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.
Building a separate TN evidence file for a new employer
A new employer should be assessed through its own proposed job and supporting evidence. Keep the new file distinct from the previous employer’s papers while preserving the history needed for review. Existing TN status is not a general permission to start any new job, and the transition sequence needs individual assessment.
Prepare the current admission record, prior approval documents where relevant and a factual employment chronology. Note the actual last day of work and proposed new start rather than assuming they can be aligned freely. Provide the complete history to the reviewer before making decisions about work or travel.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Keep current status records accessible
- Build the new employer’s evidence from its facts
- Separate readiness from authorization
- Ask the first review which file each document belongs in
- Hypothetical example: a template that described the old job
Does a prior U.S. visit settle the next work application?
Past admission for a visit does not establish eligibility for a new work activity. A Canadian PR should describe prior U.S. travel accurately while keeping the proposed role or business plan separate. Review the purpose and records of the earlier trips rather than treating successful crossings as a work permission.
Privately organize relevant prior U.S. visits, their stated purpose and the documents used. Identify any uncertainty in the record rather than relying on memory alone. The purpose is to support an accurate professional discussion of the current proposal, not to infer that a repeated travel pattern automatically permits a different activity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Build an accurate travel account
- Describe what is changing
- Raise unresolved history directly
- What an honest travel account is for
- Hypothetical example: meetings that became something else
Which professional and filing costs should stay separate from E-2 capital?
An E-2 budget should identify government charges, immigration representation, transaction advice and commercial setup expenditure separately. Do not assume that every invoice associated with opening a business counts toward substantial investment. Ask counsel to evaluate any disputed item and keep the business’s actual resource commitment visible beneath the all-in spending total.
Record what each payment buys and who receives it. Immigration application work is different from an enterprise acquiring equipment or operating rights. Some professional spending may have a specific commercial purpose requiring analysis, so avoid both automatically including and categorically excluding every adviser invoice. Give counsel the invoice and engagement scope needed to assess its actual treatment.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Classify by purpose and recipient
- Reconcile bundled packages
- Budget the full process anyway
- The classification the first review should hand back
- Hypothetical example: one number covering several services
How should an acquisition be assessed as a new-office launch?
Buying a U.S. company does not automatically make its existing operation a new office. Establish the business history, proposed employer and resulting qualifying relationship before choosing the petition approach. The acquisition documents, operating records and employee plan should explain what changes and what continues after closing.
Identify whether the proposal acquires shares, assets or another interest, and which entity will employ the transferee. Record the acquired operation’s actual history of doing business. A recent purchase date should not substitute for the new-office analysis when commercial activity has existed for longer under the relevant structure.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Distinguish the entity from the transaction
- Examine control after closing
- Connect inherited operations to the role
- The classification question a first review must answer
- Hypothetical example: an operating laboratory described as a launch
Is L-1 a low-capital alternative to E-2 for a founder?
L-1 does not use E-2’s substantial-investment test, but that does not make funding irrelevant. A new-office transfer needs credible operational and financial support, while E-2 assesses qualifying committed capital in relation to the enterprise. Compare the real business needs rather than treating one route as a way to avoid financing an operation.
For a new office, document premises, funding and a plan supporting the proposed qualifying role under the applicable requirements. A formation certificate and unfunded projection are not enough. Explain how the foreign organization and U.S. operation will carry out actual business. Counsel should assess financial ability in the context of the transfer rather than applying an invented universal L-1 investment minimum.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the L-1 operating resources
- Calculate E-2 capital honestly
- Compare costs without category shortcuts
- What the comparison should return
- Hypothetical example: a founder with capital and no employment history
What should the family review when the principal’s job changes?
A change in the principal’s employment can affect the assumptions behind dependent planning. Review the actual category, current records and proposed change before relying on existing family arrangements. Do not assume a spouse’s document expiry date alone resolves the effect of a changed or ended principal role.
Record whether the change concerns employer, duties, assignment structure or the end of employment, and when it occurred or is proposed. Distinguish a discussion from a completed change. The family review needs those precise facts rather than a broad statement that the principal has a new opportunity or is between roles.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what has actually changed
- Connect the change to the family
- Review the next actions individually
- Start the review from what changed, precisely
- Hypothetical example: an expiry date that reassured the wrong person
What investment due diligence belongs in the comparison?
Comparing EB-5 with Gold Card requires examining the actual EB-5 enterprise, not only the immigration category. Project documents, financial risks and job evidence add a review task that differs from evaluating a government-gift programme. Government-related filings should not be presented as an endorsement of investment quality or repayment.
Record the enterprise, project participants and any regional centre involved, with the actual offering and governing documents. Ask who controls funds, who reports progress and what assumptions support the business. Keep promotional summaries separate from binding terms and underlying evidence so an investment recommendation can be assessed properly.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the parties and documents
- Separate project and personal review
- Obtain the appropriate independent assessment
- Two reviews, two professions, one decision
- Hypothetical example: an approval read as an endorsement