Read the general life across the border overview
Esquimalt households should identify actual immigration relationships instead of assuming that every relative fits in one principal’s case. Two facts decide most households before any form is chosen: whether the couple is legally married, because a British Columbia common-law partnership is not by itself a marriage that creates TD, L-2 or E-2 derivative status, and whether the partner’s own occupation is one that any route covers, because a trade certificate is not a listed TN profession and TD status does not permit work.
Separate work permission from family connection
TD does not authorize employment. Qualifying E and L spouses may work incident to appropriate status with required evidence; children do not receive that spousal permission. A family relationship or pending application alone does not authorize work.
Review the immigrant family structure
Assess eligible spouse and child relationships, ages and CSPA using the actual facts. Different citizenship is not itself a general spouse bar. Immigrant-visa derivatives enter with or after the principal; adult relatives cannot simply be relabelled to avoid independent eligibility. A child generally ages out at 21 unless a rule such as CSPA preserves eligibility.
Budget for the selected structure
Two EB-5 principals need separate qualifying investment cases. Gold Card adds US$1 million plus US$15,000 nonrefundable processing for each eligible included spouse or child, including corporate cases. A household total does not settle who qualifies. Eligible children generally must be unmarried and under 21; assess any applicable CSPA protection on the individual case facts.
Hypothetical example: a naval architect, a common-law welder and a stepchild
Hypothetical example: an Esquimalt naval architect, a Canadian citizen, accepts a TN position as an engineer with a US shipyard. She lives with her common-law partner of eight years, a Red Seal welder, and his twelve-year-old daughter. The household assumes all three cross together and that he will find welding work at the same yard. None of that holds on the facts. A common-law partner is not a spouse for TD, so he has no derivative status at all unless they marry before he seeks admission; a visitor entry for a long stay is a separate question with its own limits. Even as a married TD spouse he could not work, and welding is not a listed TN profession, so an independent TN is unavailable to him. The daughter becomes her stepchild only if the marriage takes place before the child’s eighteenth birthday, which at twelve is achievable. The realistic choices are marriage followed by a TD entry with him not working, or the household living apart while she holds TN.
Records and decisions in order
Settle the marriage question first, because it changes what every other document means. If the couple marries, obtain the certificate, then the child’s birth certificate and any custody consent from the other parent for a minor travelling with a stepparent. Confirm each person’s citizenship separately: a TD applicant who is not a Canadian citizen generally needs a TD visa from a consulate before travel, while the Canadian citizen principal applies at the port of entry. If the welder needs income, compare an E-2 household structure, where a spouse is employment-authorized incident to status, against the TN plan, remembering that E-2 needs the couple’s own irrevocably committed investment in a real enterprise that they direct. Nothing about the shipyard’s interest in hiring him creates a route.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.