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.
When the employer letter describes a project that has since changed
An employer letter drafted months ago may describe a version of a project that no longer matches the work you would actually perform. Before the letter is finalized, compare it line by line with the current duties, deliverables and timeline. Ask the employer to describe the position as it stands on the date of signature, in a dated document, rather than adjusting an older text so that it appears unchanged.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Compare the letter against the work as it now stands
- Ask for a current letter instead of a re-dated one
- Test whether the current description still fits the profession claimed
Booking travel on the passport you held before Canadian citizenship
A ticket bought under a former foreign passport is a commercial reservation, not evidence of your citizenship. Recently acquired Canadian citizenship raises two separate questions: what proof of that citizenship you can actually present, and which process fits the plan you have in mind. Becoming a citizen does not by itself approve any category, and a booking date does not set the sequence of steps.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate the booking from the proof you can present
- Keep every citizenship on the record, not only the newest
- Sequence the questions before the departure date
When the operating equipment is rented and not owned
Leased equipment sits differently in an E-2 file than equipment bought outright. Set out three things separately: what has already been paid, what the lease binds the business to pay or do, and what remains the property of the lessor. Then ask how each is treated in assessing a substantial, at-risk and committed investment. The market value of a machine you rent is not automatically an investment figure.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Set out the lease exactly as written
- Separate amounts paid, obligations committed and assets owned
- Explain the operating reason and keep the funds trail intact
When the premises agreement names a different company in the group
A new-office file often surfaces a mismatch: the premises agreement was signed by a holding or affiliate company, while a different entity would employ the transferee. That raises two separate questions. Who holds the right to occupy the space, and what qualifying relationship links the entities involved. There is no prescribed lease form to produce, so the work is to show sufficient physical premises and the relationship with the documents that actually exist.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish who may occupy the space
- Show the qualifying relationship on its own evidence
- Connect the premises to the role the office will support
An owner who hires a manager and plans short visits
Owning a U.S. business does not by itself supply either route. L-1 turns on a qualifying company relationship, your own qualifying employment abroad and the role you would fill; E-2 turns on treaty nationality, a substantial at-risk committed investment and your ability to develop and direct the enterprise. Where an external manager runs operations and you plan occasional visits, the file has to describe your actual personal role and what each planned activity requires.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe what you personally do, in detail
- Test the L-1 facts against your history, not the company's
- Treat the visits as activities to be assessed
Before converting a spouse's own status into a dependent one
Where both partners hold employment statuses of their own, moving one of them into dependent status changes what that person may do, and the change is not always simple to undo. Compare the two independent bases first, on their own facts, and record what each option would authorize. Treat the loss or retention of work rights as a decision to be assessed, not a detail that follows from whose offer arrived first.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Write down each adult's current basis separately
- Compare what each option would actually authorize
- Decide with the reversal in mind
Reconsidering after money is set aside but not yet committed
Setting funds aside is not the same as committing them. If you change your mind after reserving money, what happens next depends on the actual documents: what was reserved and where it sits, which fees were paid, and what any escrow agreement says about release and return. There is no blanket rule that everything reserved is refundable, and none that nothing ever is. Read the terms before deciding.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish what actually happened to the money
- Read the fee and escrow terms as written
- Decide the next step deliberately, not under time pressure