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.
Explaining a finance role through professional accounting work
A hypothetical Gatineau applicant offered a finance-lead position should prepare an accurate account of professional deliverables and other responsibilities. A CPA designation and an impressive title answer different parts of the TN review. For Canadians, the route is a port-of-entry request or employer-filed Form I-129 with no TN visa stamp; TD dependants may study but not work. Before travel, decide whether the actual record can be presented consistently or whether a changed role needs a different filing sequence. TN is limited to temporary professional activity by a Canadian or Mexican citizen and cannot be used for substantive self-employment through a controlled U.S. business. Hypothetical example: a soil scientist receives a polished letter that omits her responsibility for a company she owns.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what the applicant will actually do
- Connect the listed credential to the person
- Disclose the employment and ownership facts
Separating Canadian residence from citizenship when an employer prepares a TN offer
A Gatineau address can identify where a person lives without establishing Canadian citizenship. Before an employer assumes a TN route, verify the applicant’s citizenship and then review the professional opportunity on its own facts. TN forbids U.S. self-employment and requires ownership disclosure; Canadians use a port-of-entry request or employer-filed Form I-129 and need no TN visa stamp; TD dependants may study but not work. The decisive question is not where the applicant has lived, but which nationality document supports the claimed route on the relevant date. If citizenship is missing, the employer must decide whether to pause, use an independently available classification, or change the start plan; Canadian permanent residence does not bridge that gap. Hypothetical example: a museum cataloguer holds a Canadian permanent-resident card and a treaty-country passport but no Canadian citizenship certificate.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what the current record proves
- Keep the offer and credentials useful without overclaiming
- Compare alternatives from the actual arrangement
Documenting decision rights in an equally owned E-2 enterprise
For a hypothetical Gatineau investor with an equal partner, prepare the actual governance terms and operating responsibilities together. A percentage alone does not explain how the applicant will develop and direct the enterprise. Canada qualifies; funds must be irrevocably committed, at risk and substantial relative to the business; the investor ordinarily needs at least 50% ownership or operational control; an E spouse may work incident to status, but E-2 has no direct path to permanent residence. The investor must choose a transaction structure that makes the capital committed irrevocably and exposed to risk while preserving a truthful account of control. The enterprise must be real and nonmarginal, and the applicant must be positioned to develop and direct it; leaving funds freely withdrawable postpones rather than proves the investment. Hypothetical example: a maker of bespoke leather journals deposits equipment money under a conditional agreement that becomes nonrefundable only after the required business milestones.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify which decisions require agreement
- Apply the nationality and capital conditions
- Support the joint operating plan
Building a new-office plan around a function that others will perform
A hypothetical Gatineau function manager opening a U.S. operation should show both the managerial responsibilities and who will perform the ordinary work. A future chart should not conceal tasks the applicant still performs personally. L-1 requires one continuous year abroad in the prior three and two active related entities; a new office must have secured premises and capacity to support the role within one year and is initially approved for one year; offsite work must not be labour-for-hire and must remain petitioner-controlled; an L-2 spouse may work incident to status; the L-1A maximum is seven years. The company must decide whether its first-year operating plan genuinely moves the transferee into a managerial or executive position rather than merely postponing ordinary work. The transferee generally needs a continuous qualifying foreign year within the preceding three years, the new operation must support the role within one year, and the L-1A ceiling is seven years. Hypothetical example: a maker of laboratory stools leases a small facility but has not chosen who will supervise installation crews.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Define the essential function and senior responsibility
- Support the first-year transition concretely
- Retain the underlying transfer conditions
Comparing managerial authority with an investor’s decision rights
A Gatineau applicant may have senior authority as an employee and also be offered a stake in a U.S. enterprise. Identify the source of each right before comparing L-1A with E-2. Neither a title nor ownership alone makes the routes interchangeable. L-1 requires one continuous year abroad in the prior three, two active related entities, qualifying L-1A managerial/executive or L-1B company-specific knowledge duties, one-year new-office limits, petitioner-controlled non-labour-for-hire offsite work, L-2 spouse work authorization and seven-/five-year caps. E-2 requires qualifying treaty nationality—Canada qualifies—irrevocably committed at-risk funds substantial relative to a real nonmarginal business, development and direction through at least 50% ownership or operational control, E-spouse work authorization, and has no direct permanent-residence path. Choose the route by identifying the source of the person’s authority: a qualifying employer transfer or ownership plus investment in the U.S. venture. L-1 requires the qualifying foreign employment and is capped at seven years for L-1A or five for L-1B; E-2 requires at-risk, irrevocably committed capital in a real nonmarginal enterprise. Hypothetical example: a manufacturer of artisanal paper can transfer its operations director or have that director buy into a new U.S. mill.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Explain the managerial transfer on its own terms
- Explain the investor arrangement separately
- Choose from the actual intended arrangement
Separating a household’s financial contribution from its permission to work
A Gatineau spouse may contribute savings, own shares or help plan a move. Those facts should be documented, but they do not themselves establish the person’s U.S. classification or employment permission. Canadian citizenship and permanent residence are separate; a PR card does not create TN eligibility, and children age out at 21, subject to applicable child-status protection. A family decision should begin with the principal’s actual route, then create a separate timeline for each spouse and child. Dependent status does not turn an unapproved business plan into work permission, and a child near the age limit needs an individual review rather than a household assumption. Hypothetical example: a specialist in archival photography has a spouse with a job offer and a child whose twenty-first birthday falls during the planned move.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start with the actual status and activity
- Keep financial and immigration roles distinguishable
- Use the correct family sequence for permanent residence
Comparing a household-funded EB-5 investment with corporate Gold Card sponsorship
A Gatineau household’s savings and an employer’s sponsorship gift have different funding purposes and governing terms. Compare those arrangements explicitly instead of treating a large available sum as a common immigration account. EB-5 also requires ten full-time jobs for qualifying U.S. workers, investor engagement in management or policy formulation, and permits the spouse and unmarried children under 21 as derivatives. Gold Card instead uses a Commerce gift deposited in a separate Treasury fund, is not a conventional standalone visa category, is never an EB-5 investment, and must be re-verified before money moves. The choice is between two very different records: EB-5 requires capital at risk, the required jobs, and conditional residence, while Gold Card is not a conventional visa and involves a payment by the applicant to the U.S. government with EB-1 or EB-2 still governing the immigration result. Hypothetical example: a maker of precision sundials can fund a job-creating enterprise but is also considering a gift payment after an employer approaches her.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the EB-5 investor and capital obligations
- Identify the corporate gift and replacement terms
- Keep the legal outcome separate from the funding promise