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 Cantley registered nurse’s TN file: licence and certification before the diploma
Hypothetical example: a Cantley registered nurse licensed in Quebec is offered a staff position by a U.S. hospital. The Registered Nurse listing accepts a state or provincial licence or a licenciatura degree, so her Quebec licence satisfies the TN profession credential. A valid health-care worker certificate or authorized certified statement is required for admission. Licensure or a temporary permit from the state of intended practice is a separate professional requirement for actually working there, but TN admission may not be denied solely because that post-entry licence is not yet held. Hypothetical example: a speech-language pathologist has the professional credential but learns that the U.S. state will issue its licence only after a background check. The hospital and applicant must decide whether to delay the start date or use a lawful temporary authorization if the state provides one. The state board’s written status, not a recruiter’s assurance, settles that question. The employment letter should then match the actual licensing sequence.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start with the certificate that controls admission
- Obtain the state licence the hospital’s letter will name
- Assemble the remaining proofs in the usual order
A Cantley permanent resident with a treaty-country passport: no TN, but maybe E-2
Hypothetical example: a Cantley engineer has held Canadian permanent residence for three years and remains a citizen of a European country that has an investment treaty with the United States. He assumed that living in Canada would let him use TN. It will not: TN is restricted to citizens of Canada and Mexico. But E-2 depends on the applicant’s own nationality, not on residence, so if he invests in a U.S. business owned at least half by nationals of his country, his passport rather than his Canadian card may open the door. Hypothetical example: a permanent resident who is a treaty-country national is deciding whether to invest now or wait for Canadian citizenship. The concrete choice is whether the business opportunity can tolerate that wait and whether time in the United States would endanger Canadian status. A citizenship certificate or the existing foreign passport resolves nationality; neither is inferred from a Canadian resident card. The family should make that decision before it commits capital or signs a U.S. lease.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- TN looks at citizenship and nothing else
- E-2 follows the investor’s passport
- Protect the Canadian status while pursuing the U.S. one
What counts as invested when a Cantley couple buys a U.S. fitness-studio franchise
Hypothetical example: a Cantley couple, both Canadian citizens, have signed a franchise agreement for a small fitness studio in a U.S. suburb and expect to spend about US$310,000 between the franchise fee, fit-out, equipment and opening reserve. For E-2 the question is which of those dollars will be treated as invested by the interview date. The franchise fee paid, the lease signed and the equipment ordered count; a reserve sitting untouched in a Canadian account does not. The franchisor’s controls also have to be reconciled with the requirement that the investors develop and direct the business. Hypothetical example: a commercial-kitchen installer can pay a supplier in full, but the supplier offers a broad refund if the visa is refused. The investors must decide whether to use an escrow arrangement with clear release terms or accept a commitment that genuinely exposes funds to loss. The signed contract and its cancellation clause settle the point. They should not count the same cash both as an untouched reserve and as money already invested.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Sort the budget into committed and uncommitted
- Measure substantiality against the franchise’s real cost
- Reconcile the franchisor’s rules with develop-and-direct
Sending a Cantley cabinetry manufacturer’s sales director to open a U.S. showroom
Hypothetical example: a Cantley custom-cabinetry manufacturer with thirty employees ships to U.S. designers and wants a showroom and sales office in a U.S. market, run by its sales director of five years. A new-office L-1A is approved for at most one year, and by the end of that year the office must support her as a manager or executive. The petition succeeds or fails on three exhibits: a lease for real premises, a financed plan with hiring dates, and proof that her Canadian year was itself managerial. Hypothetical example: a specialty-lighting importer has a lease but plans to postpone all hiring until sales arrive. The concrete decision is whether the first-year forecast can support a manager at the extension stage, not merely whether the office can open. The budget, hiring dates, and payroll assumptions are the records that settle it. If the founder will still perform every sale and delivery after a year, the business plan needs revision before filing.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Prove the premises and the corporate link at filing
- Write the plan around the position the office must support
- Confirm her own qualifying year and plan the family
A Cantley e-learning company owner: sequence the year abroad or the capital?
Hypothetical example: the owner of a Cantley bilingual e-learning company has run it for two years and wants to expand into the United States personally. Under L-1A her company would form a U.S. subsidiary and transfer her as an executive; under E-2 she would invest her own funds in a U.S. company she controls. The two routes make different demands on time and money: L-1A needs her qualifying year and a corporate structure that survives her departure, while E-2 needs capital committed before an interview. Which resource she has decides the sequence. Hypothetical example: the owner of a laboratory-supplies distributor can either leave a capable Canadian operations lead in place or personally commit savings to a U.S. launch. The decision is which dependency is less risky: the continued Canadian operation for an L filing, or personal capital exposed to loss for an E filing. Ownership records, staffing authority, and bank trails settle the route. She should choose one factual structure before signing documents that undermine the other.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- L-1A spends time and keeps the Canadian company central
- E-2 spends money and frees her from the Canadian structure
- Choose by which resource is scarce
A Cantley TN household: the spouse teaches, the children are 9 and 14
Hypothetical example: a Cantley environmental engineer has accepted a TN position with a U.S. consulting firm. Her husband teaches at a primary school and would like to keep working; their children are 9 and 14. The engineer’s TN is straightforward. The rest of the family is not one application but three: the husband’s TD does not allow work and the TN Teacher listing excludes school teaching, so he needs a sponsor for a different category or a period without employment, while each child needs TD and school enrolment. The household should plan all four before the offer is accepted. Hypothetical example: a tax economist accepts the principal position while her spouse has an interview for a U.S. job that would start two months later. The household must decide whether the spouse will wait for an independent work classification or delay the move. A TD admission record does not bridge that gap. The spouse’s prospective employer, job requirements, and filing calendar are the records that determine the lawful sequence, while the children’s school plans follow their own TD admissions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The principal’s TN carries the family’s status but not its permissions
- The teaching spouse needs his own category, not a workaround
- Enrol the children and watch the older one’s calendar
A Cantley executive offered corporate Gold Card sponsorship: employer’s gift or her own EB-5?
Hypothetical example: a Cantley executive already working for a U.S. technology company has been told the company would sponsor her for a corporate Gold Card. She is also able to fund an EB-5 investment herself. The comparison is not only about cost. A corporate Gold Card gift is the employer’s money tied to her employment, with maintenance and transfer terms that belong to the employer; an EB-5 investment is her own capital at risk, independent of any job. Each route ends in permanent residence through existing immigrant categories, on conditions that neither payment removes. Hypothetical example: a cybersecurity executive can fund an EB-5 enterprise but is also offered corporate Gold Card sponsorship through a prospective employer. The decision is whether she values independence from the job enough to accept capital at risk and a job-creation obligation. The EB-5 business plan and source-of-funds trail answer that route; the Gold Card gift and fee terms, DHS classification, admissibility, and visa availability answer the other. A Gold Card gift by an individual or corporate sponsor is treated as evidence under an existing EB-1 or EB-2 classification; it is not an EB-5 investment or a new conventional visa category.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The corporate Gold Card runs on the employer’s terms
- EB-5 runs on her own capital and her own conditions
- Decide on control and on what is being paid for