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.
The document set a Stirling-Rawdon professional carries for three years
Hypothetical example: a dairy nutritionist near Stirling-Rawdon with a bachelor of science accepts a position with a US feed company under the Animal Scientist entry, which requires a baccalaureate or Licenciatura degree. Admission is granted for a period that may run up to three years, and during it she will cross the border repeatedly. The file is therefore not a one-time submission but a set of documents she maintains, carries and can produce on any entry, in a form that still matches what she actually does. Hypothetical example: a rangeland-data analyst receives a revised job offer after the employer acquires another business. The practical decision is whether the revised employer, duties and supervision still match the original TN support letter. Put the old and new records side by side before the next crossing. A Canadian can seek TN classification from CBP at an inspection location or the employer can submit Form I-129 to USCIS; neither route authorizes the applicant to run a self-employed U.S. operation.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assemble the core set once, properly
- Keep it current as the job changes
- Prepare for the entry after the first one
Which adult applies: citizenship and permanent residence in a Stirling-Rawdon household
Hypothetical example: a Stirling-Rawdon couple both work in agriculture. She is a Canadian citizen with a diploma and eleven years managing a dairy herd; he is a Canadian permanent resident, still a citizen of another country, with a degree and a job at an equipment dealership. The instinct is to build the plan around whoever received the American approach. The better question is which of them the categories actually fit, because the answer decides what the other one may do. Hypothetical example: a permanent resident who manages a cold-storage company is offered a transfer to its American affiliate, while her Canadian-citizen spouse has a separate professional offer. The decision is not who earns more today; it is whether the transfer relationship and foreign employment are provable, and whether the citizen’s offered work fits a listed TN profession. Build two independent route files before choosing the principal applicant.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Citizenship opens and closes specific doors
- Match each adult to what the categories require
- Then check what the choice gives the other adult
Assets or shares: how a Stirling-Rawdon buyer structures a US acquisition
Hypothetical example: a Stirling-Rawdon fabricator agrees to buy a small American machine shop and has to choose between purchasing the company's shares and purchasing its assets. The choice is usually made for commercial and tax reasons, and it has consequences for a treaty investor application that are worth understanding before the agreement is drafted, because each structure produces a different picture of what was bought, what is at risk and whether the enterprise is real and operating. Hypothetical example: a dental-laboratory owner can buy an operating competitor or lease empty premises and build a new laboratory. The decision is whether existing revenue and staff justify accepting legacy liabilities, or whether a clean start can become operational quickly enough. In either case, E-2 funds must be irrevocably committed and subject to loss, and the resulting enterprise must not be marginal.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What a share purchase looks like to the file
- What an asset purchase looks like
- Keep the paper trail the structure creates
Branch or subsidiary: how a Stirling-Rawdon company starts in the United States
Hypothetical example: an agri-services company near Stirling-Rawdon decides to open its first American location and asks whether to register a branch of the Ontario corporation or incorporate a US subsidiary. Both can support an intracompany petition, since a branch and a subsidiary are each capable of being the qualifying entity, but they differ in liability, tax and in what the petition has to prove. The choice belongs with the accountant and the corporate lawyer, informed by what the immigration filing will need. Hypothetical example: a specialty-packaging company has signed a letter of intent for warehouse space but has not yet executed the lease. The decision is whether to commit to premises before filing or delay the transfer until the physical location is secured. A new-office L-1 petition needs a real business location and a credible plan for a managerial or executive role within one year; the transferee also needs the required qualifying foreign employment.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- How each structure proves the relationship
- What a new office must show either way
- Plan the first year toward the extension
Where each route ends: a Stirling-Rawdon owner comparing transfer and investment
Hypothetical example: the sole owner of a Stirling-Rawdon manufacturer intends to run an American operation himself and can either form a subsidiary and transfer as an executive or invest personally as a treaty investor. Most comparisons stop at which is easier to obtain. The more useful comparison is what each looks like in year six, because the two routes have different endings and the structure chosen at the start is expensive to unwind later. Hypothetical example: a commercial-kitchen ventilation manufacturer can send its operations director to establish a subsidiary or have its treaty-national owner fund and direct a separate U.S. venture. The decision turns on the real corporate relationship, the director’s foreign employment and managerial function, versus personal treaty nationality, committed capital and the enterprise’s non-marginality. Neither label repairs missing facts in the other route.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The transfer route has a hard limit
- The investor route renews but leads nowhere by itself
- Choose the ending, then build backwards
The second income in a Stirling-Rawdon household on an intracompany transfer
Hypothetical example: a Stirling-Rawdon operations manager transfers to an American affiliate, and his wife, a veterinary technician, and their twelve- and nineteen-year-old children go with him. As dependants in L-2 status, his wife is employment-authorized incident to status and the children may attend school. That single fact is often the difference between a move that works financially and one that does not, and it deserves to be planned rather than discovered. Hypothetical example: a radiography-equipment project manager receives a U.S. offer while her spouse plans to continue practising as an optician and their adult child expects to work part-time. The decision is not merely whether the family can accompany her; it is which individual plans are authorized under the proposed statuses and which require separate immigration or licensing steps. Create a person-by-person worksheet before accepting the assignment.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Work authorization is not a licence to practise
- Give the nineteen-year-old a calendar
- Keep the household statuses tied together deliberately
Who comes with you: family arithmetic in a Stirling-Rawdon investor decision
Hypothetical example: a Stirling-Rawdon couple in their fifties are considering an immigrant investment and have three children, aged seventeen, twenty and twenty-four. Before comparing costs or timelines they should work out who can actually be included, because the answer changes the decision entirely. Derivative eligibility in EB-5 is limited to a spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one. The Gold Card is a distinct official framework based on a gift to the U.S. government plus a processing fee, not an EB-5 investment; its current family terms must be read from the official materials and re-verified before any money moves. Hypothetical example: an environmental-testing company founder can fund an EB-5 project from a documented business sale or consider the Gold Card framework. The decision is whether the family needs an investor route with capital at risk, employment creation and conditional permanent residence, or is prepared for a personal payment to the U.S. government under a program that is not a conventional visa. Start with confirmed terms and the family’s actual inclusion needs.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Do the investor category arithmetic first
- Read the other framework's terms rather than assuming
- Plan separately for the children who cannot be included