EB-1C requirements: the six conditions USCIS measures you against

The EB-1C is the green card for multinational managers and executives. It belongs to the first preference category of employment-based immigration, alongside the EB-1A for extraordinary ability and the EB-1B for researchers and professors. Unlike the EB-1A, you don't file it yourself. Your American employer files the petition, and there is no labor market test of the kind other employer-sponsored green cards require.

The requirements are set out in the statute, INA 203(b)(1)(C), and in the federal regulation 8 CFR 204.5(j). The USCIS Policy Manual explains how the agency interprets them. This guide walks through the six conditions in order and tells you, for each one, how to prove it. For an overview of the whole category, see the guide to the EB-1C green card; how the three EB-1 variants relate to each other is shown in the overview of EB-1 classifications.

1The six conditions at a glance

The statute describes the category in a single sentence. It covers a person who, in the three years before the petition, worked for at least one year for a company or a related entity and wants to come to the USA to keep working for the same employer or a related entity as a manager or executive. The regulation turns this into six testable conditions: the year abroad, the relationship between the companies, one year of doing business in the USA, a managerial or executive position, a written job offer and the ability to pay the salary.

The first points are proven with a statement from an authorized official of the US company, as required by 8 CFR 204.5(j)(3)(i). The statement alone is not enough, though. Every claim in it must be backed by documents, and USCIS may request more where appropriate. The table below lists the six conditions with their legal basis.

2One year abroad as a manager or executive

The first condition is about your past. You must have worked for at least one year for the company abroad or a related entity, and in a managerial or executive capacity. Specialized knowledge alone is not enough for the EB-1C, unlike the L-1B.

2.1Which three years count

The regulation distinguishes two cases. If you are abroad, the year must fall within the three years immediately before the petition is filed. If you already work in the USA for the same employer or a related entity, for example on an L-1A, the year must fall within the three years before your entry as a nonimmigrant. So your time in the USA does not shift the window. How this works in detail when you move from the L-1A is covered in the guide From L-1A to EB-1C green card.

2.2One year, but not necessarily in one stretch

The L-1 requires one continuous year. Under the wording of the statute, the EB-1C requires at least one year. The Policy Manual states the difference explicitly: the year does not have to be continuous. A precedent decision of the appeals office, Matter of S-P-, Inc. from 2018, sets a limit. If, after entering as a nonimmigrant, you stopped working for the group for more than two years, you no longer meet the requirement and would need another year abroad.

2.3How you prove the year

Under 8 CFR 204.5(g)(1), work experience is proven with letters from the employer. The letter gives the name, address and title of the signatory and describes in concrete terms the duties you performed. A typical European reference letter, warmly worded but saying little about duties, staff and authority, is rarely enough. Helpful evidence includes organizational charts from the period, your employment contract and pay records, signing authority or powers of attorney, and proof of decisions you made. Under 8 CFR 103.2(b)(3), every foreign-language document needs a complete English translation with the translator's certification that it is complete and accurate.

3The relationship between the companies

The second condition is about the companies. The American employer must be the same company as your employer abroad, or its parent, subsidiary or affiliate. USCIS tests this by ownership and control. Ownership means the right to the assets with full authority to control them; control means the right to direct the establishment, management and operations.

Under 8 CFR 204.5(j)(2), a subsidiary exists when the parent, directly or indirectly, owns and controls more than half; owns and controls exactly half; owns 50 percent of a joint venture with equal control and veto power; or owns less than half but in fact controls the entity. Affiliates are two subsidiaries of the same parent or the same individual, or two companies owned by the same group of individuals in roughly equal shares. If control rests on voting proxies, they must be irrevocable from the date of filing until the decision.

Two more points belong here. The company must be multinational, meaning it does business, itself or through related entities, in at least two countries, one of them the USA. And both sides must keep doing business until the green card is granted. If you close, sell or fully relocate the company at home beforehand, you lose the basis for the petition. The relationship is proven with corporate records on both sides: on the home side, the company registry extract and shareholder records (for a Swiss company, the extract from the cantonal commercial register); on the US side, the formation documents, stock ledger, minutes and resolutions, plus proof that the capital was actually transferred.

4One year of doing business in the USA

The third condition is a deadline. At the time the petition is filed, the American employer must have been doing business for at least one year. The EB-1C has no new office rule like the one for the L-1. According to the Policy Manual, anyone coming to the USA to open a new office cannot get this green card.

