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 state licence, not the Québec permit: what a Shannon nurse's TN file must actually contain
For the Registered Nurse profession, Appendix 2 requires a state or provincial licence or a Licenciatura degree, and U.S. hospitals additionally require the licence of the state where the nurse will practise. A Shannon nurse's TN file therefore turns on licensing documents: her OIIQ permit satisfies the TN rule, but the employer's letter and the officer will expect the state licence or its interim authorization too. Sequence the state licensing before the border, and build the file around both documents.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Know which licence answers which question
- Assemble the credential, citizenship and employer documents in that order
- Time the licensing so the border is the last step, not the first
When the Canadian-citizen partner is the one whose employer decides: a Shannon household and the PR spouse's U.S. options
Permanent residence in Canada is a Canadian status with no effect on U.S. eligibility, and TN and E-2 are reserved for Canadian citizens. In a Shannon household where the Canadian citizen's posting is set by her employer and the permanent-resident partner is the one with a U.S. offer, the partner's own nationality and the corporate structure of his employer decide his route, and nothing about the citizen's status transfers to him.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Strip the household down to the person with the U.S. opportunity
- Test the L-1 facts, because nationality does not matter there
- Keep the Canadian obligations visible while solving the U.S. one
From a mobile food business to a leased diner: proving a Shannon investor's E-2 enterprise is not marginal
The marginality test asks whether the enterprise will do more than provide a living for the investor and family, now or within a reasonable period, and it is answered with hiring and revenue figures rather than intentions. A Shannon investor who has run a mobile food operation and wants to buy a diner with a long lease in Vermont must show that the diner's staffing and margins support employees beyond the household, and that the funds committed to the lease, equipment and purchase are substantial and at risk.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Understand what marginal means in practice
- Commit the funds in ways the officer can see and count
- Show control and the plan that carries the business past marginality
Twelve months to a real manager: a Shannon drone-inspection firm's first U.S. office under L-1A
A new-office L-1A is approved for one year on the strength of secured premises, the parent's financial ability to support the office, and a business plan showing the transferee will be managing staff or an essential function by the end of that year. The extension then asks whether that plan happened. A Shannon firm opening its first U.S. office must therefore treat the first twelve months as an evidence-gathering exercise from the day the manager lands.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Meet the three new-office conditions on paper before filing
- Write the staffing plan so the manager is a manager by month twelve
- Run the first year as the extension file
Two co-founders, one relocates: sorting L-1 from E-2 for a Shannon technology start-up
When the founder who relocates holds a minority stake, L-1 and E-2 diverge on control. L-1 treats her as an employee of the group transferring to a related U.S. entity and is indifferent to her shareholding; E-2 treats her as an investor and requires that she develop and direct the enterprise, which a minority holder shows only through governing documents. A Shannon start-up should decide which description is true before choosing, because the evidence for each is different.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish the ownership and the year of employment
- Test E-2 honestly against her control, not the company's
- Choose by outcome and by who else moves
Stepchildren, a remote job and a spouse posted elsewhere: writing a Shannon family's status plan
Each family member's route follows their own relationship to the principal, their own age and their own intended activity. A blended Shannon household needs the stepchild relationship documented, the remote-working partner's authorization resolved rather than assumed, and any family member whose location is set by another employer recorded as a fact outside the plan. The principal's category sets the options; the paperwork per person makes them real.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Prove every relationship the way the category defines it
- Resolve the spouse's remote work and note what is outside the review
- Sequence admissions and diarize the dates that end things
A Shannon physician compares EB-5 and the Gold Card on timing, family cost and what the money does
EB-5 invests qualifying capital in a job-creating enterprise, keeps it at risk through two conditional years and may return it; the Gold Card, per the official program page, is a nonrefundable processing fee and a gift with no return. Both depend on visa availability for the final step. A Shannon physician deciding between them should compare when residence realistically arrives, what each family member costs, and what happens to the money, and should reread both sets of official terms on the day of decision.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Compare the calendars, not the promises
- Price the family under each framework
- Follow the money to its end state