The development-and-direction analysis is not answered by an attendance number alone. Review the actual time away, decisions retained, delegation and operating needs alongside the investor’s status and travel documents. A real control structure matters, but do not treat remote management as a blanket substitute for evaluating the proposed pattern.
Define control, then describe your travel pattern
Treaty eligibility comes from citizenship, so living in Calixa-Lavallée neither grants nor removes it, and Canadian citizens generally need an E visa. At least half the enterprise must be owned by treaty nationals. Note one point that surprises owners: owning the company does not by itself authorize you to perform work in the United States — the authorization comes from your status and its terms, which is exactly what repeated absences can put in question.
The treaty-investor rules ask whether the applicant has placed capital at risk in a commercial sense with the objective of generating a profit, and whether the funds are irrevocably committed. Nonmarginality requires more than minimal investor-family support or the applicable significant economic contribution; neither one customer nor a large printed amount automatically resolves it. Fifty percent or more creates a presumption of control, which the shareholders' agreement can rebut if the minority partner holds vetoes over ordinary decisions or if unanimity is required.