Company abroad has 200 employees, but I closed a department. I was a real manager. Does that count?

What matters is not the size of the company but the nature of your role. EB-1C, designed for multinational executives and managers, examines whether you genuinely exercised a managerial or executive function: strategic decisions, authority over people or essential functions, and control of significant operations. A company with 200 employees demonstrates scale, but the core of the analysis is what your role actually was within it.

Closing or restructuring a department can reinforce that profile, as long as it is clear the decision carried real managerial weight and was not a one-off operational task. To support that, gather evidence of what you oversaw:

• Job description and your level of authority and decision-making.
• Organizational charts that place your position within the structure.
• Teams, budgets, or functions that were under your responsibility.
• Records of the restructuring and your role in leading it.

Being a real manager, not just a manager in title, is precisely what the documentation needs to make clear. Because every case is evaluated individually, it is worth confirming current requirements with USCIS and reviewing your eligibility with a specialist.

About the author

Victoria Harper

Editor-in-Chief

Meet the author

As a journalist and lead editor at Visto n’ Visa, Victoria helps ensure that immigration topics are covered in a clear, trustworthy, and easy-to-understand way. Her focus is on delivering useful, human, and relevant content for people exploring new paths abroad.