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.
Reconcile a public job advertisement with the position actually offered
A Saint-Constant applicant may find that the employer’s recruiting advertisement describes a broader role than the final offer. Explain the real professional position rather than treating either document as automatically controlling the TN assessment.
Record the duties, employer, compensation and intended duration the employer actually proposes. Hypothetical example: an advertisement covers several possible assignments, but the applicant receives a specific professional offer. Preserve the authentic records and have the employer explain the actual scope instead of silently deleting a relevant contradiction. Record where each version came from and when: the date the advertisement was published, the date the offer was issued, and the date any clarification was signed. A sequence with dates can be explained; a folder of undated printouts cannot, and the explanation is what the file exists to provide.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the actual offer and any material discrepancy
- Test the work against the listed profession
- Keep ownership and temporary work accurately described
- The one document that decides which version of the job counts
Assess a Mexican citizen’s TN proposal on actual citizenship rather than Canadian residence alone
A Saint-Constant permanent resident may be a Mexican citizen. TN nationality eligibility is not limited to Canadian citizens, but the applicable documentation and professional conditions must still be assessed for the actual applicant.
Canadian permanent residence is not Canadian citizenship. TN can concern eligible Canadian or Mexican citizens with the listed professional qualifications and arrangement. Record the actual Mexican citizenship evidence rather than misdescribing Canadian residence as the nationality basis.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the citizenship that supports the proposed category
- Keep the process specific to the person
- Compare another route only through its own conditions
- Which document proves nationality, and which one only proves residence
Check treaty ownership when several people fund the same enterprise
A Saint-Constant investor may join a venture with co-investors of different nationalities. Separate the source of the money from the actual ownership and control after the transaction; total funding alone does not establish treaty nationality.
Identify the owners, nationalities, interests and governing rights after the proposed investment. E-2 generally requires at least 50% relevant treaty-national enterprise ownership, and the applicant must develop and direct through qualifying control. A co-investor’s larger payment is not by itself a complete statement of ownership or decision rights.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Build the actual ownership record
- Trace each relevant funding transaction
- Keep the enterprise’s economic conditions complete
- Where ownership is actually recorded, and where it only appears to be
Explain which support staff will actually perform the new operation’s routine work
A Saint-Constant group may propose a U.S. manager who will rely partly on people elsewhere in the organization. Describe the real support and responsibilities rather than assuming that a list of remote staff automatically establishes the managerial role.
For L-1A, the U.S. role must be primarily managerial or executive. Explain who performs the underlying tasks and what authority the transferee exercises. A function manager manages an essential function rather than merely performing it. Support should be described as it actually exists, without inventing a headcount or treating a foreign staff list as the whole analysis. Write the transferee's own week beside that plan: the recurring decisions they will make, the approvals needing their signature, and the tasks they would perform only if nobody else were available. That last list is the one to scrutinise, because a role built mostly out of it is being described as managerial while functioning as something else.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the work and the people responsible for it
- Retain the new-office criteria
- Keep the organization and later evidence connected
- The staffing document that answers the managerial question
Compare the ownership of both companies with the applicant’s own control
A Saint-Constant applicant may hold an interest in the U.S. venture while the foreign employer has a different ownership structure. Establish the actual L relationship and E-2 authority separately rather than assuming one shareholding proves both.
L needs a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship through the actual corporate facts and required international business. General L also needs the applicant’s qualifying continuous foreign year within the relevant three years in managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge work and an independently qualifying U.S. role. A personal interest in one company does not alone establish the relationship between both.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map the qualifying L organization
- Map the investor’s E-2 rights
- Retain the launch and owner evidence where applicable
- Read the agreement that allocates control, not the percentage
Identify the relationship that will actually support the dependent application
A Saint-Constant household may be planning a relationship milestone alongside a U.S. move. Record the genuine relationship and available evidence at the relevant stage rather than presenting an expected future event as already completed.
TD, E and L dependent planning generally concerns the qualifying spouse and unmarried children under 21. Identify the actual relationship, citizenship and documents for each intended applicant. A planned ceremony or shared address does not itself establish that the relevant spouse condition has already been met.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Keep the qualifying relationship and child conditions explicit
- Do not attach work permission to the family’s timetable
- Track individual stay, study and age questions
- The certificate that establishes the relationship, and what to do before it exists
Separate a commercial exit proposal from the immigration conditions that still apply
A Saint-Constant applicant may be shown an investment exit or repayment scenario while comparing EB-5 and Gold Card. Read what the actual agreement says without treating a projected financial event as a promised immigration result.
Current capital is US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted-employment-area or infrastructure case, with adjustments from January 1, 2027 under petition-filing-date rules. Lawful source and path, capital at risk, ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor under the applicable framework and management or policy participation remain required. Have actual repayment or exit rights assessed rather than assuming a presentation’s projected return preserves eligibility.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Retain EB-5 capital at risk and the full case conditions
- Keep the residence and conditions milestones separate
- Recognize Gold Card as the official gift route
- Read each proposed outcome against its actual document
- Separate the enforceable term from the projection beside it