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.
The offer letter is the document that decides a TN accountant's application
Hypothetical example: a Mission CPA with an offer from a U.S. accounting firm has a degree, a professional designation and a résumé, yet the document an officer reads first is the employer's letter. The Accountant listing accepts a baccalaureate degree or a CPA, CA, CGA or CMA designation; the letter must connect that credential to accountant duties, a temporary period and an identified employer. Everything else in the file supports the letter or corrects a gap in it. Hypothetical example: A Canadian actuary receives a U.S. offer whose letter says only that she will provide financial support. The decision is whether to request a revised letter before travel. The record that settles it is a signed description tying the actual actuarial duties, employer, period and compensation to the listed profession. A generic offer cannot be repaired by a detailed résumé. Put the credential document directly behind the letter so the reader can test the claimed qualification without searching.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Write the letter to answer the officer's four questions
- Match the credential evidence to the alternative claimed
- Anticipate the questions the letter cannot answer
A permanent resident card does not make a Mission estimator eligible for TN
Hypothetical example: a Mission construction estimator holds Canadian permanent residence, has a citizenship application in progress and is married to a Canadian citizen. TN is available only to citizens of Canada or Mexico, so his PR card is irrelevant to it, however long he has lived here. The sequencing question is whether to wait for citizenship, whether his wife can be the principal on a route of her own, or whether another classification fits his facts today. Hypothetical example: A Canadian permanent resident who is a citizen of Brazil has an engineering-technology offer and assumes Canadian tax records make him eligible for TN. The decision is whether to seek an alternative route now or wait for citizenship. His passport, rather than his PR card, settles nationality. A current citizenship application does not change that result until citizenship is actually conferred. First identify the exact U.S. job, then test the person's present nationality and work history against classifications that may fit today.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate the two facts before planning
- Consider whether the citizen spouse should lead
- Test the other routes on his actual facts
In a truck-repair shop purchase, decide what is genuinely at risk before valuing anything
Hypothetical example: a Mission heavy-truck mechanic is buying an established U.S. truck and trailer repair shop as an asset purchase: hoists, tooling, parts inventory, a lease assignment and goodwill. E-2 asks whether his funds are irrevocably committed and exposed to loss, whether the amount is substantial for this business, and whether the shop will employ more than himself. The valuation the seller offers matters less than which of those dollars an officer will count as his capital at risk. Hypothetical example: A Canadian bicycle-repair business owner plans to buy a U.S. service shop with a refundable deposit and a seller note secured only by the shop's tools. The decision is whether to restructure the transaction before applying. The deposit agreement and loan security settle whether the money is truly exposed to loss. A business-secured seller note ordinarily does not make the buyer's capital at risk. Build the source-and-use schedule before closing so the application reflects the deal actually signed, not the deal the buyer hopes to make later.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Classify each dollar in the deal
- Judge substantial and marginal against a repair shop
- Keep control, nationality and the household in view
A cedar-products producer's first U.S. office is approved for one year, and the plan must survive that year
Hypothetical example: a Mission cedar shake and shingle producer wants to open its first U.S. sales-and-warehouse office and send its operations manager to run it. A new-office L-1A petition is approved for one year only, and the extension is judged on whether the office actually grew into one that supports a managerial role. The plan filed at the start therefore has to be one the company can perform, because the file at extension is the first year's record. Hypothetical example: A Canadian water-treatment equipment maker rents a small U.S. unit and plans to send its supply-chain manager, who will unload shipments until staff are hired. The decision is whether the first-year plan genuinely leads to a managerial role. The lease, capital budget, hiring timetable and foreign employment records settle the issue. Limited early hands-on work may be expected, but a plan centered on the transferee doing the warehouse job indefinitely does not establish L-1A management. Set hiring dates and funding that the company can actually meet.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What the initial petition must show
- Make the manager's first year genuinely managerial in the plan
- Run the year with the extension in mind
A Mission dairy-equipment firm's owner must choose whether to go as an employee or as an investor
Hypothetical example: the owner of a Mission dairy-equipment installation and service firm wants to work in the United States, either by forming a subsidiary and transferring himself as its manager under L-1A, or by personally buying a U.S. service business under E-2. Both are open to a Canadian owner, but they rest on different facts: L-1 on his employment history and the corporate relationship, E-2 on his personal capital and control. Which one fits depends on how the U.S. business will be owned and how long the family means to stay.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- L-1A treats him as an employee of the group
- E-2 treats him as an investor with his own money exposed
- Decide on ownership, horizon and appetite for risk
A Mission pharmacist's TN does not settle what her husband and adult son may do
Hypothetical example: a Mission pharmacist has a TN-eligible offer from a U.S. hospital pharmacy. Her husband is a licensed practical nurse and their son is nineteen and hoping to work while studying. Pharmacist is a listed profession with a degree or state or provincial licence rule, so her own case is straightforward; the family's is not, because TD dependants may study but never work, and the son will lose dependant status at twenty-one. Each person's plan needs its own route, decided before anyone gives notice in Mission.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The principal's case stands alone
- The husband needs a classification, not a workaround
- The son's clock is already running
A Mission farm family selling land must not confuse an investment with a gift
Hypothetical example: a Mission family is selling a berry farm and comparing an EB-5 regional-center investment with the Gold Card program. The two move money for opposite reasons. EB-5 capital is invested in a job-creating enterprise, must remain at risk and may be returned or lost; the Gold Card gift is paid to the Department of Commerce for deposit in a separate U.S. Treasury fund after a processing fee and vetting, is not an investment and produces no return. Choosing between them means understanding which obligations each imposes, not which headline number is larger.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What EB-5 requires of the family
- What the Gold Card requires, as officially described
- Ask which obligations the family can actually meet