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.
Concurrent consulting projects need an honest experience timeline
An applicant relying on the management-consultant experience route should show when the qualifying work actually occurred. Several projects performed at the same time are not separate calendar periods. Organize the evidence so the reviewer can assess its duration and relevance without guessing from a project count. Establish the order of proof before the arithmetic. What the engaging U.S. company has offered — the consulting agreement, its scope and its duration — defines which specialty the experience must relate to; only then does it become clear which past projects count and which are simply work you have done. Ask for that document first.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map dates and duties before adding up experience
- Use the actual management-consultant alternatives
- Prepare the supporting records for the chosen route
- Sequence: what the engaging company settles first
Country of birth and current citizenship should not be entered as the same fact
An applicant’s birth country may differ from the country that recognizes them as a citizen today. Record both accurately when asked. For TN and treaty-nationality analysis, a Canadian address or a birthplace is not a substitute for evidence of the citizenship actually held. Order the verification before the route. Citizenship is a fact to be evidenced, not inferred, and the document that settles it — a passport, a citizenship certificate, a naturalisation record — is obtained from an authority on its own schedule. Start that request first, because every later step depends on the answer. Nothing downstream can be corrected without it, and the wait is rarely short.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Correct the nationality assumption before choosing a route
- Identify which fact each question requests
- Prepare the procedure for the verified citizenship
- What the employer settles once the citizenship is proved
A U.S. bank balance needs a documented business purpose and commitment
Transferring money into an American business account is one event in a funding plan. It does not automatically establish that the entire balance is qualifying E-2 investment capital. Explain what is committed, what remains available for a future decision and how the funds support the actual operation. Order the events so each one makes the next provable. The enterprise is identified, the agreement is signed, the obligation arises, and the funds move against that obligation. Money transferred before an enterprise exists is money in an account; the same money transferred against a signed commitment is capital moving into a business, and the difference is visible in the documents rather than in the balance.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the obligations behind the balance
- Review working capital on the actual facts
- Keep the movement of funds understandable
- Stages the business must reach before a balance means anything
Intragroup invoices should explain the services actually provided
A new U.S. operation may initially serve another company in its group. Document what services are performed and by whom rather than treating transfers between related accounts as self-explanatory business activity. The file should distinguish real operations from the movement of funds alone. Sequence this from the group outward. The parent decides what the U.S. entity is for, contracts for it, and staffs it; the transferee’s role only becomes assessable once those decisions exist as documents. An invoice is the last step in that chain, not evidence of the ones before it.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe the work behind each invoice
- Connect the operation to the transferee’s role
- Keep the qualifying structure and history distinct
- The order a new office is built in
Two founders can need different individual eligibility analyses
One founder may have the foreign-employment history while another provides most of the capital. Do not combine their facts into a single imaginary applicant. Compare the role and evidence for each person under the route actually being considered. Decide the entity questions before the founder questions. Which company employs whom, which company owns what, and which company the U.S. operation is related to are all answered from corporate records, and those answers determine which route is even available to each founder. Personal history is assessed against that structure, not before it. Ask for the share register and the employment records first.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Make one record for each founder
- Apply the conditions to the right person and entity
- Coordinate responsibilities after the review
- Order the structural decisions before the personal ones
Receiving business income and performing business work are different questions for a TD spouse
A spouse may own an interest in a Canadian business and expect income after moving to the United States. Identify what the spouse would actually do, not only where payments originate. Ownership or a payment label does not answer whether planned activities amount to work requiring authorization. Sort the questions by who can answer them. The Canadian business decides what it needs done and by whom, and it can reassign duties or appoint someone else; the spouse’s status decides what that person may do while in the United States. Settle the first with the company before asking counsel about the second, because the answer depends on the duties as they will actually stand.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate the income record from the activity record
- Apply the status actually held
- Plan the business responsibilities before travel
- What the business completes before the move
Insurance proceeds may carry obligations that a funding summary omits
An insurance payment may compensate for an asset loss while remaining subject to conditions or another party’s rights. Identify the entitlement, payment and obligations before treating the amount as available immigration funding. The reason a payment was made is part of the source explanation. Establish the entitlement before the amount. Who was insured, who is named on the policy, whether a lender or co-owner has an interest, and what the settlement required in return are all questions the insurer and the other parties answer, and they are answered from documents rather than from the deposit. A figure entered into a funding summary before those are settled is provisional even where the money has cleared.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the claim settlement with the ownership record
- Document the funds actually proposed for EB-5
- Keep Gold Card and financial advice separate but coordinated
- Clear the obligations before choosing between the routes