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.
Document a TN offer that assumes a schedule the applicant hasn't actually agreed to
A rural applicant's offer may assume full relocation without ever asking whether that matches the applicant's actual plan. Confirm the position, the credential, and the citizenship evidence exactly as anyone else would, and separately confirm what schedule or presence the employer actually expects, so the file describes the real arrangement rather than an assumed one.
Hypothetical example: an offer to a Strathroy-Caradoc applicant assumes daily on-site presence, while the applicant has not decided whether to sell a local property or commute periodically. Ask the employer directly what presence is actually required, and record the answer rather than leaving it implied.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm the assumed schedule explicitly
- Apply the standard credential rule without modification
- Disclose any property or business staying active
Do not let a single family address stand in for everyone's actual citizenship
A multi-generation Strathroy-Caradoc family living on the same farm or property can still include several distinct citizenships and immigration histories. Record each adult's actual citizenship and status, and each proposed U.S. activity, before assuming a shared rural address means a shared set of options.
Hypothetical example: a household includes a Canadian citizen, a permanent-resident spouse and an adult child with a pending citizenship process. Record citizenship actually held, including any citizenship already acquired by descent, rather than treating a pending application as proof. TN principals need Canadian or Mexican citizenship; E-2 principals need the relevant treaty nationality. Derivative family eligibility has its own relationship and status rules and does not require every dependent to share the principal’s nationality.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- List citizenship by person, not by household
- Treat farm succession and immigration planning as related but separate
- Confirm procedure and obligations for each person specifically
Keep a farm-sale funding trail and the U.S. business review on separate tracks
When a Strathroy-Caradoc land or agribusiness sale is the intended source of E-2 capital, trace the sale itself as its own dated history, then review the U.S. enterprise on its own operating and control facts. A locally well-documented sale does not, by itself, establish that the resulting U.S. business meets the substantiality or non-marginality requirements.
Hypothetical example: a farm sale includes a holdback tied to a future condition, such as a rezoning approval. Confirm exactly when those funds actually become available before treating them as committed E-2 capital, and coordinate that timeline with any escrow terms on the U.S. side.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the sale's own conditions before assuming funds are ready
- Separate the sale's paper trail from the enterprise's paper trail
- Judge the enterprise on its own operations, not the sale's size
Do not let a family business's local reputation substitute for new-office evidence
An L-1A new-office proposal must support a prospective managerial or executive role within one year of approval. It does not require a completed year of U.S. operations before the initial petition. Separate the Ontario company’s reputation from evidence of the resources and actual role planned for the U.S. operation.
Identify secured premises, available funding and staffing for the U.S. operation. The parent’s resources can support this assessment, but reputation alone cannot. A new office has been doing business in the United States for less than one year; initial approval is limited to one year. Establish the qualifying relationship, continuing business in both countries, and the applicant’s continuous full-time managerial or executive foreign year within the relevant three years.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Document the new office's own resources, not the Ontario business's history
- Track changes honestly as the new office actually develops
- Prepare the extension around the real U.S. operation
Weigh transferring a family operation against buying an unrelated U.S. business
A Strathroy-Caradoc family business owner might consider either an L-1 transfer to a related U.S. operation or an E-2 purchase of an unrelated American business, sometimes funded by the same family assets. Build each proposal out fully on its own facts, since a family relationship in one option does not carry over to the other.
Hypothetical example: a family business is deciding between opening a U.S. branch of its existing Ontario operation and instead buying an independent U.S. company with proceeds from a farm sale. Map the ownership structure for each option — the branch option needs a qualifying corporate relationship; the independent purchase needs its own investor and enterprise review with no existing corporate tie to rely on.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Distinguish a related transfer from an unrelated purchase clearly
- Describe the applicant's actual proposed duties for each option
- Compare family and financial consequences honestly
Plan for a household that may split between an Ontario farm and a U.S. move
A Strathroy-Caradoc family weighing a U.S. opportunity alongside an ongoing farm or rural business often needs a plan where household members follow genuinely different paths, not a single shared timeline. Record each person's citizenship, role in the farm or business, and intended U.S. activity separately before assuming everyone relocates together on the same schedule.
Hypothetical example: one spouse pursues a U.S. professional opportunity while the other remains in Strathroy-Caradoc to manage the farm during a transition period. Document that arrangement plainly, including how long it is expected to last and what would trigger a reassessment, rather than treating it as a temporary detail outside the immigration plan. For TD, E or L dependents, assess the qualifying spouse and unmarried children under 21 individually. TD does not authorize employment; qualifying E and L spouses are authorized incident to valid qualifying status with appropriate evidence, while children do not gain work authorization through that dependent status.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Decide who actually travels and who actually stays
- Address children's schooling against the farm's own calendar
- Reassess the plan if farm or family circumstances change
Compare a farm-funded EB-5 investment against a farm-funded Gold Card gift honestly
A Strathroy-Caradoc family considering funding either an EB-5 investment or a Gold Card gift from farm or business-sale proceeds is choosing between two different legal and financial commitments, not two prices for the same result. Compare the job-creation and commercial-risk evidence EB-5 requires against the gift, fee, and eligibility terms the official Gold Card FAQ describes, using the family's actual net sale proceeds in each calculation.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Match each route's actual requirement to the family's real assets
- Weigh commercial risk against the gift's own conditions
- Confirm current terms for whichever path is chosen