L-1B is designed for assignments where the transferee works for the U.S. entity, and it takes time to petition. A brief visit to service equipment the Canadian company sold may fall under business-visitor rules instead; hands-on production work for the U.S. plant does not.
Decide what the engineer will do before choosing the classification
Hypothetical example: a Mission processor sold a sorting system to its U.S. affiliate and now wants its engineer there for ninety days to install and calibrate it before staying on to run the line. Those are two different activities.
Installing and servicing equipment sold under a contract that provides for it has historically been treated as business-visitor activity, with limits on hands-on work and on being paid from the U.S. entity. Running the line afterward is employment for the U.S.
affiliate, which is what L-1B is for. Filing the L-1B early, with premium processing if the calendar requires it, avoids the tempting shortcut of entering as a visitor and simply staying. That shortcut creates status problems that outlast the project.
Ask the employer to define the duties by phase, then match each phase to the rule that fits it. Hypothetical example: A marine-equipment company has a specialist available for a U.S. product launch in six weeks, but her foreign payroll shows several months of part-time work.
The first review must test whether the qualifying foreign employment satisfies the continuous full-time requirement, rather than counting years of familiarity with the business. Payroll, time records and employment agreements settle that issue. Once eligible, map filing and travel dates against the actual U.S.
assignment; an L-1B cannot be used to cover ordinary installation work that is not applying specialized company knowledge. Keep a cumulative record of L time because the classification's total limit is five years.