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 French-language credential with an English-language TN qualification claim
An Ottawa applicant whose degree, transcript or professional licence was issued in French, whether from a Quebec institution, a Quebec ordre professionnel, or a bilingual Ontario program, still needs to show the specific listed-profession requirement in a form a U.S. reviewer can verify. Identify the exact credential and, separately, whatever certified translation or evaluation the process requires, rather than assuming a bilingual resume resolves the qualification question.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the credential in its issuing language first
- Match the credential to the listed profession's specific rule
- Commission translation only once the requirement is known
Separate citizenship, sponsorship status and Canadian permanent residence in a binational Ottawa household
An Ottawa household connected to the National Capital Region's federal, diplomatic or bilingual employment sectors may include a partner who is a Canadian citizen and also holds a second citizenship such as French citizenship, alongside a partner with a different Canadian immigration status. Each of these facts needs its own documentation before any U.S. route is assessed, since dual citizenship and a pending Canadian sponsorship raise different, unrelated questions.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Record every citizenship separately from Canadian status
- Treat a second citizenship as a possible separate pathway
- Confirm the Canadian sponsorship timeline separately from any U.S. plan
Document mixed public and personal financing sources before calling them an E-2 investment
An Ottawa-area investor funding a U.S. enterprise, particularly one connected to a local research spin-off, may combine personal savings, a matured registered account, and a provincial or federal innovation-support loan or grant tied to the underlying technology. Each source needs its own path-of-funds documentation, and a support program tied to the Canadian side of the technology does not by itself establish that the resulting capital is a qualifying E-2 investment in the U.S. enterprise.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate innovation-support funding from the investor's own committed capital
- Trace a matured registered account into the investment
- Explain the enterprise's own commercial activity apart from the underlying research
Anchor a new-office plan to a specific client relationship rather than a general market forecast
For an L-1A new office, the initial proposal must explain an operation capable of supporting a managerial or executive role within one year of approval. When an Ottawa-based contractor's U.S. office plan depends on a specific anchor client relationship, for example a services or supply contract that has been proposed but not yet awarded, keep that contract's actual status distinct from the staffing and operational forecast built around it.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- State the contract's actual status, not its expected outcome
- Separate the office's committed resources from the contract-contingent plan
- Update the extension record with the contract's real outcome
- Check the new-office eligibility behind the plan
Compare a telecom-sector transfer and an unrelated business purchase without borrowing facts between them
An Ottawa telecommunications-equipment employee may have both an internal transfer opportunity within their current multinational employer's U.S. affiliate and a separate, personal opportunity to acquire an unrelated small U.S. manufacturing business. Assess the intracompany transfer under L-1 using the actual employer relationship and role, and assess the acquisition under E-2 using the actual ownership, funding and enterprise facts, without treating professional success in one context as evidence supporting the other.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm the actual corporate relationship for the transfer option
- Assess the acquisition on its own ownership and funding facts
- Keep the household decision tied to both sets of real conditions
Coordinate a federal public servant's leave terms with the household's U.S. immigration plan
An Ottawa household where one member works in the federal public service should treat that employer's own leave, secondment or resignation rules as a separate track from the immigration plan. A department's willingness to grant leave without pay or an interchange arrangement, and the terms of any applicable collective agreement, need their own confirmation before the household relies on a specific relocation date.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm the departmental leave or secondment terms directly
- Plan school continuity as a household logistics question, not a status question
- Identify the consequence of a leave request being denied or delayed
- Check permission before planning the spouse’s work
Weigh EB-5 project risk against the Gold Card gift using the household's actual risk tolerance
EB-5 and Gold Card involve different financial exposures that should be measured against the household's own circumstances, including whether a household member holds a federal defined-benefit pension or other stable income that affects how much investment risk the family can reasonably absorb. Neither the EB-5 investment nor the Gold Card gift should be selected primarily because of its advertised immigration outcome without an honest look at what each actually risks financially.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Model the EB-5 project's realistic downside
- Treat the Gold Card gift as a noncommercial commitment
- Match the timeline to the household's actual flexibility
- Compare the current commitments and immigration conditions
- Distinguish corporate costs and the residence stage