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.
Turn a proposed TN role into a set of records someone can verify
Before an employer letter is drafted, list the specific claims a TN file must establish — citizenship, an identified professional position, and the qualification the listed profession requires — and identify a document and a responsible person for each one. That produces a file that can actually be checked, rather than one written to sound complete. The decision is whether the available records honestly support the actual role. Do not choose a profession first and search for compatible wording afterward. Hypothetical example: a plant-pathology specialist is offered a role that combines laboratory analysis with selling supplies. The employer must decide whether the primary duties can be documented as a listed professional position or whether the role needs to be separated before a TN request is made. The record should also state whether the applicant will request classification during inspection or the employer will file Form I-129, and it cannot describe an applicant-run U.S. business as employer-based TN work.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start with duties that need clarifying
- Keep employer facts and credential facts separate
- Reconcile documents before anyone signs
Treat citizenship and Canadian status as separate facts
A Canadian permanent resident card establishes Canadian status, not Canadian citizenship. A Halifax household can include people with different citizenships and different U.S. options even though they live at the same address, so the actual passports, current status and proposed activities need to be documented before deciding what might apply. The key decision is which person has which nationality and which U.S. route, not whether the family considers itself Canadian. Hypothetical example: a train-dispatch apprentice holds Canadian permanent residence while the spouse has Canadian citizenship and a U.S. offer. They must document the principal applicant’s passport and identify the apprentice’s own status separately; a permanent resident card does not convert the apprentice into a citizen for a citizenship-based U.S. classification. A family chart prevents one person’s eligibility from being silently applied to another.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Record what is already true, not what is expected
- Assess each opportunity under its own requirements
- Track the procedure and any Canadian-side obligations separately
Test the actual commitment before calling funds an E-2 investment
A funding balance, a loan approval and a signed purchase agreement can represent very different stages of a transaction. Map the real conditions attached to a proposed purchase before deciding what the money actually establishes, and review the investment and the enterprise together, with nationality and control kept clearly visible. The decisive question is whether the transaction has moved from available money to commercial capital exposed to loss in a real, non-marginal enterprise. Hypothetical example: a small-batch soap manufacturer pays for packaging equipment but can cancel the lease and recover the deposit without consequence. The buyer must decide which obligations are actually binding before presenting the total as committed capital. Treaty nationality, enterprise nationality, the investor’s role in developing and directing the business, and the commercial terms must all be examined together.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what happens if a condition fails
- Trace the source of funds and identify any security
- Explain the enterprise, not just the purchase price
Keep the new-office plan and what actually develops as two distinct records
For an L-1A new office, the initial filing must explain an operation capable of supporting a managerial or executive role within one year of approval. Keep that original submitted plan intact, record what genuinely happens afterward, and prepare any extension from real operating evidence rather than a restated version of the forecast. The decision is whether the first-year plan has enough real resources to support the claimed managerial or executive role, not whether the foreign company hopes to enter the market. Hypothetical example: an electric-motor repair company secures a small U.S. workshop but has no funds allocated for technicians or equipment. It must decide whether to revise the launch plan, delay filing, or explain a credible staffing path. The transferee also needs the qualifying one-year foreign employment within the three years before filing, and L-1A has a seven-year maximum period of stay.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe the resources supporting the launch honestly
- Record material changes as they happen
- Build the extension from what actually occurred
Compare a company transfer and a personal business purchase without blending the facts
An L-1 transfer and an E-2 investment need to be compared using each proposal's own actual facts. Do not combine one option's employment history with another option's ownership or funding terms and treat the result as a single available choice; write out two complete descriptions and identify what each still needs. The decision is whether the project is genuinely a transfer between qualifying organizations or an investor-led commercial enterprise. Hypothetical example: a commercial-window-cleaning owner can either create a U.S. affiliate staffed by the Canadian company or purchase an unrelated U.S. operator personally. The owner must choose the factual structure before selecting a route; mixing the affiliate history with the personal purchase does not create one combined option. L-1 requires the qualifying foreign employment and has seven-year L-1A and five-year L-1B limits, while E-2 requires treaty nationality, capital at risk, control, and a non-marginal real business.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Draw the entities involved in each option separately
- Describe what the applicant would actually do under each option
- Compare the household consequences of each path
Build the household plan around each person's own activity
A single household move can involve several different employment, study and arrival plans. Record each person's citizenship, relationship, age and intended activity before assuming the principal applicant's status automatically covers everyone else's plans. The household must decide each person’s intended activity before assuming a shared move has a shared immigration answer. Hypothetical example: a game-localization specialist will take a U.S. assignment while the spouse plans to freelance for several overseas clients and a child will attend school. The family should seek advice on the spouse’s own work authorization and document the child’s status needs separately. Remote work, study, and later arrivals are material facts; they should appear in the plan before tickets are bought.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Treat remote work as work
- Separate a child's study plan from employment questions
- Identify the effect of a changed date on each person
Separate a commercial investment from a Gold Card gift
EB-5 and Gold Card are different financial and legal frameworks. EB-5 concerns qualifying capital and required job creation; the official Gold Card FAQ describes a gift-based process leading to EB-1 or EB-2 permanent residence for eligible successful applicants, subject to admissibility and visa availability. Compare the actual requirements rather than treating two dollar figures as prices for the same result. The decision is whether the money is commercial capital that must remain exposed to risk and support required employment, or a Gold Card payment made by the applicant to the U.S. government. Hypothetical example: a specialty-mushroom producer compares a regional-center offering with a Gold Card payment because both are described in large dollar amounts. The producer must decide what each payment legally does before moving funds: EB-5 requires qualifying capital at risk, job creation, and conditional residence, whereas Gold Card is not a conventional visa and still involves official immigration review.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what the money is actually meant to do
- Review the family total and individual eligibility for each route
- Keep financial diligence and immigration review independent