Find out what travel and status the training actually requires, and whether attendance can be deferred without breaching the agreement. Training obligations are commercial deadlines; they carry no immigration authorization of their own. Preparation, any consular procedure that applies, government review, and admission each take their own time, and no fixed decision date can be promised.
Negotiate the opening window before the fee is paid
The moment to ask for flexibility is while the franchisor still wants the signature. Seek a start date tied to the franchisee being able to take up the role, or a defined extension mechanism, and put it in writing. Then set internal milestones for the site search, the evidence pack, and the funds trail, confirm current submission instructions for the route being used, and revisit the facts if ownership or financing shifts.
Add one further point to that negotiation: what happens to money already paid if the timeline slips. Franchise fees, deposits on premises, equipment orders and training charges each have their own refund position, and those positions are usually written before anyone has considered a delay that nobody in the room controls. Ask for each to be identified in writing, and treat an unwillingness to discuss it as information.
Hypothetical example: a boutique hotel franchise applicant asks what becomes of the site deposit and the initial fee if the opening window passes, and the answer — that one is refundable in part and the other is not — reshapes the order in which the applicant is willing to commit to each.