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.
Oliver Paipoonge guide: which document proves a surveyor's TN qualification
Hypothetical example: a licensed land surveyor has been offered work with a survey firm across the border. The file needs three things it cannot get from the offer letter: a citizenship document, the published schedule entry for the profession being claimed, and proof of the qualification that entry requires. Everything else supports those. Identifying which record carries which condition prevents a thick file that still leaves one condition unproved.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Start with the schedule entry, not the resume
- Get the institutional records moving early
- Let the employer letter do only its own job
Oliver Paipoonge guide: permanent residence is not citizenship for TN
Hypothetical example: an experienced dairy herdsperson holds Canadian permanent residence, has lived in the municipality for years and has an offer from a U.S. operation. The TN category is limited to Canadian and Mexican citizens, so residence does not open it however long it has lasted. The decisive record is a citizenship document, and where none exists the honest next step is to look at other categories rather than to build a file that cannot succeed.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Two different facts, two different documents
- What the answer means in practice
- Say it to the employer early and plainly
Oliver Paipoonge guide: when greenhouse capital becomes an E-2 investment
Hypothetical example: a greenhouse operator plans to establish a growing operation across the border and has funds ready, a site identified and equipment quoted. Ready is not invested. The condition that decides the file is irrevocable commitment with the funds genuinely at risk, evidenced by signed agreements, released deposits and payments that would not return if the venture failed. Structuring that commitment carefully is the substance of the preparation.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the moment money stops being recoverable
- Substantiality is measured against this business
- Keep the source trail alongside the commitment trail
Oliver Paipoonge guide: the first year of a drilling contractor's U.S. office
Hypothetical example: a rural water-well drilling contractor wants to open a first U.S. location and move its operations lead there. A new office petition is normally approved for one year, and the evidence that supports it is physical and financial rather than aspirational: secured premises, the capacity to support the role, and a plan the business can actually fund. What happens in that year determines whether the arrangement continues.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Premises and capacity are the threshold evidence
- The corporate conditions do not relax for a new venture
- Design the first year to be provable
Oliver Paipoonge guide: transfer into a branch or buy the dealership
Hypothetical example: an equipment dealer can either open a U.S. branch of the existing company and transfer a manager into it, or personally buy an established U.S. dealership. These are not two versions of one plan. They rest on different facts, produce different obligations and are proved by different documents, so the choice should be made on which set of facts the business actually has rather than on which sounds faster.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what the business already possesses
- Compare the obligations, not only the entry
- Test each route against its weakest fact
Oliver Paipoonge guide: a twenty-year-old heading to a U.S. university
Hypothetical example: a farm couple is considering a U.S. work move while their twenty-year-old plans to begin a university programme there. Two clocks are running that have nothing to do with each other. Derivative status ends at twenty-one, and a study plan has its own requirements. Deciding early whether the young adult travels as a dependant or on their own basis avoids a change forced mid-programme.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Count the birthday against the calendar
- Dependent status does not carry work permission
- Each person's activity determines their route
Oliver Paipoonge guide: comparing a forage exporter's two residence options
Hypothetical example: the owner of a hay and forage export business wants permanent residence in the United States and is weighing the investor route against the Gold Card framework. The comparison is not between two prices. One puts capital at risk in a business that must create jobs; the other is built around a gift to the U.S. government plus a processing fee. What happens to the money is the first difference to understand.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The money behaves differently in each
- Compare the conditions that continue after approval
- Decide what you need to be certain about