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.
Shuniah guide: questions a forester should ask before assembling a TN file
Hypothetical example: a registered professional forester has an offer from a firm across the border and wants to know what to gather. The productive first step is a short list of questions rather than a pile of paper. Which schedule profession is being claimed? What credential does that entry name, and does it allow alternatives? Who issues the proof, and how long will they take? The answers determine what actually needs collecting. Hypothetical example: a speech-language pathologist has a prospective employer that needs a decision before the next school term. The immediate decision is whether the credential and licensing record can be documented in time; the answer should come from the relevant board and the schedule entry, not from the vacancy title.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what the schedule entry says, word for word
- Ask the issuing bodies how long they take
- Ask the employer for a letter about the job only
Shuniah guide: the citizenship question a lab technologist must settle first
Hypothetical example: a medical laboratory technologist holds Canadian permanent residence and has an offer from a hospital across the border. Before anything else, ask which document the applicant actually holds. The reciprocal North American professional category is limited to citizens of Canada or Mexico, so permanent residence does not open it. That single question, asked in the first conversation, prevents months of preparation aimed at a route that was never available. Hypothetical example: a veterinary technician with permanent-resident status is asked to begin work in the United States quickly. The first decision is whether citizenship can be proven now; if not, the employer should assess another lawful route instead of collecting a professional file for an unavailable one.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask which document, not which status
- Ask what alternatives the employer will support
- Ask whether timing changes the answer
Shuniah guide: testing whether a contractor's capital is substantial
Hypothetical example: a shoreline and marine construction contractor plans to establish an operation across the border and wants to know whether the intended capital is enough. There is no threshold figure to compare against. Substantiality is proportional to what this particular enterprise costs to establish or acquire, and it sits beside a separate question about whether the business can be more than marginal. Both need answering before commitment. Hypothetical example: an industrial rope-access training business is for sale with equipment, contracts, and seasonal instructors. The buyer must decide whether the enterprise can operate beyond the household’s needs and whether funds can be committed with a documented commercial-risk structure before signing away diligence protections.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what this business genuinely costs to start
- Ask when the money stops being recoverable
- Ask whether the enterprise can support the household
Shuniah guide: what a line-clearing contractor must show in year one
Hypothetical example: a utility line-clearing contractor intends to establish a first operation across the border and move a supervisor there. A newly established operation is normally approved for one year, so the questions to ask are about what will exist by the end of it. Where will the crews work from, what work is contracted, who will be employed, and can the parent fund the operation through that period? Hypothetical example: a commercial glazing company plans a first U.S. branch and intends to send its construction manager. The decision is whether the secured premises, funding, and first-year staffing plan already support a genuine new office, or whether commercial preparation must continue before a transfer request is sensible.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask what physically exists on day one
- Ask counsel to confirm the structural conditions
- Ask what the first year has to prove
Shuniah guide: questions that decide transfer against purchase
Hypothetical example: a pulp-mill process engineer can either move into an affiliated operation abroad or buy a mill-services company outright. Comparing the two in the abstract wastes time. Instead ask, for each route, what facts already exist and which condition is weakest. The route whose weakest condition is strongest is usually the right answer, and sometimes the honest answer is that neither works yet. Hypothetical example: a commercial laundromat chain operator can transfer a manager through an affiliate or acquire a U.S. location personally. The decision is which record is strongest today: ownership and a qualifying employment year for the transfer, or personal capital, business control, and a viable operating plan for the acquisition.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask which facts you already have
- Ask what each route obliges you to keep doing
- Ask where each route is weakest, and compare those
Shuniah guide: what an accompanying spouse should ask about working
Hypothetical example: an academic couple is considering a move where one holds the offer and the other intends to keep working. The answer depends entirely on which category the principal uses, and the difference is large. Some classifications carry spousal employment authorisation incident to status; others do not. Asking that question before the offer is accepted changes which offers are worth accepting. Hypothetical example: a percussion-instrument repairer is offered a U.S. role while their spouse plans to continue freelance work and one child is nearing twenty-one. The family must decide whether the principal’s category covers the household’s actual activities and deadlines, rather than assuming a single approval solves every person’s plan.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask which classification the principal will hold
- Ask what a licence or registration will require
- Ask what each family member will actually do
Shuniah guide: which route answers a physician couple's questions
Hypothetical example: a physician couple wants permanent residence and is weighing the immigrant investor route against the Gold Card framework. Rather than comparing headline figures, write down the questions that matter to the household and answer each one for both routes from official sources, marking honestly where no answer currently exists. The unanswered questions are usually more informative than the answered ones. Hypothetical example: a dental-laboratory owner is comparing an EB-5 project with a possible Gold Card payment. The decision is whether the household values a documented investment-and-job framework enough to accept its conditions, or can tolerate unanswered official terms around an applicant-paid gift transfer that is not a conventional visa.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask a specialist to explain each structure in plain terms
- Ask what continues after the first approval
- Ask what you need certainty about