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 large-animal veterinarian’s TN file is decided by the state licence question, not the degree
Hypothetical example: a veterinarian at a mixed-animal practice serving farms around Sunbury-York South accepts a position with a dairy-region practice in the United States. The Veterinarian listing accepts a D.V.M., D.M.V. or equivalent degree, or a state or provincial licence, so her credential is straightforward. What decides whether she can actually start is the destination state’s veterinary licence, which TN does not replace, and the employer letter that must describe professional veterinary work rather than technician tasks. Hypothetical example: a Canadian biochemist offered a laboratory-development role must decide whether to request inspection-based admission once a complete employer letter is in hand or wait for a petition. The choice turns on the document set: the profession entry, degree, citizenship proof, job duties, and any state rule governing the laboratory function. Do not use a future licence application as though it were an issued professional credential.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assemble the credential the listing names
- Treat the state licence as a separate track with its own clock
- Decide the route and prepare for questions
A permanent resident mechanic near Sunbury-York South cannot use TN, so the citizenship application sets the timeline
Hypothetical example: a heavy-equipment mechanic in Sunbury-York South holds Canadian permanent residence, not citizenship, and is a national of a country that has no E-2 treaty with the United States. A U.S. dealer wants to hire him. TN requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship, so his PR card is irrelevant to it; E-2 depends on his own nationality, not his residence. His realistic questions are whether an intracompany transfer exists through his current employer and how the citizenship application changes the calendar. Hypothetical example: an intermodal logistics dispatcher with Canadian permanent residence is offered a U.S. role and assumes years in Canada are enough for TN. Ask whether a citizenship document exists on the intended filing date; a PR card does not answer that question. If no independent category fits, the employer must not treat a pending citizenship application as authorization to begin work.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Sort the facts before the categories
- Ask what the citizenship application will and will not change
- Use the interval honestly
Trucks that are leased are not invested: what counts when a Sunbury-York South owner-operator buys a U.S. hauling company
Hypothetical example: an owner-operator who hauls aggregate and forest products from Sunbury-York South wants to buy a small U.S. short-haul trucking company with three tractors, two of which the seller leases. E-2 counts only capital the investor has irrevocably committed and placed at risk, so leased equipment, enterprise-secured loans and uncommitted savings do not count. The file has to show how much of the real acquisition cost is his own money, and that the company will do more than pay his wages.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate owned assets, leased assets and debt
- Make the commitment irrevocable without paying blind
- Show a business that outgrows one driver
Opening a first U.S. distribution office for a Sunbury-York South fencing manufacturer: what the one-year approval demands
Hypothetical example: a company in Sunbury-York South that manufactures cedar fencing and outdoor timber products has sold into the United States through distributors and now wants its own U.S. sales office, run by its Canadian sales manager. Because the U.S. entity has been doing business for less than a year, the L-1A petition is a new-office case: approved initially for one year, with evidence of secured premises, the financial ability to start paying the manager, and a plan showing the office will support a managerial role within the year. Hypothetical example: a custom-prosthetics manufacturer wants a Canadian executive to establish an American fitting-and-distribution office. Management must assess whether it can show premises, funding, staffing capacity, and a credible first-year managerial structure before seeking approval. A draft plan is useful only when leases, corporate records, and budget assumptions support its stated milestones.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Secure the premises and the corporate structure before filing
- Write a plan that makes the role managerial by month twelve
- Keep the evidence for the extension from the first day
A greenhouse grower near Sunbury-York South decides between a corporate transfer and a personal investment by asking who will own the U.S. business
Hypothetical example: a family corporation in Sunbury-York South grows greenhouse vegetables and wants a U.S. growing operation. The owner, who has managed the Canadian company for years, could be transferred under L-1A if the Canadian corporation owns the U.S. business, or could invest personally under E-2 if she owns it herself. The question that decides the route is not which is easier but which entity will hold the U.S. shares, because that single fact determines the qualifying relationship for L-1 and the treaty nationality and control for E-2.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Draw the structure each route requires
- Weigh the practical consequences of each
- Sequence the corporate steps before the immigration steps
One transfer, four people: how a Sunbury-York South household plans around a nurse spouse and a son turning twenty-one
Hypothetical example: a Sunbury-York South household is moving because the principal has an L-1B transfer. His wife is a licensed practical nurse, their son is nineteen and starting a college program, and their daughter is seventeen. Each of them has a different immigration position: the wife is work-authorized as an L-2 spouse but needs a state nursing licence, the son will lose derivative status at twenty-one and must plan his own category, and the daughter can study in L-2 but cannot work. Planning the family means planning four files.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Give the spouse a licensing plan, not just a status
- Treat the son’s twenty-first birthday as a hard date
- Keep the principal’s clock and the family’s clocks aligned
A forestry contractor from Sunbury-York South compares putting capital into a U.S. logging operation with giving it to the U.S. government
Hypothetical example: a forestry contractor in Sunbury-York South with several harvesting crews has capital available and wants permanent residence. He could invest it directly in a U.S. logging operation that would employ at least ten workers under EB-5, or he could pay the official Gold Card processing fee and, after vetting, make the gift the program describes. The two routes use money in opposite ways: one puts it at risk in a business he must manage, the other gives it away, and each leads to a different residence process.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Understand what each dollar does
- Compare the residence each route leads to
- Sequence the money to match the route