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.
A technologist's TN case is decided by the professional he supports
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield instrumentation technologist is offered work at a U.S. refinery calibrating and commissioning process-control loops. He is not an engineer, so the entry to examine is Scientific Technician or Technologist. It requires theoretical knowledge in a listed discipline, the ability to solve practical problems in that discipline or apply its principles to basic or applied research, and direct support of a professional in a listed discipline. The employer letter must identify that professional and the supporting relationship.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The entry has two halves and the letter must satisfy both
- Name the professional, the discipline and the working relationship
- Keep the supporting documents consistent with the letter
One spouse's Canadian citizenship does not travel to the other
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield couple plan a move on the husband's TN offer as a forester with a U.S. timberlands company. He is a Canadian citizen; his wife is a Ukrainian citizen and a Canadian permanent resident working as a medical radiation technologist. Her permanent residence does not give her TN eligibility, because TN requires citizenship. She may seek TD status as his spouse, but as a Ukrainian citizen she generally needs a TD visa before admission. TD permits study but not work, so employment needs a separate basis.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- TN is a citizenship test, and a PR card is not citizenship
- TD covers presence and study, never employment
- Two files, two sets of documents, one consistent story
Borrowed money can count, but only when the investor carries the risk
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield couple plan to buy a U.S. propane and heating-fuel delivery business. Part of the price would come from a margin loan against their non-registered investment portfolio and part from a registered savings withdrawal. Borrowed funds can count toward a treaty investment when the investor is personally liable and the loan is not secured by the assets of the business being purchased. A margin loan against their own portfolio generally fits that description, while a loan secured on the acquired trucks and tanks generally does not.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what secures the loan, not where the money came from
- Registered savings and the tax question that runs alongside
- Document the loan as carefully as the equity
The new office year is a deadline, not a grace period
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield specialty food manufacturer plans to open a U.S. co-packing and sales office and send its founder on an L-1A new-office petition. Such a petition is approved for one year, and the extension at the end of that year is the real test: the company must show what was actually built. Premises, a business plan and capacity to support the role get the first approval. Hiring, revenue and an organization that leaves the founder managing rather than doing get the second.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What the first petition has to show
- Design the first year backwards from the extension
- Keep the Canadian parent visibly alive
When a shareholder becomes a U.S. resident, the treaty route can close
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield environmental testing laboratory is owned through a family holding company. Its largest shareholder, holding fifty-two per cent, became a U.S. lawful permanent resident three years ago. The company wants to place a senior scientist in a new U.S. facility. E-2 is likely unavailable, because the enterprise must possess treaty nationality through owners who are Canadian nationals, and a permanent resident of the United States is not treated as holding treaty nationality for this purpose. L-1 does not depend on nationality at all.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- How the nationality calculation actually runs
- L-1 asks different questions and this company can answer them
- Choose on obligations, not on which is easier to file
A dependent child who turns 21 mid-assignment needs a plan before the birthday
Hypothetical example: a Grand Bay-Westfield family moving on an L-1B assignment includes a twenty-year-old daughter who will turn 21 fourteen months after arrival. L-2 derivative status is available to unmarried children under 21, so her status ends at that birthday and does not extend with the parent's. Her mother, as an L-2 spouse, is employment-authorized incident to status. The daughter is not, and the change she needs must be prepared well before she ages out.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The spouse and the child are in different positions
- Count the birthday, then work backwards
- Give every household member a line of their own
What each route asks of you after the money has moved
Hypothetical example: two Grand Bay-Westfield siblings own a small sawmill together. One wants lawful permanent residence, not citizenship, for his family and is weighing EB-5 against the Gold Card. EB-5 imposes continuing obligations around jobs, engagement and Form I-829 to remove conditions. The Gold Card instead uses a gift plus a processing fee and creates no business to manage; under the current official framework, a successful eligible applicant receives lawful permanent resident status as an EB-1 or EB-2 visa holder, subject to visa availability.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- EB-5 keeps asking questions for years
- The Gold Card framework asks for the money and the truth about you
- Decide from the family's facts, and price the exit