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.
Espanola TN preparation: reconcile the employer letter with the assignment
When the offer and assignment schedule describe different work, collecting more credentials may leave the central TN issue unresolved. Establish the actual temporary professional activity first, then connect the appropriate listed profession and qualifications to one accurate account.
Hypothetical example: an engineering offer promises design responsibilities, but the customer schedule mainly lists installation support. Quote the conflicting duties and ask the employer who can resolve them. Request an explanation of the real work, including any genuine change in scope. Avoid rewriting the assignment solely to match a preferred profession.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Send a discrepancy list to the decision-maker
- Attach evidence to the agreed description
- Keep a version record through the start decision
Espanola planning: what a pending citizenship application does and does not establish
A Canadian permanent resident preparing for possible citizenship should distinguish current nationality from a future event. A pending application or hoped-for ceremony does not establish Canadian citizenship for TN or settle the nationality conditions of other routes.
Use current citizenship documentation and the proposed US activity. Hypothetical example: an employer expects a Canadian TN application next month because the worker anticipates a citizenship ceremony. Mark that citizenship milestone as pending rather than presenting a forecast as an established fact. Mexican citizenship may independently be relevant to TN; other citizenships require their own route analysis.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Record the status that exists today
- Do not export the TN rule to every category
- Reassess after the actual event
Espanola acquisition planning: read the seller note before counting it
An E-2 investment calculation should distinguish eligible capital from the total purchase price. Seller financing, cash at closing and operating reserves can have different treatment because their security, commitment and risk are different.
List the deposit, cash balance, seller note and any other borrowing. Record collateral, personal liability and repayment terms. Enterprise-asset-secured debt is excluded from qualifying investment; personally secured or unsecured financing requires review on its terms. Do not rely on a one-line broker summary when the signed security documents say something more specific.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Make a financing schedule from the actual contract
- Connect the calculation to the whole enterprise
- Define what happens at each closing stage
Espanola transfer planning: use the handover to test the new-office forecast
A new-office management forecast should show how operational duties move away from the transferee as the business develops. A staffing chart becomes useful when the file explains the work each person actually performs and what happens if a planned hire is delayed.
A US organization doing business for less than one year falls within new-office treatment; incorporation or signing a second lease alone does not settle that question. Examine actual regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services. Keep the first contract, delivery and invoicing records together so the reviewer can assess the business chronology.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Classify the operation by its business activity
- Connect the first-year support to the proposed role
- Keep changes visible for the later filing
Espanola ownership planning: compare a transfer with a seller-financed purchase
Owning a business can raise either an intracompany-transfer question or a treaty-investment question, but the ownership fact does not answer both. A useful comparison starts with the company relationship and intended duties on one side, and the actual investment and control on the other.
Identify the related foreign and US entities and the qualifying continuous foreign employment year within the relevant three-year period. L-1A needs a primarily managerial or executive US role; L-1B needs qualifying specialized knowledge. Ongoing qualifying business in the United States and another country matters. If the buyer has no qualifying foreign employment history, a newly signed acquisition agreement does not supply it retrospectively. That foreign year must be full-time; exclude US days while not treating brief visits as automatic interruptions of continuity.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe the transfer that would actually exist
- Describe the acquisition without borrowing the transfer evidence
- Write a decision record, not a combined label
Espanola household planning: separate work permission from a shared moving date
One household may need several status and activity decisions. A principal’s transfer or investment does not automatically authorize a spouse’s remote work, keep a child eligible indefinitely or make every family member ready to arrive on the same date.
List citizenship, relationship evidence, age, current status and intended US work or study. A spouse and unmarried children under 21 may qualify under the relevant dependent rules, but eligibility must be established individually. A legally valid common-law marriage can require its own legal and documentary assessment; cohabitation alone is not enough.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Put the intended activity beside each person
- Check the status that supports the work
- Give later arrivals their own document list
Espanola investor comparison: separate project allocation from a government gift
An EB-5 project schedule and a Gold Card payment instruction describe different propositions. Compare what the payment legally represents, whose immigration case it supports and which conditions remain, rather than choosing solely from the first quoted figure.
EB-5 involves qualifying at-risk capital and ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor under the applicable method, without double allocation. Assess lawful source and path and the management or policy rights, including qualifying limited-partner provisions where relevant. Current capital thresholds are US$1,050,000 or US$800,000 for a qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure investment; scheduled adjustment begins January 1, 2027 and depends on petition filing date. Neither project marketing nor a reservation guarantees approval or repayment.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the EB-5 allocation and rights
- Read the Gold instruction as a separate process
- Prepare a two-document comparison