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.
Which record carries a TN engineer: the transcript or the licence
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour process engineer holds both a chemical-engineering degree from a Canadian university and full membership in the provincial engineering order. Engineer is listed with either credential, so the file should rely on one and support it completely rather than half-support both. The duties in the offer letter are then tested separately as engineering work, and citizenship, ownership and the entry route are confirmed before travel.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Choose the credential the officer can verify fastest
- Make the offer letter describe engineering
- Close the file with citizenship, ownership and route
A permanent resident of Canada with a French passport: which U.S. routes remain open
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour plant electrical engineer holds Canadian permanent residence and French citizenship. TN is closed, because it requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship, and a PR card cannot substitute. The employer's corporate structure may open L-1, and French nationality itself may open E-2 because France is a treaty country. Residence in Québec adds nothing to any U.S. classification; the applicant's passport and employer do all the work.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Stop treating the PR card as a credential
- Look at the employer's structure for L-1
- Consider treaty nationality for E-2
Buying a majority of an operating U.S. contractor: the E-2 evidence a founder-stays deal needs
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour maintenance contractor acquires 60% of a U.S. industrial-coatings company whose founder keeps 40% and stays as general manager. Treaty nationality and majority ownership are straightforward; the case turns on whether the shareholder agreement leaves the buyer in genuine control and whether the purchase price is irrevocably committed before the consular interview. The financial statements of the existing business carry the substantiality and marginality analysis.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Negotiate the shareholder agreement with the visa in mind
- Put the money beyond recall
- Let the target's numbers prove the business
Opening a U.S. service and sales office beside a customer's plant under the L-1 new-office rules
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour supplier of process equipment wins a service contract with a U.S. plant and wants its Canadian service manager to open a small U.S. office nearby. A new-office L-1A petition requires secured physical premises, a plan showing the office will support a managerial position within one year and proof the U.S. entity is owned by the Canadian company. Approval is limited to one year, and the extension turns on evidence the office is actually doing business by then.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Form the entity and sign the lease first
- Show the manager will manage within a year
- Prepare for the one-year extension from day one
Transfer as the plant's manager or buy into the U.S. distributor: reading the same career two ways
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour operations manager for a Canadian industrial-supply company has two proposals on the table. Her employer could transfer her to run its U.S. subsidiary under L-1A. Alternatively, she could leave and buy a controlling stake in an unrelated U.S. distributor with her own savings under E-2. The proposals look like a career choice; legally they are two different sets of facts, and the manager should identify which set she can actually prove before choosing.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- L-1A follows the employer's structure and her record
- E-2 follows her nationality and her money
- Compare the fact you can prove, not the outcome you prefer
Two engineers, one nurse's licence and a son turning 21: planning each family member's own route
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour family plans to follow a chemical engineer to a U.S. plant under TN. The spouse is a registered nurse who intends to work, and the son is 20. Three people, three questions: the engineer's TN depends on citizenship and profession; the nurse cannot work in TD and needs her own TN; the son loses TD at 21 and needs his own route. Planning them together prevents an arrival that authorizes one person and strands two.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The nurse needs a file that starts before the engineer's
- The son's age is a deadline, not a detail
- Confirm citizenship, records and ages for everyone
Share-sale proceeds toward EB-5 or a Gold Card gift: what each dollar is for
Hypothetical example: a Bécancour owner who has sold his industrial-supply firm can place US$800,000 or more at risk in an EB-5 project or make the Gold Card gift under the official terms. The amounts look comparable; the money's purpose is not. EB-5 capital is an investment that must create ten jobs and may be returned. The Gold Card gift goes to the U.S. government and is not returned. Choose by what each program requires and delivers, not by which cheque is smaller.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- EB-5: capital at risk that must produce jobs
- Gold Card: a gift under terms that must be re-verified
- Decide on requirements, sequence and reversibility