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 pharmacist's TN depends on the state licence, so that application has to start first
The USMCA list includes pharmacist, satisfied by a baccalaureate or licenciatura degree or a state or provincial licence, but a U.S. pharmacy will not employ someone who cannot lawfully dispense there. For a New Maryland pharmacist, the sequence is state licensure first, employer letter second, port of entry or Form I-129 third, because the letter cannot honestly describe a pharmacist role until the licence exists or is imminent. The practical decision is whether the record proves the offered work before a travel date is chosen. Start by creating a one-page index that links the profession, duties, qualification, citizenship, employer authority, and any licence question to its supporting document. Hypothetical example: a respiratory therapist receives an offer whose title is correct but whose duty list includes unrelated clinic administration. The applicant asks the employer to separate the professional treatment duties from general administration before relying on the letter.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start the state board process before the offer is finalized
- Have the letter describe the pharmacist work and the licence status
- Choose the procedure and settle the family before resigning
When one spouse is a permanent resident, the household plan has to be built on two separate eligibilities
A Canadian permanent resident is not a Canadian citizen for U.S. immigration purposes and cannot use TN, which requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship. A citizen spouse's TN does not lift that bar. A New Maryland household with one citizen and one permanent resident should sequence the citizen's application, the permanent resident's own route if any, and the PR residency obligation as three parallel tracks with different clocks. The core decision is which status each person actually holds and which status is relevant to the intended U.S. category. A permanent resident card, a citizenship certificate, a foreign passport, and a parent's proof can answer different questions. Hypothetical example: a refrigeration mechanic has a Canadian PR card, a French passport, and a parent who became Canadian after the mechanic was born. The review does not assume citizenship; it first identifies the documentary route that establishes the person's present nationality.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish who can do what, from documents
- Sequence the permanent resident's own options
- Watch the PR residency obligation and the children's status
Franchise fees, build-out and working capital count differently when a fitness-studio franchise is the E-2 enterprise
A franchise can support E-2, but the investor must still commit substantial funds irrevocably, the studio must be a real operating enterprise that is more than marginal, and the investor must develop and direct it despite the franchisor's system. A New Maryland investor should list each outlay, decide which are committed and at risk, and sequence the franchise agreement, the lease and the application so the money is at risk before the interview without being lost if approval fails. The decision is not simply how much to spend; it is which payments genuinely place capital at commercial risk in a real operating venture and which remain personal or refundable. A payment ledger should identify the payee, contract, purpose, refund term, and business asset received. Hypothetical example: a hearing-aid dispenser plans a storefront, equipment lease, and advertising campaign. The reviewer separates the refundable security deposit from equipment already ordered under a binding agreement, then tests the business forecast against staffing and revenue assumptions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Classify each outlay
- Sequence the commitments around the decision
- Prove that she runs it and that it will employ others
An accounting-software firm's first U.S. office needs a lease, a plan and a year-one hiring schedule before the petition
A new-office L-1 petition is approved for one year and requires secured premises, a qualifying relationship between the Canadian company and the U.S. entity, and evidence that the office will support a managerial or executive role within that year. A New Maryland accounting-software firm should incorporate, lease and plan first, transfer its executive second, and record the year's progress from the first week because the extension will be judged on what actually happened. The decisive question is whether the new U.S. operation has a credible plan to support the claimed L-category role after its initial launch period. The file should link premises, capitalization, hiring, sales, and reporting structure to dates. Hypothetical example: a laboratory-supplies distributor opens a small U.S. office and sends its operations director to start it. The company must decide whether the first-year plan shows the director building a team or merely performing every operational task personally.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Incorporate, lease and capitalize before filing
- Write the plan around the role the office will need
- Run the year as if the extension were already being written
An IT-consultancy owner with sixty percent of the shares must decide whether the Canadian company stays the headquarters
Majority ownership fits both routes: for L-1 the owner's Canadian company can own a U.S. subsidiary and transfer him, and for E-2 his sixty percent means he develops and directs a Canadian-owned enterprise. The deciding question for a New Maryland consultancy owner is whether the Canadian company will continue operating as the parent, which L-1 requires throughout, or whether the U.S. business will become the main enterprise, which points toward E-2. The real choice is which factual foundation the business can prove: a qualifying corporate relationship and foreign employment history, or treaty nationality, ownership, a committed investment, and personal direction of the venture. Build both evidence maps before selecting a route. Hypothetical example: a commercial-signage company has a Canadian parent, a newly funded U.S. affiliate, and a founder who may either transfer as an executive or invest personally. The owners need to decide which structure they will actually maintain, not describe both as interchangeable.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Lay out the ownership and the employment year
- Test the same facts against E-2
- Decide by where the business will live in five years
A child who will turn 21 mid-assignment changes the order of the family's steps
Dependant eligibility for TD, L-2 and E-2 children ends at 21, and no extension of the parent's status keeps a child who has aged out. A New Maryland family whose child is 20 should sequence the move around that date: decide whether the child comes at all, plan the child's own route before the birthday, and record the dates that any later immigrant filing would use under the Child Status Protection Act. The family decision should start with separate timelines for the principal, spouse, and every child. Record passports, civil documents, age milestones, prior status, planned travel, school, and work goals in one place, then choose a sequence that does not make one person's deadline invisible. Hypothetical example: a cardiovascular technologist plans a transfer while a spouse is awaiting a corrected passport and a child is applying to a boarding school. The household decides whether the principal travels first after confirming the dependent records needed later.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Fix the dates and the child's own facts
- Sequence the rest of the family around him
- Preserve the dates for any later permanent filing
Proceeds from selling a dental practice can fund EB-5 or a Gold Card gift, and the sequence differs for each
EB-5 needs the practice-sale proceeds traced, placed at risk in a job-creating enterprise and sustained through two years of conditional residence; the Gold Card, under the official framework, needs a gift to the U.S. government and a nonrefundable processing fee, with residence through designated employment-based categories. A New Maryland dentist should trace the funds first, then decide on the outcome wanted, then re-verify the Gold Card's official terms before any transfer. The decision is between two very different financial and immigration frameworks, so the first comparison should separate capital exposed to an enterprise from an official gift payment made by the applicant. Trace the available funds before choosing either path. Hypothetical example: a marine-canvas manufacturer has cash from a business sale and a deferred final payment. The owner decides whether the available cash can support a qualifying enterprise investment now or whether the official-payment route's current terms and evidence burden are the better fit.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Trace the sale before choosing
- Compare the two routes on what they demand
- Decide on the outcome, then re-verify and sequence the money