L1, L2 Visa

Thanks to this forum for helping me prepare. Here's my experience at Chennai:

L1A Blanket - Functional Manager with no direct reports - was approved at Chennai on 16th Aug

Seeing how there are fewer experiences of L1A approvals and that too for functional managers, here's my take:

Please see the USCIS website for exact definition and expectation for L1A - for Executives or Functional Managers.:
https://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/l-1a-intracompany-transferee-executive-or-manager

When applying for L1A-Functional Managers the following will add credibility to your case:
1. Years of experience with the company that is sending you - higher the better. I have 11+ yrs of exp in the company - that definitely seemed to help.
2. US Salary (higher 6 digit figures) makes your case more convincing.
3. When asked about direct reports, which is a guaranteed question for L1A, it is important to mention the fact that your role is that of a 'Functional Manager' (that's the key word) and hence you don't have any direct reports. On this forum I've seen a lot of folks not make that distinction very clear to the interviewer and just say 0 direct reports. When asked about role, I also see a lot of people repeating their designation - but in this case the interviewer is trying to establish which L1A category you belong to - Executive Manager or Functional Manager, so using that terminology to begin your role description would be the right approach.