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.
Read the equity terms alongside the employment offer
Metchosin professionals should explain effective ownership and control when an employer offers shares or related rights with a US job. For a licensed professional, the decision is usually about the state licence and the form of the engagement. Veterinarian is a listed profession that requires a D.V.M. or a state or provincial licence, and the work must be for a US employer or client rather than the applicant’s own practice.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe the actual engagement
- Review ownership openly
- Use the appropriate current process
- Hypothetical example: a veterinarian’s locum offer
- Sequence the licence, the letter and the entry
Identify the legal facts behind ownership, service and travel
Metchosin residents should assess Canadian status and the actual US proposal separately. An ownership interest, foreign career or pending immigrant case answers a different question from Canadian residence. The first review should list citizenship, Canadian residence category, proposed U.S. role, employer or enterprise, ownership interests, and travel purpose in separate columns. That inventory produces a practical decision: pursue a category open on today’s facts, restructure the employment arrangement, or defer the plan until a condition such as citizenship is actually met.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Check TN eligibility accurately
- Assess company and investment conditions
- Keep pending immigration separate from entry
Read the escrow conditions before deciding what is at risk
A Metchosin investor should describe the actual funding, release and refund terms rather than rely on a blanket assumption about deposits. A first review should produce a source-and-use schedule that names each transfer, payee, contractual purpose, release trigger, and refund right. The investor then must decide whether the agreement leaves enough genuine exposure to loss to proceed, or whether its terms need to be resolved before funds are sent.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the effective commitment
- Complete the investor conditions
- Support the economic plan
Connect parent resources to the operation they will support
A Metchosin company should explain actual first-year commitments rather than treat the parent’s total assets as a complete US operating plan. The decision most owner-founders miss is what happens to the Canadian company when they leave. Both entities must be doing business for the whole L-1 period, so the founder must decide who will run the Canadian operation, on what evidence, before the US petition is filed rather than after the move.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify real support
- Address the new-office requirements
- Preserve the qualifying transfer record
- Hypothetical example: the founder leaves and the Canadian side goes quiet
- Sequence the two operations
Compare corporate support with an investor’s effective commitment
A Metchosin applicant may transfer into a parent-funded operation or acquire an enterprise through escrow. Each proposal needs evidence of actual rights and resources. The cap table is usually the document that decides the comparison. E-2 requires that at least half of the enterprise be owned by Canadian nationals, and that the investor develop and direct it; L-1 requires a parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship between the Canadian and US entities. Draw both ownership charts before choosing.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Explain the intracompany case
- Explain the treaty investment
- Use current effective terms
- Hypothetical example: a boat-builder’s US yard, two ways
- Ask the seller and the lawyer these questions
Distinguish shared plans from each person’s actual authority
Metchosin households may share ownership, staffing, investment and travel plans. Those arrangements still need accurate individual eligibility and permission assessments. One decision hides inside blended families: whether a stepchild is a child for immigration purposes at all. Generally that depends on the marriage having taken place before the child turned eighteen. Fix that date first, because it determines whether the stepchild can be included as a derivative on any of these routes.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Review work rights separately
- Assess immigrant relationships and funding
- Keep travel and gifts distinct
- Hypothetical example: a farm sale, a new marriage and a stepchild
- Records that settle each person’s inclusion
Distinguish staged capital from a pending immigrant plan
Metchosin applicants should identify what has been invested, what remains required and what permission has actually been granted. A contribution schedule and a travel plan should not be treated as the same timeline. The decision for a household selling a business in instalments is which route needs the money first and in what form. EB-5 requires capital actually invested or actively in the process of being invested; the Gold Card framework, as officially described, requires a gift to the U.S. government after vetting. Neither accepts a buyer’s promissory note as the applicant’s contribution.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assess the EB-5 investment stage
- Follow Gold Card’s official stages
- Plan from actual residence and entry permission
- Hypothetical example: a tour-boat business sold in tranches
- Which document decides the timing