It should not be treated as a guaranteed immigration date. Petition review, visa availability, admissibility and the applicable visa or adjustment stage all affect when permanent residence may actually be obtained.
Keep project milestones and government decisions on separate lists
List construction or business milestones next to the immigration steps without treating them as interchangeable. Check current official processing information and the Visa Bulletin as relevant, and have any change in the project or the family's circumstances reviewed. Removal of conditions remains a later, separate step, so initial conditional residence should not be described as the final stage of the process.
Keep three clocks visible: petition preparation and adjudication, visa availability or adjustment, and the project’s job-creation schedule. Conditional residence begins only after the applicable immigration step, and the later conditions filing has its own window near the second anniversary. Hypothetical example: a Québec producer of specialty paper subscribes to a project expected to open next year and assumes the opening controls the family’s move.
If visa availability or petition review takes longer, the project opening is not the admission date. Do not resign, sell property, or set school plans until the immigration clock supports those decisions.