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.
Explain a professional role that includes training colleagues
A Varennes applicant’s proposed job may combine professional work with internal training. Describe what is taught and why rather than assuming that every training task belongs to a separate profession. A first review should produce a duty map, the exact profession selected, the credential record that supports it, and the employer document that describes the temporary engagement. The applicant must decide whether training is incidental to the professional assignment or whether the actual job needs a different assessment. Do not use a teaching label to bridge an unexplained duty gap. Confirm the employer’s authority, the worksite, and the start period before the professional explanation is finalized.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate subject matter from the label trainer
- Test the whole role against the listed profession
- Keep the offer and supporting examples consistent
Keep a citizenship application receipt separate from proof of citizenship
A Varennes permanent resident may be preparing a U.S. work proposal while a Canadian citizenship application remains pending. Organize the current eligibility assessment around citizenship actually held. The first review should state the passport held today, the expected citizenship event only as a future possibility, and the employer deadline that makes timing material. The applicant must decide whether to wait for documented citizenship or assess another route on facts that already exist. A predicted outcome cannot be placed in the file as current nationality evidence. Keep any new certificate or passport as a later update with its issue date, rather than changing the date on which the route was first assessed. Set a decision date before the employer commits to the start. On that date, retain the passport, permanent-resident card, offer, and any citizenship correspondence as separate records. This prevents a later certificate from being used to imply a nationality that did not exist when an earlier option was chosen.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Create two dated records
- Evaluate available routes now
- Identify what would need a later update
Separate refundable supplier credits from money actually committed to the enterprise
A Varennes investor may have paid several suppliers before an E-2 assessment. The payment list should identify what each payment purchases and whether the investor can recover it freely. A first review should produce a source-to-use ledger showing the investor, payment date, recipient, cancellation right, and proof that the enterprise received the money or benefit. The investor must decide which refundable amounts need different treatment before relying on a stated investment total. A bank debit alone does not resolve commitment, risk, or control. The schedule should also distinguish money the investor controls personally from funds belonging to the enterprise, because that distinction affects both the source analysis and the claimed exposure to loss.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the refund term beside the receipt
- Prepare a defensible capital schedule
- Test the business beyond the payment total
Use a launch responsibility chart to explain who will perform the first contracts
A Varennes company may have signed initial U.S. contracts before assigning the delivery team. The L-1 analysis needs the intended transferee’s real responsibilities and the people or resources supporting them. A first review should match every contracted deliverable to a person, a hiring date, and the transferee’s actual decision-making authority. It should also confirm the qualifying foreign employment year within the preceding three years before projecting a U.S. launch. The company must decide whether its staffing plan supports a managerial or specialized-knowledge role, rather than a personally delivered service role.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Break a contract into actual responsibilities
- Connect the chart to the appropriate new-office category
- Retain the chart’s assumptions for later comparison
Distinguish a company’s investment decision from an employee’s transfer eligibility
A Varennes business may fund a U.S. expansion while the proposed worker owns no shares. Identify whose nationality, work history and authority each possible route actually examines. The first review should create two separate evidence lists: organizational relationship, foreign employment, U.S. duties, and prior L time for the transfer; nationality, ownership, committed capital, control, and non-marginality for E-2. The business must decide which list its actual records can satisfy. Similar commercial facts do not erase L-1’s one-year foreign-employment requirement or E-2’s at-risk investment requirement.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Do not use the funding source as the category label
- Build the transfer record around employment and role
- Identify the E-2 capacity actually proposed
Keep a child’s anticipated school year separate from the dependent age deadline
A Varennes household may plan a school year that extends beyond a child’s twenty-first birthday. Establish the immigration timeline before treating the school calendar as permission to remain. A first review should place the birthday, passport expiry, I-94 end date, school term, and the principal’s status record on one timeline. The household must decide whether the dependent process can finish while the child remains eligible or whether a separate status discussion is needed. Do not treat a school’s administrative schedule as an extension of dependent status. If dates are close, obtain current advice early enough to compare lawful options before a dependent deadline passes.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Put the relevant dates on the same page
- Assess a different status before relying on it
- Do not borrow a parent’s work permission
Check whether the planned workers can count before relying on a family-run business’s payroll
A Varennes investor considering a family-run U.S. business needs a job analysis that distinguishes paid work from EB-5 qualifying employment. A useful payroll total is not automatically the required immigration job total. A first review should produce a job chart identifying every worker, hours, relationship to the investor, immigration status, and the method by which the position is claimed. It should separately identify capital at risk, the lawful source and path, and the later conditional-residence process. The investor must decide whether the staffing model can support EB-5 before treating Gold Card as a substitute.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify excluded workers without rewriting their employment history
- Test the investment independently of the family staffing plan
- Compare the government-gift route using a different checklist