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.
Headingley TN guide: reconcile the names on the employment records
Create a short entity key before assembling an offer, payroll record and customer agreement that name different businesses. The purpose is to explain the actual professional arrangement, not to conceal differences under one brand.
Hypothetical example: a group recruiter sends the offer, a subsidiary employs the professional and a customer receives the services. Record the legal parties, who directs the work and the real duties. Ask the employer to explain a genuine discrepancy rather than replacing accurate entity names with a familiar trading name.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the signatures before the logos
- Connect the actual work with the exact listing
- Disclose ownership without overgeneralizing
Headingley guide: distinguish a Canadian company from eligible citizenship
A Canadian employer, Canadian incorporation and Canadian permanent residence describe different facts. None should silently replace the applicant citizenship required by a proposed U.S. route.
Hypothetical example: a permanent resident works for a Canadian subsidiary of an international group. Record the applicant’s actual citizenship separately from the employer’s incorporation and owners. TN is for eligible Canadian and Mexican citizens; a Canadian permanent resident who lacks either citizenship does not qualify for TN on the basis of permanent residence.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Place nationality beside the correct person or entity
- Review the alternative on its own evidence
- Keep travel documents and future plans separate
Headingley E-2 guide: separate the franchise brand from the investment enterprise
A franchise agreement can explain the commercial relationship without proving treaty ownership, control or qualifying capital. Identify precisely what the applicant is buying and which entity will operate it.
Hypothetical example: an applicant buys shares in a franchise operator while the franchisor retains brand standards. Record ownership, voting rights, operating responsibility and the actual agreements. Assess how the investor will develop and direct the enterprise; neither the sign above the door nor a minority title settles control.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Name the company and the rights acquired
- Trace funds and security to the actual transaction
- Test the business instead of the brand’s reputation
Headingley L guide: define the new U.S. organization precisely
A group may have a long history while the proposed U.S. organization has been doing business for less than one year. Identify the actual organization and its activities before deciding whether the new-office requirements apply.
Hypothetical example: a Canadian group creates a U.S. subsidiary using an established brand. Record the actual parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship and ownership or control. Doing business means regular, systematic and continuous provision of goods or services; registration or an address alone does not establish the start of operations.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Establish which operation the petition concerns
- Separate the manager and specialist launch standards
- Measure the actual U.S. development
Headingley guide: compare ownership links with investor control
A corporate chart may be relevant to both L-1 and E-2, but each classification asks different questions about it. Build the comparison from actual employment and investment arrangements rather than the applicant’s preferred title.
Hypothetical example: a group employee considers transfer to a related company or buying an independently operated franchise. For the transfer, identify qualifying organizations, foreign employment and the U.S. managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge role. A share purchase does not manufacture the required qualifying foreign employment history.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Describe the two legal relationships
- Identify what the investment would establish
- Ask which evidence belongs to which proposal
Headingley family guide: assign each activity to the person who will perform it
A family business proposal can obscure who actually expects to work. Write a person-by-person activity list instead of assuming the principal’s company authority extends to every relative.
Use the business’s proposed division of work as a starting point: who will issue invoices, answer customers or assist during a school break? Name the person beside each task and record the physical work location, relationship, age and intended status. A shared ownership interest does not itself authorize the activity. Where a company chart calls someone family support, obtain a concrete description rather than assuming an informal label keeps ordinary business tasks outside employment review.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assign company tasks to named people
- Apply the dependent permission accurately
- Keep corporate records and family documents linked but distinct
- Respect the order of immigrant entry
Headingley guide: map the recipient of the money before comparing residence routes
An EB-5 investment entity and the government recipient of a Gold Card gift have different roles. Identify the payer, recipient and individual applicants before comparing a project offering with a corporate sponsorship proposal.
Hypothetical example: an offering names a capital-receiving entity, operating businesses and a project sponsor. Identify the actual agreements, lawful source and path, capital at risk and qualifying job method. EB-5 requires at least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor under the applicable framework; do not assume every employee across a branded group counts or that a forecast guarantees repayment.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Draw the EB-5 transaction rather than the marketing group
- Draw the official gift arrangement separately
- Check whose obligation each amount represents
- Reconcile the payee and applicant before adding amounts