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.
How to build a degree-to-duties evidence map for TN
A degree title and an employer’s job title rarely tell the whole story. An evidence map helps an adviser see which existing academic records relate to the actual responsibilities. It is a way to organize a truthful assessment, not a method for manufacturing a match or replacing a required credential.
Ask the employer for a plain description of recurring tasks and expected outputs. Keep this description in the employer’s own terms. Separate essential duties from occasional activities so a reviewer can assess the position as it actually exists, rather than a collection of appealing phrases taken from a professional category.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start with the work being offered
- Reference records without rewriting them
- Show the gaps as clearly as the matches
- Map at the level of knowledge, not job titles
- State the gaps rather than letting a reader find them
How should a mixed-nationality household prepare its first review?
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.
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.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Build a person-by-person outline
- Distinguish principal and dependent questions
- Coordinate the practical sequence
- Give each person their own row before comparing anyone
- Identify who could be the principal before assuming it
Can a purchase deposit stand in for the whole E-2 acquisition price?
A down payment and a fully funded acquisition are different facts. Review the purchase agreement, remaining payment obligations and conditions before treating the headline price as invested capital. The useful decision is which funds are actually committed under qualifying terms and whether the enterprise can begin operating with that arrangement.
List the agreed price, paid deposit, balance due, holdbacks and any seller financing. Match completed payments to bank records and receipts. Do not report the entire purchase price as cash already invested because the contract has been signed. Counsel should review which parts of the arrangement establish qualifying commitment and how the remaining obligations affect the evidence.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate price from payment history
- Read the conditions together
- Check the operational funding gap
- Read the deposit's terms before deciding what it represents
- Show how the balance would be paid
Does the ownership file support a qualifying U.S. office?
Before funding a U.S. launch, reconcile the proposed organisation chart with actual ownership and control documents. A familiar brand or common founder does not by itself prove a qualifying L relationship. The new-office plan needs a legal connection that can be demonstrated and maintained during the transfer.
Identify the foreign employer, U.S. petitioner and any intermediate entities. For every connecting line, record the owner, interest and source document. Use corporate registers, governing instruments and relevant agreements to explain the structure; a presentation chart is a helpful index but cannot replace evidence of the underlying rights.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Trace each link in the structure
- Read control provisions alongside ownership
- Review changes expected during launch
- Follow the chain to the people at the end of it
- Check that the paper structure matches how the group behaves
Which route fits if the founder plans to close the Canadian business?
An intended foreign closure is central to the L-1 comparison because the qualifying organization must continue doing business in the United States and another country. E-2 does not impose that same international-operation requirement. Review the actual group and investment facts before assuming closure is either harmless or an automatic reason to choose E-2.
Identify which qualifying entities will continue supplying goods or services abroad after the move. The relevant foreign operation need not always be the original employer, but a dormant registration is not ongoing business. Give counsel the closure and restructuring plan, including ownership and control, before relying on a transfer supported by an organization that may cease qualifying activity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map the remaining international activity
- Evaluate the investment without the foreign office
- Sequence closure around reviewed facts
- Establish what would remain abroad, and for how long
- Assess the investor case without borrowing the company's history
How do mixed passports affect a family’s U.S. move?
Family members can share a relocation plan without sharing nationality or visa procedures. Record each person’s citizenship and intended dependent classification. A Canadian principal’s travel arrangements should not be copied automatically for a spouse or child with another nationality, even when everyone holds Canadian permanent residence or lives together.
Create a separate private entry for each person, including citizenship, passport and relationship to the principal. Record whether any document is being renewed or any nationality question remains unclear. A household address does not replace these facts, and one person’s Canadian citizenship does not become the citizenship of other family members.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Make an individual document map
- Match each person to the procedure
- Coordinate travel after the review
- Record every nationality, including the ones nobody uses
- Expect the procedures to differ and plan for the slowest
Are you comparing an individual investment with corporate sponsorship?
An EB-5 investor’s capital and a corporate Gold Card sponsor’s gift describe different arrangements. Identify the prospective immigrant and the contributor before comparing amounts. A company owner should not assume that company funds, personal investment and employee sponsorship can be exchanged without changing the legal and financial questions.
Write down who seeks status, who owns the funds and which entity would receive them. For EB-5, identify the investor and proposed enterprise; for Gold Card, specify individual or corporate participation. The same person may hold several roles, but the documents should explain them instead of combining them under the word investor.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Name every participant in the transaction
- Review the relevant obligations
- Compare matched scenarios
- Establish who bears the risk in each arrangement
- Compare scenarios that actually match