Business visits do not interrupt the continuous year, but the days spent in the United States do not count toward it. The full year of qualifying employment must be accumulated outside the United States within the three years before filing.
Count the days abroad, not the calendar months
Hypothetical example: a Mission production manager has worked for the Canadian company for eighteen months, of which four were spent at the U.S. subsidiary on B-1 visits helping commission equipment. The visits do not reset the clock, but the qualifying year is measured by time working for the Canadian entity outside the United States, so only fourteen months count.
That is enough here; if the visits had totalled nine months, it would not be. The petition should include travel records so the calculation is visible rather than assumed. The three-year look-back is measured from the filing date, so a long gap between finishing the year abroad and petitioning can also cause trouble.
Set the filing date first, then check the year against it. Hypothetical example: A food-distribution company wants its executive in the United States for a warehouse launch, but she spent part of the last three years working for an unrelated employer. The first review should mark every employment period and U.S.
trip on a dated timeline, then identify the continuous foreign year with the qualifying organization. Payroll, contracts and travel records settle gaps; an approximate résumé does not. File only when that threshold is documented and the U.S.
role is ready to begin. Track time in L classification as well, because L-1A cannot be extended beyond its seven-year cap merely because the business still needs the executive.