Under the regulation's definition, doing business means the regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services. A mere agent or office does not qualify. What counts is not the date of registration but actual activity. Goods and services provided to related entities count too, as long as they are provided regularly and continuously. In addition, only a US company of its own or a US citizen can be the petitioner: not a branch of the foreign company, and not a sole proprietorship offering its owner a position. What this means for young and small subsidiaries is covered in the guide EB-1C for small and new US subsidiaries.

5Manager or executive: what the law means

The fourth condition is the most demanding. Your position in the USA must be primarily managerial or executive, as defined in INA 101(a)(44). The statute recognizes two types: the manager and the executive. Each has four characteristics, set side by side in the table below.

5.1The manager

A manager runs an organization, a department or a function. They supervise supervisors, professionals or other managers, can hire and fire or recommend doing so, and make decisions about day-to-day operations. The statute draws a clear line: a first-line supervisor is not a manager merely by supervising staff, unless those employees are professionals. Someone who supervises no staff can still qualify as a function manager if they manage an essential function rather than performing it themselves. How USCIS examines this is explained in the guide Manager, executive or function manager?

5.2The executive

An executive directs the management of the organization or a major component, sets goals and policies, exercises wide discretion in decision-making and receives only general supervision, for example from the board or the shareholders. The Policy Manual warns against a common misunderstanding: a title does not make anyone an executive, and neither does the fact that an owner spends part of their time on management. There must be enough staff, and contractors count too, so that the executive primarily directs rather than does.

5.3How USCIS examines the role

The officer looks first at the description of your duties. Concrete detail carries real weight; simply repeating the wording of the statute does not. If you also handle non-managerial tasks, the description must show what share of your time is managerial. USCIS weighs the whole picture: the description, the staff, the nature of the business and what everyone else is paid. Artificial layers of hierarchy and inflated titles do not help. If USCIS looks at staffing levels, it must take into account the company's reasonable needs in light of its purpose and stage of development. Headcount alone decides neither for nor against you.

6The job offer

The fifth requirement takes the place of a labor market test. Under 8 CFR 204.5(j)(5), the EB-1C needs no labor certification from the Department of Labor. The US employer must, however, submit a job offer in the form of a statement that you will be employed in the United States as a manager or executive. The letter must clearly describe your duties.

The Policy Manual speaks of a permanent job offer in a primarily managerial position. In practice, this letter is one of the most important documents in the petition. It should list your duties with the share of time each takes, place the role in the org chart, name the staff reporting to you along with their duties, and match the rest of the file. A letter that fits the org chart, the payroll records and the size of the company carries more weight than any clever wording.

7Ability to pay the salary

The sixth requirement is about money. Under 8 CFR 204.5(g)(2), the employer must show it can pay the offered salary from the priority date until you receive your green card. For the EB-1C, the priority date is the day USCIS properly receives the complete, signed petition with the correct fee.

As evidence, the regulation lists annual reports, federal tax returns or audited financial statements. For employers with at least 100 employees, USCIS may accept a statement from a financial officer. Profit and loss statements, bank statements or personnel records can supplement this. The EB-1C regulations set no minimum salary. Which documents a young subsidiary can provide is covered in the guide to the small US subsidiary.

8What is not required, and what comes next

What the regulations leave out matters just as much as the requirements. For the EB-1C they demand no degree, no labor market test, no minimum investment and no minimum number of employees. Nor is the green card conditional, as it is with the EB-5, where the business is reviewed again after immigration. The Policy Manual cites exactly this as the reason the EB-1C looks so closely up front.

The number of visas also rarely matters for applicants from Europe. Under 8 U.S.C. 1153(b)(1), the first preference category receives up to 28.6 percent of the annual employment-based visas, and each country is capped at 7 percent of all preference visas. In the November 2026 Visa Bulletin, EB-1 is current for every country except China and India, meaning there is no queue. What counts is your country of birth. Your spouse and unmarried children under 21 can receive green cards with you.

Once all six requirements are met and documented, the process follows: the petition on Form I-140, then either a change of status in the US or an immigrant visa at the consulate. How that works is explained in the guide Process and documents, what it costs in the guide to EB-1C costs, and which requirements most often trigger questions in the guide EB-1C denied or RFE.

In short

• The EB-1C requires one year of employment abroad as a manager or executive in the three years before the petition, or, for L-1A holders, before their entry into the US. The year does not have to be continuous.
• The company abroad and the US employer must be linked through ownership and control, and both must keep doing business until the green card is granted.
• The US employer must be a separate US company that has been doing business for at least one year at the time of filing.
• The US position must be primarily managerial. Titles count for little; the described duties with their share of time count for a lot.
• No labor market test is needed. Instead, you need a job offer with a clear description of duties and proof that the company can pay the salary.

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