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 the proposed US work even when the relationship is familiar
Highlands applicants moving an existing work arrangement from Canada should identify the actual US engagement and the permission it requires. For health professions, one document decides more than the offer does. A medical laboratory technologist, like a nurse, is subject to the health-care worker certification requirement at admission, so the applicant must decide to start that certification well before accepting a start date.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- State the current proposal
- Apply TN requirements
- Review ownership and procedure
- Hypothetical example: a laboratory technologist’s certification
- Remaining conditions to keep straight
Keep residence history and US permission distinct
A Highlands resident may have an established Canadian career or a pending US immigrant case. Each status and event should be described for what it actually establishes. A useful first review produces a table with one row for citizenship, Canadian immigration status, US work authority, the proposed activity and the document that proves each item. The concrete decision is whether the person can use a particular US route now, needs an employer-led filing or should wait for a different status. Canadian residence evidence can be important in its own setting, but it cannot be used as a substitute for the citizenship, qualifying employment, investment or immigrant classification evidence a US category requires.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the TN citizenship rule
- Assess actual corporate and enterprise facts
- Identify the residence milestone
Read owner compensation in the enterprise’s full economic picture
Highlands investors should explain business capacity and retained funds without treating the owner’s chosen salary as the only nonmarginality measure.
Identify actual results, costs, staffing and supported prospective contribution. Retained earnings need an accurate account of their purpose rather than an unsupported claim that growth will occur.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Use relevant operating evidence
- Apply the complete investor framework
- Respect the applicable economic timing
- Hypothetical example: a small-engine repair shop that pays its owner little on purpose
- Which document decides the economic picture
- Sequence the renewal around the reinvestment
Keep the qualifying group current after a foreign transaction
A Highlands company should explain the actual relationship and continuing business after selling part of an operation, alongside the proposed US office. A different problem arises before the office question: which twelve months count as the continuous year abroad. Time spent in the United States, even on business visits for the same employer, does not count toward it, so the transferee must decide which year to rely on and document it.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the effective group
- Support the applicant’s role
- Meet the first-year conditions
- Hypothetical example: business trips and a leave inside the qualifying year
- Sequence the record
Compare the current corporate group with the operating enterprise
Highlands applicants should review effective business facts whether transferring within a group or directing an investment enterprise. The decision that most affects a long-term plan is what each route leads to. E-2 has no direct path to permanent residence; L-1A can position a manager who continues in a multinational managerial role for a later immigrant category. Decide whether the goal is a posting or permanent residence before choosing.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Review the transfer after changes
- Review the investor’s complete business case
- Preserve the actual history
- Hypothetical example: a restoration contractor’s subsidiary or a purchased firm
- Questions to settle first
Track each person’s actual status through the process
Highlands households should separate familiar work arrangements, petition decisions and case administration from the permission each person holds. Citizenship decides procedure even when status is the same. A Canadian citizen principal applies for TN at the port of entry, but a spouse who is a permanent resident of Canada and a citizen of another country generally needs a TD visa from a US consulate first. Decide the order of applications around that step.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Check work authorization individually
- Use the real immigrant milestones
- Preserve family records during a handover
- Hypothetical example: a nurse, a permanent-resident spouse and a citizen child
- Which record answers each question
Identify the completed milestone before planning the next one
Highlands applicants should distinguish a favourable petition, a paid charge, an adviser handover and the actual grant of residence. Each event has a different purpose. For a direct EB-5 investment run by a family member, the deciding question is who counts as a qualifying employee. The investor, spouse and children do not, so a plan that reaches ten jobs only by counting the family fails before anything else is considered. The Gold Card framework, by contrast, is a gift with no job-creation requirement.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Maintain the EB-5 investment case
- Keep Gold Card records and charges accurate
- Use actual residence and response dates
- Hypothetical example: a pension commutation and a son’s business
- Which document decides
- Hypothetical example: a retired principal receives EB-5 petition approval and packs