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.
Check whether the assigned role matches the employer’s letter
A TN file should describe the identified work the applicant will actually perform. When an agency, employer and client each have a description, compare the material facts before the letter is signed. Matching wording is useful only if it reflects a genuinely consistent arrangement.
Hypothetical example: a Rocky View County applicant has one confirmed placement and two possible alternatives. Keep the confirmed duties and terms separate from the alternatives. Ask which record establishes the position rather than collecting every prospective job description into one broad narrative. The threshold review is Canadian or Mexican citizenship, temporary professional activity and the particular listed profession’s qualifications. Canadian permanent residence alone does not qualify. Experience substitutes for a degree only where that profession permits it; a degree from an institution outside Canada, Mexico or the United States requires evaluation by a reliable service specializing in foreign credentials.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Choose the assignment being assessed
- Compare a real work task
- Check qualifications and change procedures
Separate an employer’s location from the applicant’s nationality
A Canadian employer does not make every employee a Canadian citizen for U.S. purposes. A Rocky View County resident’s passport, Canadian status and proposed work arrangement are separate facts. Review each route under its actual citizenship or nationality conditions.
Hypothetical example: a Canadian company proposes a U.S. assignment for an employee who is a Canadian permanent resident. Record the citizenship actually held. TN requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship; the employer’s location and the employee’s Canadian work history do not satisfy that condition.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the person’s current citizenship
- Describe the available opportunity accurately
- Review household and procedural differences
Test the operating plan if the first customer leaves
An E-2 business should be explained through its real operations and supported expectations. A customer contract can be relevant evidence, but it does not establish every enterprise or investment requirement. Examine the business proposed if the commercial assumptions change.
Hypothetical example: a Rocky View County investor plans around a first service contract. Identify what is actually promised, what can end early and what resources are needed to deliver. Keep signed work separate from expected follow-on orders.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read termination and scope terms
- Identify what remains in the business
- Revisit funding and commitments
Explain a new office that starts with a customer contract
Use the first customer contract to explain how the U.S. operation would work, then test what remains true if that customer reduces the order. The L-1A proposal needs its own corporate, employment and managerial evidence. A large contract can finance a launch without establishing that the person sent to fulfil it is a qualifying manager.
Suppose a Rocky View County employer establishes a U.S. subsidiary to serve a newly signed customer. Put the ownership records beside the customer agreement: one establishes the claimed parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship; the other describes revenue and obligations. A commercial buyer does not become an affiliate by signing a service contract. Determine when the U.S. organization actually began doing business, because less than one year of that activity triggers new-office treatment; incorporation age is not the test. The group must keep conducting regular, systematic and continuous business in the United States and at least one other country throughout the L stay. Identify who will run the foreign operation after the transferee leaves and retain evidence of that continuing activity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Show the group before describing the customer
- Allocate delivery work before allocating a management title
- Use a reduced order to test the first-year plan
Compare serving a client with operating an invested enterprise
An employee offered a group transfer and an opportunity to buy an unrelated service provider faces two different proposals. For a Rocky View County applicant, compare the employer’s promised assignment with the ownership and financial exposure created by the purchase. A customer interested in both arrangements does not make their immigration requirements interchangeable.
For the transfer option, identify the foreign employer and its qualifying U.S. parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate, then describe whether the U.S. job is managerial, executive or specialized knowledge. The ordinary foreign-history requirement is one continuous full-time year in managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge capacity within the relevant three years. Brief trips to the United States do not necessarily interrupt continuity, but U.S. days cannot supply that year. The group must maintain regular, systematic and continuous business in the United States and at least one other country. If the client wants to supervise the employee at its own site, assess the L-1B offsite limits before treating the contract as a transfer: when principally stationed at an unaffiliated worksite, principal control and supervision by that employer or essentially supplying labor for hire instead of the petitioner’s product or service requiring its specialized knowledge disqualifies the placement.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Follow the employer’s assignment to its real destination
- Read the purchase as an investor’s separate commitment
- Decide what happens if the customer leaves
Plan the household response to a changed work assignment
A change in the principal applicant’s assignment can affect practical family plans and may require immigration reassessment. Record the actual change and each person’s intended activity rather than assuming every household consequence is automatic or identical.
Hypothetical example: a Rocky View County household planned to arrive after a customer assignment began, but its location and dates are revised. Provide the new duties and terms for review. A commercial update is not itself an immigration decision or an extension of authorized stay.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what changed
- Review permissions individually
- Revisit the commitments
Distinguish project progress from immigration progress
An investment project and an immigration case have different milestones. EB-5 requires capital and qualifying job evidence; Gold Card follows its official gift-based framework with eligibility, admissibility and EB-1 or EB-2 visa availability conditions. A financial or commercial event should not be renamed an immigration approval.
Hypothetical example: a Rocky View County investor receives a notice that a project or sponsor has approved participation. Identify who issued it and what it actually establishes. Separate an internal acceptance, a payment, a petition submission and a government decision. Translate the EB-5 project update into required evidence: qualifying capital at risk, lawful source and path, investor management or policy formulation and at least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor. Full-time generally entails 35 hours weekly; use an applicable regional-center methodology where indirect jobs are claimed. The current US$1,050,000 minimum falls to US$800,000 only for qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment. Filing-date thresholds require checking as statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027. Capital terms granting investor repayment rights or guaranteed rates of return are excluded; distinguish the enterprise’s sole-discretion buyback exception, which has sustainment and other conditions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Name the event and its evidence
- Ask which legal questions remain
- Keep practical dates provisional