Read it.
Use it.
Focused guides for the questions that need more than a quick answer. Each includes a worksheet to prepare your next conversation.
Guides for your next decision.
Build a TN employer evidence brief before drafting the letter
Read & prepare Applicant planningKeep an L-1A new-office record from approval to extension
Read & prepare Applicant planningCompare the E-2 evidence for a startup and a business purchase
Read & prepare U.S. destination planningCanadian RN planning for New York State
Read & prepare U.S. destination planningCanadian RN planning for California
Read & prepareSeven decisions, answered before you prepare.
Translate the work accurately before assessing the TN profession
A Saguenay applicant may have French employment records and an English US offer using different titles. The file should explain the same real work in both languages. Translation should not manufacture professional duties or conceal a qualification gap. The first decision is whether the actual position, qualification, and procedure tell one consistent story. Build a file map before ordering documents: citizenship proof, employer letter, occupation rule, awarded credential, and any required licence or evaluation. A Canadian can request TN admission directly when entering, or an employer may use Form I-129 submitted to USCIS where appropriate. TN cannot be used for services provided through a U.S. business the applicant owns or controls. Hypothetical example: A wind-turbine blade inspection technologist receives an offer that calls the work engineering but supplies only sales targets. The applicant should ask for a duty-specific letter and assess the listed occupation before travelling. The concrete decision is whether the evidence supports the selected classification now, not whether the title sounds professional.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Compare duties and deliverables
- Collect the exact qualification evidence
- Keep revisions and permission separate
Distinguish Canadian residence from the citizenship a US route requires
A Canadian permanent resident living in Saguenay should assess US options with the citizenship actually held. TN and E-2 nationality requirements are not satisfied by a residence address or a pending naturalization plan. Other routes need their own complete eligibility review. The practical decision is which route is available under present citizenship and facts, rather than which route would be convenient after a future event. Make a nationality-and-status chart for every applicant, then compare it with the route’s separate employment, investment, or immigrant requirements. Hypothetical example: A Canadian permanent resident who is a Moroccan citizen plans to buy a small U.S. business and assumes the address in Québec supports both TN and E-2. The person should first test treaty nationality for E-2 and recognize that permanent residence does not substitute for the TN citizenship condition. The concrete choice is whether to wait for a changed citizenship fact, use a route independently available now, or defer the U.S. plan. For an E-2 plan, the reader must also test qualifying control and a business funded with an irreversible commitment exposed to commercial loss that is not marginal.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Use current identity records
- Test an alternative on its real requirements
- Review the household and Canadian consequences
Support future business capacity without inventing growth
An E-2 startup plan should explain how its projections are supported and how the enterprise meets the actual nonmarginality standard. Modest early results and later expansion need factual analysis. A household budget cannot dictate a fictional profit forecast. The useful decision is which commitments can be documented as real and whether the operating plan reaches a nonmarginal result without relying on household optimism. Trace source, transfer, ownership, control, and business use in order. The funds must be committed irrevocably and exposed to loss, while the enterprise cannot be marginal. Hypothetical example: A repairer of industrial water filters has paid for a delivery van but keeps all equipment money in a cancellable account and counts a spouse’s salary as business revenue. The applicant should decide whether to make and document genuine commitments, revise the forecast, or delay the filing. The answer comes from the transaction records and operational model, not a preferred investment number.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Explain the operating assumptions
- Establish the ownership and investment
- Use the correct financial standard
Separate specialized knowledge from the office’s financial capacity
A new US office proposing an L-1B transfer needs evidence about both the employee and the operation. Technical expertise cannot replace the required premises and financial showing. A funded company likewise does not prove that every proposed employee has qualifying specialized knowledge. The central decision is whether the related organizations, the employee’s qualifying foreign history, and the new office can each be proven without filling gaps with forecasts. Build separate folders for ownership, foreign employment, specialized knowledge or management, premises, and launch resources. The employee must have completed one continuous qualifying year abroad during the preceding three years; L-1A has a seven-year maximum stay and L-1B a five-year maximum. Hypothetical example: A supplier of laboratory cold-storage equipment leases a U.S. room but cannot show funds for payroll or work requiring the transferee’s specialized knowledge. The company should decide whether to document the missing operational facts or postpone. An incorporation certificate alone does not settle the new-office requirement.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Document the launch resources
- Complete the transfer evidence
- Track the initial period and later review
Compare qualifying employment with an investor’s business forecast
A transfer based on employment history and a startup funded by an investor need different evidence. L-1 examines the actual corporate connection, employment and role; E-2 examines treaty nationality, committed capital, control and the enterprise. Do not borrow a favourable fact from one route to replace a missing condition in the other. The decision is not simply whether a company exists; it is whether the facts satisfy the different purpose of each route. Make two evidence columns. L-1 needs the qualifying organizational link and a continuous foreign employment year inside the preceding three years; stay is generally capped at seven years for L-1A or five for L-1B. E-2 needs treaty nationality, qualifying control, funds committed irrevocably to commercial risk, and a business that is not marginal. Hypothetical example: A manufacturer of tactile wayfinding signs owns a U.S. affiliate and also intends to invest cash in it. The applicant should decide whether the foreign employment and proposed role support L-1, whether the investment facts support E-2, or whether neither file is ready. Ownership alone answers neither route.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish the employment actually performed
- Establish the business actually proposed
- Compare commitments and family activities
Keep the household’s income plan separate from each person’s permission
A spouse’s expected earnings can matter to a family budget without establishing immigration permission or an investor business’s eligibility. Record the actual work, status and documents for each person. Shared finances do not make every proposed activity lawful. The concrete decision is which family activity can wait and which requires independent authorization before it begins. Make a person-by-person table for relationship evidence, proposed status, school, employment, and relevant deadlines. A dependent plan never substitutes for the principal route’s governing requirements: E-2 capital must be placed in an irreversible commitment that faces business loss in a nonmarginal enterprise; EB-5 requires at-risk capital and ten qualifying jobs before its conditional-residence process. Hypothetical example: The spouse of a maker of accessible playground components wants to supervise U.S. installation crews immediately after arrival. The household should decide whether there is authorization for that work rather than treating family ownership or a pending principal case as permission. The relevant record is the status evidence for that person and activity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Apply the correct work rules
- Assess age and relationship on the case facts
- Plan the actual entry sequence
Compare investor-level job evidence with an instructed government gift
A regional-centre EB-5 projection and a Gold Card funding plan involve different obligations. The former needs qualifying capital and jobs under the applicable methodology; the latter uses a gift framework within applicable immigrant classifications. Large totals alone do not establish either case. The choice is between two materially different obligations, not between two ways to transfer a large sum. For EB-5, trace lawful capital into the enterprise, confirm that it is at risk, and test evidence for ten qualifying full-time jobs and the conditional-residence sequence. For Gold Card, establish applicable EB eligibility and follow official payment instructions: the applicant pays the U.S. government, and the program is not a conventional visa. Hypothetical example: A manufacturer of adaptive canoe seats can fund either proposal after selling shares. The person should decide whether the sale trail and job evidence support EB-5, or whether the applicable eligibility and official payment route support Gold Card. A portfolio value does not settle either decision.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Review the EB-5 allocation
- Review the Gold Card payment stages
- Keep the immigration outcome distinct