Yes, if the affiliate retains control and supervision, the placement delivers a service requiring the firm’s specialized knowledge, and the general L-1 relationship and one-year conditions are met. Labour-for-hire placements are excluded.
Client-site work is allowed only under the petitioner’s control
The statute permits an L-1B worker to be stationed at an unaffiliated employer’s worksite only where two conditions hold: the worker is not principally controlled and supervised by that unaffiliated employer, and the placement is connected to providing a product or service for which specialized knowledge is needed, not an arrangement to supply labour. For a Chelsea analyst applying her consultancy’s watershed framework to a utility’s systems, the first condition is satisfied by contractual and practical control from the affiliate’s project manager, and the second by the fact that the deliverable exists only because of the proprietary method. She must additionally have one continuous year with the Canadian consultancy in the last three, the entities must have a qualifying relationship and both must be trading. If the utility would direct her daily tasks, the petition should not be filed in that form.
The review begins by identifying the company's product, process, or methodology and then explaining why the worker's knowledge is special or advanced within that organization. It must also confirm the qualifying relationship and the continuous foreign year within the three years before filing. The five-year L-1B ceiling affects the practical value of a transfer even when the initial petition is strong. Hypothetical example: a medical-device maker transfers a calibration specialist who alone has completed its internal validation sequence. Version-controlled training records and comparison with other technicians establish the knowledge claim more clearly than a generic engineering title.