No. The one continuous year of qualifying employment with the related foreign company must be complete before the petition is filed, and it must fall within the three years preceding the filing. A start date six weeks away cannot be met if the year finishes in three months.
The year has to be finished, not nearly finished
Hypothetical example: Florence joined the Wickham company nine months ago and the American affiliate wants her on site in six weeks. The requirement is not satisfied by an employer's confidence that she will complete the year while abroad. One continuous year of qualifying employment with the related company outside the United States must already have been served within the three years before the petition is filed, so the earliest sensible filing date is three months away, plus the time needed to assemble evidence.
Two shortcuts get proposed at this point and both are unwise. Sending her as a business visitor to observe while quietly performing the work misstates the purpose of entry. Filing early and hoping the year completes during adjudication misstates a fact in the petition.
The workable answer is to set the start date after the year completes, and to spend the interval collecting the method documents and training records the petition will need in any event.
- USCIS: L-1B intracompany transferee specialized knowledge
- USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 2 Part L: intracompany transferees
- USCIS: L classification documentation and evidence
- 8 U.S.C. 1184: admission of nonimmigrants and the specialized knowledge definition
- Department of State: 9 FAM 402.12, intracompany transferees
- USCIS: Form G-1055, fee schedule