Read the general eligibility basics overview
When a company acquisition prompts a proposed move to a US role, two separate eligibility questions arise: whether the corporate relationship still qualifies after the acquisition, and whether the applicant's own status, permanent residence or citizenship, fits the intended category. An acquisition can change the first answer without changing the second, so both need to be checked again rather than assumed to carry over. The individual question is often the sharper of the two. TN is available to citizens of Canada or Mexico, and permanent residence in Canada does not satisfy that condition however long it has lasted. The L categories turn on the employment relationship rather than on nationality, and E-2 turns on treaty nationality, so the same person may be eligible under one heading and not under another.
Reassess the corporate relationship after the acquisition
A qualifying relationship for L1 purposes depends on current ownership and control between the foreign and US entities. An acquisition can dissolve, restructure or newly create that relationship, and prior employment with the pre-acquisition entity does not automatically transfer eligibility to the post-acquisition structure. Obtain updated corporate documentation reflecting the relationship as it exists after the acquisition closes, not before. Ask for the documents in the order a reviewer would want them: the share purchase agreement or amalgamation instrument, the amended constating documents, and a current chart showing percentages rather than boxes. An announcement, an intranet notice or a new email domain records that something happened, not what now owns what. Where the acquirer holds through intermediate entities, the chain should be readable from end to end without anyone having to describe it.
Recheck the applicant's employment history against the new timeline
L1 eligibility generally requires qualifying employment abroad with the entity for a period before the transfer. If the acquisition changed the applicant's employer of record or reporting structure, confirm how that history is counted under the new entity. This is a timeline and continuity question, separate from the applicant's citizenship or residence status. Reconstruct that period from records rather than from memory. Payroll registers, employment agreements and dated internal appointment letters show who employed the person month by month, which is the level of detail the counting actually requires. If part of the period was spent with an entity that had no qualifying relationship to the United States side, that portion may not assist, and it is far better to establish a shortfall now than to discover it midway through preparation.
Confirm the applicant's own status fits the intended category
Separately from the corporate question, confirm whether the applicant holds citizenship or only permanent residence, since some categories depend on nationality rather than the employer relationship alone. Permanent residence does not substitute for citizenship where a category requires it. Have both the corporate relationship and the individual's status reviewed together before treating the acquisition as a clean path to relocation. Hypothetical example: a Port Moody instrument calibration company is bought by a United States group, and a senior technician who is a permanent resident of Canada holding another citizenship assumes TN is available because colleagues have used it. On those facts it is not. A first review would establish citizenship from the passport, then ask separately which categories remain open given the new corporate structure, and would keep those two answers apart rather than merging them into a single impression of eligibility.
What else is on your mind?
Does Canadian permanent residence give me access to TN?Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.