Read the general professional work overview
If the applicant has an ownership interest, organize the actual structure and proposed work before assuming the arrangement fits TN. Ownership questions call for individual assessment, particularly because TN does not authorize self-employment. The preparation file should expose the relationship clearly rather than hide it behind a conventional job title.
Record the interests and decision makers
List relevant ownership interests, the entity offering work and who controls the employment arrangement. Use existing corporate records to support the description. Identify uncertainty about control for counsel rather than translating it into a reassuring label. A statement that someone is an employee does not settle every underlying issue.
Document the genuine employment proposal
Retain the offer, duties, supervision and compensation details, and explain how they relate to the ownership structure. Do not prepare a fictional reporting relationship to improve appearances. If the proposal is still being developed, identify which terms are undecided so professional advice is based on the current facts.
Keep alternatives outside the evidence file
An adviser may discuss whether another pathway better matches an entrepreneurial plan. Keep that assessment separate from documents describing the existing proposal. Changing a category label does not change the business relationship itself. Any revised arrangement must be real, accurately documented and reviewed on its own merits.
Record what each document proves, next to the document
A preparation file is more useful when each item carries a note of what it establishes and what it does not. Beside the share register, record that it shows the holding as at its date and nothing about voting rights. Beside the shareholders agreement, record which decisions it reserves and to whom. Beside the offer letter, record the duties, the supervisor and the compensation, and note whether the supervisor named there appears in the governance documents at all. This annotation takes little time and prevents the most common defect in an ownership file, which is a stack of accurate documents from which a reader is left to infer a relationship nobody has stated. Where two documents describe the same arrangement differently, record the divergence on both. TN does not authorize self-employment, so an arrangement the documents show to be self-directed should be identified as such rather than presented through a conventional job title.
Hypothetical example: annotating a forestry consultancy file
Hypothetical example: a sylviculturist holds an interest in a U.S. forestry consultancy and is offered professional work assessing stands for its clients. The annotated file shows a register recording the interest and its date; a shareholders agreement reserving budget and hiring decisions to a majority the applicant does not hold; an employment agreement naming a supervising principal; and a duty description confined to professional assessment work. Read together, the annotations show an arrangement in which the applicant performs professional services under direction rather than directing the business, and they show it without anyone having to assert it. Had the agreement instead reserved those decisions to the applicant, the same method would have exposed that just as clearly. Keep any discussion of alternative pathways in a separate document, since advice about what to do if TN is unsuitable is not evidence about the arrangement.
What else is on your mind?
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?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.