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.
Five questions to put to a U.S. employer before an agronomist's TN file is written
Hypothetical example: an agronomist from Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel has a degree that plainly meets the Agriculturist entry and an offer whose title, territory agronomist, could describe either professional advice or seed sales. The credential is not the problem; the duties are. Before any letter is drafted, five written questions to the employer settle what the job is, and their answers become the support letter. A file built that way survives the port of entry because the applicant and the employer describe the same work.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The five questions and why each matters
- Turn the answers into the letter and the package
- Prepare the applicant, not only the paper
A Mexican citizen with Canadian permanent residence: TN is open, but the route runs through a consulate
Hypothetical example: a veterinarian living in Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel is a Mexican citizen with Canadian permanent residence and a Canadian-citizen spouse. TN is available to Mexican citizens on the same professional list, so the offer from a U.S. dairy practice can be pursued. Canadian permanent residence adds nothing and takes nothing away. What differs is procedure: a Mexican citizen obtains a TN visa at a U.S. consulate rather than at the port of entry.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Citizenship, not residence, opens the door
- Follow the consular procedure
- Bring the family through the same door
Buying a U.S. HVAC service franchise: assembling the E-2 file from the franchise disclosure document outward
Hypothetical example: a plumbing-and-heating contractor from Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel is committing to a U.S. residential HVAC franchise. The franchisor's documents, the buyer's bank records and the state licensing board's answers supply almost all of the E-2 evidence. The file must show which payments are irrevocably at risk, that projected finances demonstrate capacity for more than a minimal living or a significant economic contribution, and that the business can lawfully perform a licensed trade from the day it opens.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the disclosure document as an investment schedule
- Build the marginality case from the territory
- Settle the licence and the sequence
A cross-border carrier opening its first U.S. terminal: what the new-office L-1A actually requires
Hypothetical example: a trucking company from Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel that has used a U.S. partner's yard for years decides to open its own terminal and send its operations manager to run it. Because the U.S. entity has not been doing business for a year, this is a new-office petition: secured premises, a plan showing a managerial role within twelve months, proof of ownership and the manager's own qualifying year abroad. Approval is for one year; the extension turns on what the terminal has done.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Create the entity and secure the yard before filing
- Write a staffing plan that makes the manager a manager
- Run the first year for the extension
A minority co-owner of a family carrier: transfer to the U.S. terminal or buy a small U.S. fleet
Hypothetical example: a co-owner holding 30% of a family trucking company in Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel could be transferred to run its U.S. terminal under L-1A, or could use his own savings to buy a small U.S. carrier under E-2. His stake in the Canadian company decides neither case. L-1A depends on the corporate relationship and his managerial year; E-2 on his citizenship, his money at risk and his control of the business he buys.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- L-1A: the stake does not disqualify him, and it does not help him
- E-2: his money and his control of a different business
- Choose by which evidence exists, then keep the routes apart
A long-haul driver's household: the spouse who wants to work, the 17-year-old and the 20-year-old
Hypothetical example: a Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel household is moving because the trucking company is sending the principal to its U.S. terminal under L-1A. The spouse, a bookkeeper, wants to work. One child is 17; the other is 20 and studying. Each position is different: the L-2 spouse may work, the 17-year-old may study, and the 20-year-old loses derivative status at 21 and needs his own plan before the family leaves.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The spouse: authorized to work, but check the record
- The 17-year-old: study now, plan for 21
- The 20-year-old: a plan that starts before departure
Farm proceeds into a U.S. business or into a government gift: a retired owner weighs EB-5 against the Gold Card
Hypothetical example: a retired owner from Notre-Dame-du-Mont-Carmel holds proceeds from farmland and a trucking company and wants U.S. residence for herself and her husband. EB-5 would put US$800,000 or US$1,050,000 to work in a business that must create ten jobs, with the capital possibly returned. Gold Card would send a US$1 million gift per person to the U.S. government after a nonrefundable fee and vetting, with nothing returned. The choice is about risk, work and reversibility.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- EB-5 asks for a business and ten jobs
- Gold Card asks for a fee, vetting and a gift
- Decide on what each requires from a retiree