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.
A Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval social worker's TN file: which document answers which question
A TN file is a set of answers to fixed questions: is the applicant a Canadian or Mexican citizen, is the work in a listed profession, does the applicant meet that profession's own qualification rule, is the employment prearranged and temporary, and is there any self-employment or ownership issue. Each answer has one best document. For a social worker the qualification rule accepts a degree or a state or provincial licence, so the file should be built so that an officer can find each answer in seconds rather than reconstruct it from a résumé.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Citizenship and the profession: two documents, no ambiguity
- Qualification: the licence or the degree, not both halves of each
- Prearranged, temporary and not self-employed: the letter carries these
Two permanent residents in Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval, one citizenship ceremony pending: what to do while waiting
Canadian permanent residence is a Canadian status only. For U.S. purposes each adult is assessed on the passport they hold today, and a pending citizenship application changes nothing until the oath is taken. A household in which both adults are permanent residents cannot use TN and must check their actual nationality against the E-2 treaty list, while L-1, EB-5 and the Gold Card framework do not require Canadian citizenship. The practical task is to plan around the date citizenship is realistically expected without staking any commitment on it.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map what each category asks about nationality today
- Plan around the ceremony date without depending on it
- Keep both countries' obligations and the children's status straight
Buying a licensed daycare centre as a Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval E-2 investor: what the sale documents must prove
A regulated business such as a childcare centre raises the E-2 questions in a specific order: can the enterprise lawfully operate under the new owner, is the capital committed and at risk, is it substantial against the true cost, and does the business employ enough people to be clearly non-marginal. Licensing sits first because an unlicensed centre is not a bona fide enterprise. A Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval buyer with early-childhood experience should structure the purchase so that the licence transfer, the escrow release and the visa decision are sequenced together rather than assumed.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm the licence can transfer to the buyer before agreeing a price
- Structure the payment so the funds are committed but not lost
- Use staffing ratios to prove the business is not marginal
A Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval bakery manufacturer's first U.S. distribution office under L-1: the extension is the real test
A new-office L-1 petition lets a company that has been doing business in the United States for less than a year send a manager, executive or specialized-knowledge employee to establish operations. It is approved for one year, on evidence of secured premises, financial ability to start operations and pay the transferee, and a plan under which a managerial role will exist within the year. The extension is where the plan meets payroll records. A company should write the initial petition as the first half of the extension.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Build the U.S. entity into something that exists before filing
- Write the business plan against the extension criteria
- Choose the transferee for the qualifying year and keep the family flexible
A Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval majority owner of a transport-dispatch company: L-1 employee or E-2 investor?
A person who owns most of a Canadian company and wants to open or buy a U.S. operation can look at L-1, as an employee transferred within a corporate group, or E-2, as a treaty investor directing a U.S. enterprise. For a majority owner the L-1 route raises the question whether she is genuinely an employee of the U.S. entity or effectively self-employed, while E-2 fits naturally with majority ownership but leads to no permanent status. The decision turns on ownership, the employee role, and the five-year goal.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Set out the two structures side by side
- Weigh the objections each route attracts
- Decide on the five-year outcome
When the accompanying spouse from Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval wants her own TN rather than dependant status
A spouse who is herself a Canadian citizen in a listed profession does not have to accept dependant status. She can hold her own TN, with her own employer letter and qualification, and the household then contains two principals whose admissions are independent. That solves the TD no-work problem but creates two files, two renewal cycles and two sets of employer dependencies. Children remain dependants of one parent. Decide which structure fits before either spouse accepts an offer.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Compare dependant status with a second principal application
- Understand what independence means for renewals and children
- Sequence the two applications and the move
A Sainte-Brigitte-de-Laval couple who sold a dairy farm: EB-5 capital or the Gold Card gift?
The two routes lead toward permanent residence for people with substantial funds but treat the money differently. EB-5 places qualifying capital at risk in a U.S. enterprise that must create ten jobs, with any repayment depending on the offering terms and project performance. The Gold Card framework, on the official page, involves a nonrefundable processing fee and a gift to the U.S. government with no enterprise, no jobs and no return. A couple with farm-sale proceeds should compare an investment with immigration conditions against a payment with immigration consequences.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Follow the money in each route
- Compare what each route asks them to prove and to keep proving
- Choose between defined risk and defined loss