the date the I-140 was filed) falls after the final action date, you cannot file for adjustment of status or receive an immigrant visa at a consulate. You wait until the Visa Bulletin advances past your priority date. For applicants from China and India, that can mean a two-year-plus gap between I-140 approval and the next step.

From Approved Petition to Green Card

Once the I-140 is approved and a visa number is available, there are two paths.

Adjustment of Status Inside the U.S.

If the person is already in the United States, they file Form I-485 without leaving. They must be physically present in the U.S. at filing and must have maintained lawful immigration status.¹¹ The I-485 can be filed concurrently with the I-140 if a visa number is immediately available, while the I-140 is pending, or after approval. If filed after approval, Form I-485 Supplement J must confirm the job offer is still valid.

One rule catches people. Leaving the United States while the I-485 is pending, without first getting an advance parole travel document, causes USCIS to treat the application as abandoned.¹² For executives who travel, file Form I-131 for advance parole with the I-485.

Consular Processing Abroad

If the person is outside the United States, they apply for an immigrant visa at a U.S. consulate. After I-140 approval and visa availability, the case moves to the National Visa Center, which schedules an interview at the appropriate post.¹³ They enter the U.S. as a permanent resident after the visa is issued.

Family Members

The spouse and unmarried children under 21 can apply as derivatives. Through consular processing, the spouse receives E-14 status and children receive E-15.⁴ Adjusting inside the U.S., they file their own I-485 applications with the principal.

Changing Jobs After Filing

Under the American Competitiveness in the Twenty-First Century Act (AC21), an EB-1C beneficiary can change employers once the I-485 has been pending for at least 180 days, so long as the new job is in the same or a similar occupational classification as the one in the original I-140.¹⁴ USCIS reviews duties, required skills, education, and salary level. The new position can be with a different employer or even self-employment. Form I-485 Supplement J formalizes the change.

Even if the original employer withdraws the I-140, portability still applies as long as the I-485 had been pending 180 days and the petition was approvable when filed. In a full merger or acquisition, though, the successor-in-interest framework does not apply to EB-1C petitions, so a new employer seeking EB-1C classification must file a fresh I-140 and independently establish eligibility.¹⁵

Why EB-1C Petitions Get Denied

Denial rates run higher than many applicants expect, and the reasons repeat.

The most common is a job description that fails to establish managerial or executive capacity. If the described duties list administrative tasks, technical work, or operational responsibilities without distinguishing them from strategic leadership, the role does not look qualifying. Adjudicators conclude a mid-level employee could do the same work.

Qualifying relationship problems come next. Incomplete ownership documentation, gaps in the chain of control between entities, or inconsistencies between corporate records and the petition letter draw scrutiny, especially with complex multi-entity structures spanning jurisdictions.

Failure to establish the one-year foreign employment period is a third common ground. Gaps in payroll records, vague verification letters, or foreign job descriptions that do not match a claimed managerial or executive role all create problems. The foreign role needs the same careful treatment as the U.S. one.

Ability-to-pay issues finish the list, most often for smaller U.S. employers. Losses or minimal net income relative to the offered salary make the case an uphill fight unless the employer can show net current assets sufficient to cover the wage, or that the beneficiary is already being paid it.

EB-1C vs. L-1A

Many EB-1C beneficiaries start on an L-1A intracompany transfer visa. The two are related but not interchangeable. The L-1A is a temporary nonimmigrant visa with a maximum stay of seven years. The EB-1C is the immigrant petition that leads to a green card. The L-1A allows a “new office” petition when the U.S. entity is less than a year old; the EB-1C does not.²

The foreign role also has to match differently. For an L-1A, the foreign job can be managerial, executive, or specialized knowledge, as long as the U.S. job is managerial or executive. For the EB-1C, both the foreign and U.S. roles must be managerial or executive. Someone whose foreign work was specialized knowledge can get L-1A status but cannot qualify for EB-1C.

The foreign employer must also remain operational for an EB-1C. If the overseas office closes before I-140 adjudication, the petition fails unless a successor entity abroad carries on the qualifying relationship. L-1A status can survive as long as the U.S. petitioner keeps a qualifying relationship with some foreign entity, even if the original office shuts down.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1153 – Allocation of Immigrant Visas
2
eCFR. 8 CFR 204.5 – Petitions for Employment-Based Immigrants
3
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part F, Chapter 4 – Multinational Executive or Manager
4
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Employment-Based Immigration: First Preference EB-1
5
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2, Part L, Chapter 6 – Key Concepts
6
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part E, Chapter 4 – Ability to Pay
7
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Form I-140, Instructions for Petition for Alien Workers
8
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Reminds Certain Employment-Based Petitioners to Submit the Correct Required Fees
9
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. How Do I Request Premium Processing
10
U.S. Department of State – Bureau of Consular Affairs. Visa Bulletin For May 2026
11
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Instructions for Form I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status
12
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. While Your Green Card Application Is Pending with USCIS
13
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Consular Processing
14
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 7, Part E, Chapter 5 – Job Portability after Adjustment Filing and Other AC21 Provisions
15
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 6, Part E, Chapter 3 – Successor-in-Interest in Permanent Labor Certification Cases