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.
Documenting two part-time TN offers from separate employers
Two professional employers each want part of your week. Prepare a separate record for each engagement instead of one combined description, because each one has its own duties, dates and employer. TN eligibility is assessed against a listed profession, the credentials that profession actually requires and prearranged professional employment. A single admission is not a general permission to perform work for whoever offers an assignment next, so ask which steps apply to each employer before either one is treated as settled. Responsibility here does not divide evenly. Each employer answers only for its own engagement, while you answer for the credential claim and for what you actually do across a week that neither employer sees in full.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Give each employer its own file
- Ask what each authorization actually covers
- Test the profession, credentials and ownership separately
Classifying a business meeting that turned into a job discussion
An invitation to a U.S. business meeting has become a conversation about a possible position. Before booking travel, write down the activities you actually intend to perform there and the citizenships you actually hold today. Employment is not authorized by visitor status, and a Canadian permanent resident card does not supply the citizenship that a category such as TN requires. Those two facts shape what the trip can safely include and what belongs in a separate conversation.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Write the activities down before the itinerary
- State your nationality precisely, not your residence
- Keep the steps apart and note the open questions
- Who decides what the trip becomes
Recording leased equipment in an E-2 investment file
The business intends to lease its main equipment rather than buy it, which changes what the file has to show. Do not assume that lease payments either count in full toward the investment or count for nothing at all. Record what has been legally committed, what has actually been paid, what remains a future obligation, and what the enterprise will do with the equipment, then have the signed documents reviewed rather than a summary of them.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Split the lease into committed, paid and future
- Trace the source and path of the money
- Show the operating business the equipment serves
- Who is the lessee, and who is the investor
Dating when the U.S. operation actually began doing business
The U.S. location already has customers before anything is filed. That does not have to be hidden, but it does have to be described accurately, because the date of incorporation is not the test. What matters is when the entity actually began the regular, systematic provision of goods or services, and whether the operation is properly presented as a new office. Assemble the dated evidence of first activity before anyone characterizes the filing.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Build a dated record of first activity
- Keep the corporate relationship and foreign employment separate
- Explain what the operation will support
- Who establishes when the business began
Comparing routes when the purchase could be shares or assets
The acquisition is still being negotiated and could be structured as a purchase of shares or a purchase of assets. The label on the term sheet does not decide anything about immigration status. Each structure leaves a different ownership chain, a possibly different employer of record, and a different account of employment continuity, so compare the two routes against the actual closing terms rather than against the heading. Mark which facts are still subject to negotiation.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map ownership the day after closing under each structure
- Trace employment continuity, not just the entity
- Sequence the deal and the household questions
- Deal counsel acts for the transaction, not for your status
Assembling an adopted child's records before dependent planning
The civil documents for an adopted child were issued at different times: an original birth record, a later adoption judgment, and an amended certificate that names different parents. Collect all of them with their dates rather than choosing the most recent one. Dependent eligibility is assessed individually, and one certificate may not establish all of the relationship facts the category requires. Prepare the chronology first, then ask what still needs to be established.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assemble the full chronology, not the tidiest document
- Ask for an individual assessment of this child
- Separate each dependent's planned activities
- Who is entitled to obtain each record
Explaining trust-held and personal funds before claiming availability
The financial records mix personal accounts with accounts held by a trust. Before telling anyone that the funds are available, establish who beneficially owns them, who has the authority to move them, and how they arrived where they are. There is no automatic rule that money held in a trust qualifies, and EB-5 and the Gold Card treat money differently in the first place, so the comparison starts with the accounts and not with the headline amounts.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify beneficial ownership and authority in the trust
- Build the lawful source and the path, both
- Compare the Gold Card on its own stated terms
- The trustee acts, the applicant answers