As soon as the qualifying year abroad is complete and the U.S. role is defined. Because the subsidiary is established, the petition can request up to three years; premium processing shortens the wait, and she must not start the U.S. job before approval.
Count backward from the harvest, forward from the year
Two dates anchor the timeline. The first is the day her continuous year outside the United States is complete, calculated by subtracting the U.S. stays from her Canadian employment; the petition cannot be filed before it. The second is the intended start date. Between them sit petition preparation, USCIS processing and, for a Canadian citizen, admission at a port of entry with the approval notice rather than a consular appointment. If ordinary processing does not fit, premium processing buys a decision within fifteen business days of receipt, at the fee-schedule price. What the timeline cannot include is her running U.S. logistics from the subsidiary's office before approval, even on a business-visitor entry, because directing employees and executing contracts is productive work. If harvest arrives first, the workable interim is for her to manage from Canada while the U.S. dispatcher executes locally.
Hypothetical example: a perishable-food operations manager completes her foreign-service threshold shortly before peak season, but the subsidiary wants her to direct dispatch from its U.S. office immediately. The calendar should identify the qualifying date, the intended petition receipt date, the expected decision window and the first lawful U.S. workday. Her travel history and payroll record settle the first date; the approval and admission record settle the last. Do not fill the gap with day-to-day U.S. management under visitor travel. The company can assign an existing dispatcher or have the manager make Canadian-based decisions where lawful while it waits. If the role changes because peak volume requires hands-on load booking, update the strategy; a changing job can undermine the managerial description even when the timing was carefully planned.