I once had an American client who worked for a  publicly-traded American company.  He married a Russian, and they lived in a third country.  She went for her citizenship interview while visiting the US, and she would only qualify if she could show her husband worked for a US-owned company. Of course with publicly-traded companies, no one knows the nationality of the majority of shareowners.  I think they talked their way out of it. 

In your example, it was the employee trying to enter the US who was denied entry, right?  That's why this whole "sailing permit" business from a century ago is so absurd.  The US has no exit controls.  The airline won't let you board unless you have a passport and visa for your destination, but no one from the US government checks you out.  That's one reason we don't really know how many people have overstayed their visa (a civil violation, not a crime).