The US and the foreign firm must have common majority ownership, or, where there is less than majority ownership, common control by the same person or entity. Ownership by a common group of owners where no owner has control or a majority interest can cause a problem if each individual owner does not own the approximately the same amount of both the US and the foreign company. This problem can sometimes be worked around if the owners have set up a voting agreement to ensure that there are not different groups controlling the foreign firm and the US firm. Typical executive positions are presidents, vice-presidents and controller. Like executives, a qualifying manager will not be overseeing the primary performance of a task.
Exceptions apply when a manager or executive is coming to open a new office.