Read the general eligibility basics overview
An L’Île-Cadieux family may have different citizenships across parents and children. Identify each person’s actual nationality and intended category rather than using the principal’s passport as a description of everyone. Documents expire on their own schedules, and a household's schedules are rarely aligned. Before travel is booked, list each person's passport and its expiry, together with any application already pending for a renewal or a citizenship certificate, then work out which of those dates falls inside the intended period abroad.
Establish the principal’s actual basis
Canadian permanent residence is not Canadian citizenship. TN requires the principal to be Canadian or Mexican and meet the professional requirements. A spouse’s or child’s citizenship does not automatically establish that condition for the applicant. Citizenship evidence carries a timeline of its own. Where the principal holds permanent residence and has applied for citizenship, the stage of that application matters and the grant date is the only date that changes the analysis, since an application in progress does not satisfy a citizenship condition. Ask what the plan would be if the grant arrives after the intended start, and build the schedule on the assumption that it does.
Assess the proposed route and dependent process separately
L requires qualifying employment, related companies and an appropriate U.S. role with continuing international business. E-2 requires relevant treaty nationality and qualifying ownership, investment and direction. Dependents need their own relationship and process assessment; they do not necessarily share the principal’s visa-document requirements.
Prepare an individual record for each traveller
Hypothetical example: one parent has renewed a passport while a child’s document remains pending. Record the actual status and available evidence for each. A joint booking, common surname or Canadian home does not resolve every identity, nationality or admission question.
Build one expiry table for the whole household
Make a single table with a row for each traveller and a column for every date that matters: passport number and expiry, citizenship evidence and its status, any pending renewal with the date it was filed, and the period the family expects to spend in the United States. What the table exposes is its value. A passport expiring partway through an intended stay is a problem to solve before departure rather than at a counter, and a renewal filed for one family member moves nobody else's date. Where a child's document is pending, ask the issuing authority what its current processing looks like and treat that answer as the household's earliest realistic travel date rather than an inconvenience to work around. Keep the table current, because these dates change: a renewed passport carries a new number, and documents referring to the old one need reconciling rather than quiet replacement. Set a reminder to re-check the table each time a date on it moves, since one changed document usually forces a second look at the rest of the row.
What else is on your mind?
Does Canadian permanent residence give me access to TN?Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.