Filing and paying fees do not alone determine tax residence. It may already arise from U.S. presence or other rules, while permanent residence is another test. Have a tax adviser calculate relevant dates, reporting obligations, and any treaty rules before choosing a restructuring date.
Plan the transition year before the status year starts
The official description of processing in weeks is a description, not a guarantee, so build planning around events you can observe: the vetting outcome, the instruction to make the gift, the category determination, and the visa interview. If you hold separate, valid United States work authorization, that is what permits work — the pending case does not. Everything else about your company's structure belongs in the pre-status review.
Employers plan around dates, and this framework does not reliably supply one. Give the tax adviser the actual dated documents from each milestone, not a summary of when each one seemed to happen, since a reconstructed timeline is less reliable than the paperwork generated at the time. The vetting notice, the gift instruction, and any interview notice each carry a printed date that belongs in that file the moment it arrives. A status change reflected on an official document is the operative fact for calculating residence-related dates, not the date someone expected the change or was told informally to expect it. Update the adviser whenever a new document arrives rather than waiting for a single year-end review, since a date learned late can still affect an earlier period.