Read the general eligibility basics overview
Canadian permanent residence does not give everyone in a household the same U.S. options. Record each person’s citizenship, relationship to the proposed principal applicant and intended activity. The principal route, dependent classification and visa requirements must be examined separately rather than copied from one family member’s circumstances.
Build a person-by-person outline
Create separate entries for the proposed worker or investor, spouse and each child. Record citizenships actually held, passport information to verify privately and the intended work or study activity. A shared Canadian address is useful context, but it does not replace the nationality and relationship facts relevant to each person’s U.S. review.
Distinguish principal and dependent questions
TN citizenship eligibility concerns the principal applicant; accompanying family questions follow a different framework. E-2 dependants need not share the investor’s nationality. These distinctions mean that one person’s inability to qualify as a principal does not answer every household question, and one person’s eligibility does not automatically establish everyone else’s status.
Coordinate the practical sequence
List who would travel first and which person needs visa or employment questions resolved before committing to a date. Have the mixed-nationality facts reviewed before adopting a single procedural checklist. Keep family documents out of a public enquiry and arrange appropriate sharing only after the purpose of the requested information is clear.
Give each person their own row before comparing anyone
Mixed-nationality households go wrong when a single plan is written for the family and the differences are noticed later. Build a table with one row per person, recording every citizenship held, the immigration status each person currently holds in Canada, each person's relationship to the intended principal, and whether they intend to work or study. Include children, and record ages with dates rather than years. Only once that table exists is it possible to see which procedures apply to whom. The exercise regularly surfaces facts nobody thought relevant, such as a second citizenship acquired through a parent or a status that expires during the period under discussion, and those are precisely the facts that determine which options are open.
Identify who could be the principal before assuming it
Households often decide the principal applicant by default — the person with the job offer, or the one who raised the idea. Where nationalities differ, that default deserves testing, because eligibility for several routes depends on citizenship rather than residence and the household may have more than one candidate. Ask counsel to consider each adult's position on their own facts before the family settles on a plan. The answer may still be the obvious person, but where it is not, the difference can be substantial. Record the reasoning either way, since a decision made deliberately is easier to revisit if circumstances change than one that was never consciously made at all.
What else is on your mind?
Does Canadian permanent residence give me access to TN?Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.