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.
Documents that expire: keeping a Peachland occupational therapist's TN file current
Hypothetical example: for a Peachland occupational therapist, the degree and transcript remain stable, but a passport used as citizenship evidence can expire. The employer letter and state licence also age, and each re-entry is assessed on the current record. A Canadian citizen may generally apply at a port of entry without a TN visa stamp, or the employer may use Form I-129 where applicable. The arrangement must remain prearranged professional employment rather than U.S. self-employment, and any ownership or control must be disclosed. Hypothetical example: a structural engineer returns after a year abroad and discovers that the employer has changed payroll entities. The concrete decision is whether the old letter still describes the current engagement. She should obtain a new letter identifying the employer, duties, worksite, dates, and remuneration, then compare those facts with her credential and any licence requirement before travel.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The licence is the item most often out of date
- The employer letter describes a moment
- What travels unchanged, and one honest review a year
A Peachland nurse and her Australian spouse: whose passport opens which route
Hypothetical example: in a Peachland household where one spouse is a Canadian citizen and the other is a Canadian permanent resident holding an Australian passport, the routes available are not the same for each of them. Some categories look at the applicant's own citizenship, and Canadian permanent residence supplies no TN eligibility. Working out which spouse can be the principal applicant, and for what, may produce a better answer than assuming the higher earner must lead. Hypothetical example: a rail-systems analyst is a Canadian permanent resident with Irish citizenship and receives both an American offer and an investor opportunity. The concrete decision is to screen the analyst's own nationality before spending on a route: permanent residence in Canada does not substitute for the citizenship requirement of a category. Her passport and the relevant treaty or professional list settle the first question.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What the Canadian citizen can use and the permanent resident cannot
- Where his own nationality opens something hers does not
- The route that ignores both passports, and the Canadian side
Spent before you apply, re-examined at renewal: a Peachland couple's building services purchase
Hypothetical example: for a Peachland couple buying a building-services company, the first question is how much capital has been irrevocably committed and placed at risk rather than merely made available. The investment must also be substantial relative to the enterprise. At renewal, treaty nationality and ownership, the real operating and non-marginal business, and the investors' development and direction through ownership or control must still be shown. E-2 can be renewed while those conditions hold but provides no direct path to permanent residence. Hypothetical example: a specialty-laundry buyer has savings sufficient for the price but wants to keep every dollar refundable until approval. The decision is whether the proposed agreements create real commitment while sensibly managing refusal risk. Signed escrow terms, purchase obligations, and transfer records—not a savings statement—show what is exposed to the business.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What must already have happened before the first application
- What the renewal re-examines
- Keeping the two ends connected
Opening through a US LLC: proving the relationship for a Peachland refrigeration company
Hypothetical example: where a Peachland refrigeration company opens a new United States limited liability company, the qualifying relationship is proved through the operating agreement, membership ledger and capital-contribution records rather than share certificates. Those documents do not replace the other L-1 conditions: one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the prior three, an active qualifying foreign entity, secured sufficient premises, and a plan showing that the new operation can support the qualifying managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge role. Assemble all of those before filing. Hypothetical example: an acoustic-engineering firm creates a U.S. LLC for its first laboratory and wants its technical director there immediately. The decision is whether the company can document both its legal relationship and a credible first-year operating plan. The operating agreement, membership ledger, premises agreement, budget, and hiring plan settle distinct parts of that question.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Where ownership actually lives in an LLC
- Premises, funding and a plan that can be tested
- What the twelve-month extension asks
L-1A or E-2 for a Peachland coatings contractor's operations director: what each demands for years
Hypothetical example: a Peachland coatings contractor's operations director compares L-1A with E-2. L-1 requires one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the prior three, a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship, both sides continuing to do business, primarily managerial or executive U.S. duties, and a seven-year maximum. E-2 requires treaty nationality, substantial capital irrevocably committed and at risk, a real operating and non-marginal enterprise, and development and direction through ownership or control. E-2 has no fixed maximum while its conditions hold but offers no direct path to permanent residence. Hypothetical example: a marine-equipment wholesaler can either transfer its logistics director to an owned American affiliate or have her buy into an independent repair shop. The concrete decision is what must remain true: continuing related companies and qualifying employment for L-1, or treaty nationality, committed risk capital, and enterprise direction for E-2. Corporate ownership records and purchase documents answer different route questions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What the transfer route demands after arrival
- What the investment route demands after arrival
- Choosing on the ten-year question rather than the first year
A calendar of expiries: a Peachland household two years into a US posting
Hypothetical example: a settled Peachland TN and TD family stops thinking about status just as dates begin passing unnoticed. Four sets matter: each person's admission end date, the TN principal's professional registration and continuing-education cycle, each unmarried child's twenty-first birthday, and the preparation window for any extension or change of status. Put all four on one page. The TD spouse and children may study but may not work, and each family member's proposed activity should be reviewed separately. Hypothetical example: a concert-audio technician moves on L status with a spouse and a nineteen-year-old student who expects to take a gap year. The concrete decision is whether the student's dependent eligibility will last through the chosen school timetable. Birth records, admission documents, and the education plan should be reviewed together well before the twenty-first birthday.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What each member is permitted, today
- The sixteen-year-old's fixed horizon
- The dates nobody writes down
What each one asks of you afterwards: a Peachland retiree comparing EB-5 with the Gold Card
Hypothetical example: a Peachland retiree compares EB-5 with Gold Card. EB-5 currently requires $1,050,000, or $800,000 in a targeted employment area or infrastructure project, at least ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, lawful source and path of funds, management or policy participation, two-year conditional residence and Form I-829; a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one may derive. Gold Card instead uses a nonrefundable processing fee followed after vetting by an unrestricted gift, with permanent residence pursued through EB-1 or EB-2. The gift is not EB-5 capital, and every official term must be rechecked immediately before money moves. Hypothetical example: a medical-device entrepreneur has funds from the sale of a company and wants a predictable route for a spouse and two children. The concrete decision is whether the family accepts an enterprise-based EB-5 commitment—capital risk, job evidence, and conditional residence—or a personal gift payment framework that still depends on underlying immigrant eligibility. Sale records, project documents, and the current official programme materials must be assessed separately.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The investor programme is a multi-year commitment
- The Gold Card framework and what follows a payment
- Who each one reaches, and the honest question underneath