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.
Read the equity agreement alongside the TN offer
An offer with stock compensation needs two parallel readings: what professional work is proposed, and what rights the worker will hold in the enterprise. The documents should explain both without pretending an unsigned future grant is current ownership. Hypothetical example: an orthotist receives an offer from a US mobility clinic and a promise of deferred share units. Before choosing an admission date, the orthotist must decide whether the professional credential, clinical licence, employer relationship, and unit terms can all be shown from current records. The answer should be based on signed documents, not on the recruiter's description of future equity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the rights at each stage
- Prove the occupation independently
- Resolve the employer relationship
Separate Canadian residence from the citizenship evidence a US category needs
A Canadian permanent resident living in Kelowna can start comparing US options before any future citizenship ceremony. The analysis must use citizenship already held and the actual opportunity, rather than treating an expected Canadian passport as issued. Hypothetical example: a Canadian permanent resident who is also an Irish citizen plans to buy a small US design business before a Canadian citizenship ceremony is scheduled. The immediate decision is whether an existing nationality supports a treaty route and whether the business facts meet that route, rather than waiting for a passport that has not been issued. The resident should compare routes using present facts and preserve the evidence for each one separately.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Use current identity facts
- Test the alternative on its own conditions
- Keep spouses on separate lines
Price an E-2 business that leases its essential equipment
A leased operating model calls for a careful account of what has actually been committed, what the business can use, and what remains a future bill. Adding every monthly payment in a five-year lease does not by itself establish that the total is qualifying invested capital. Hypothetical example: a Canadian citizen acquires a mobile veterinary-imaging company, pays non-refundable deposits for a van and scanner, and plans to lease a garage. The decision is whether the documented commitments, ownership, lawful money trail, and operating model show a real nonmarginal enterprise before filing. The owner should not inflate the investment by treating later monthly lease payments as cash already committed.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Distinguish access from ownership
- Connect the spending to eligibility
- Leave room for the household
Give a new US operation an operating plan beyond its lease
A new-office L-1 proposal needs evidence about the work the enterprise will undertake and how it will support the transferee. A signed room lease can be relevant premises evidence without establishing the rest of the business. Hypothetical example: a laboratory-supply group wants to send its quality-assurance manager to open a US office while the foreign branch continues serving existing customers. The decision is whether the company can document the qualifying relationship, her uninterrupted qualifying year abroad, suitable premises, and a first-year plan that leads to a genuinely managerial role. A signed lease alone cannot settle those questions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Check the foreign operation through the proposed transfer
- Build the capacity appropriate to the classification
- Plan the first year as evidence-producing work
Compare a company transfer with a personally funded leased venture
Suppose a Kelowna manager can transfer through an existing corporate group or establish a separate business using leased machinery. Identify who will own, finance and operate each proposal before choosing a category from its perceived speed. Hypothetical example: a water-treatment engineer can either transfer from a foreign affiliate or personally fund a separate US filtration business. The decision is whether the existing corporate group and qualifying employment make an L-1 route supportable, or whether her treaty nationality, at-risk capital, and operating plan fit E-2. The choices cannot be blended simply because the same person will work in both proposals.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Follow the employer in the transfer proposal
- Follow nationality and capital in the independent proposal
- Decide what the proposal actually commits you to
Assign a separate permission check to each family activity
A move from Kelowna can include employment, school, business help and later travel on different dates. Make the family plan specific enough to distinguish being eligible to accompany someone from already having permission to perform a proposed activity. Hypothetical example: a geospatial-survey manager will relocate first, her spouse hopes to accept a job later, and a 19-year-old child plans to begin school. The family must decide which activities can occur immediately under each person's status and which need separate authorization. One household calendar with admission dates, school deadlines, and document expiries is more useful than assuming every relative shares the principal's permission.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the work before choosing a date
- Coordinate immigrant entry correctly
- Check changes before relying on the old plan
Compare an operating-business investment with an immigration gift
Buying an established US business for EB-5 and making a Gold Card gift involve fundamentally different financial commitments. A buyer who wants saleable enterprise assets should understand that a Gold Card gift does not provide commercial ownership or a repayment entitlement. Hypothetical example: a renewable-packaging entrepreneur can invest in a US processing plant with a job-creation plan or make the published Gold Card gift payment. The decision is whether the entrepreneur wants and can document commercial capital at risk, qualifying jobs, and conditional-residence obligations, or instead can meet the separate immigrant criteria and payment framework. An enterprise acquisition and a government payment should never be presented as interchangeable assets.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Test the acquisition’s jobs, not just its payroll total
- Budget the gift separately from investment capital
- Compare the later obligations before committing