No. Review the actual enterprise ownership and relevant treaty nationality.
Identify who owns the operating company
The franchisor’s branding is not a substitute for the investor’s ownership chain. A commercial licence and an ownership interest are different facts.
Control ordinarily follows majority ownership, but the shareholder agreement must not give the retiring founder a veto over operations, budgets or hiring that would leave the applicant unable to direct the company. Begin with a closing-and-control chart: investor nationality, final owners, percentage interests, decision rights, purchase conditions and the activities the investor will direct. Each Canadian investor holds only twenty-five per cent, however, so each must independently show development and direction through documented operational control; the equal overall split does not establish that control by itself. A Canadian holding company helps only if the people behind it are treaty nationals holding at least fifty percent, and shareholders who hold U.S. permanent residence are generally not counted as treaty nationals. An operating agreement that assigns decisions to someone else, or a service arrangement that leaves the applicant without practical authority, may conflict with the proposed role even where the ownership percentage looks adequate.