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.
TN documents for an accountant offer
The accountant entry lists a baccalaureate or licenciatura degree, or a C.P.A., C.A., C.G.A. or C.M.A. credential. It does not prescribe an accounting degree title. Document the education's substantive connection to the accounting work, or the listed professional credential on which you rely, together with genuinely accounting duties.
Identify whether the application relies on a degree or a listed accounting credential. For the degree path, provide the transcript and explain the coursework's connection to the proposed accounting duties. For a professional-credential path, obtain current verification from the issuing body and explain any change from a legacy designation. Have the precise credential and duties assessed rather than treating the diploma title alone as decisive. Ask the issuing body for a current letter of good standing rather than relying on a wallet card or a membership certificate issued years earlier. Where provincial designations were unified, the letter should state the legacy designation and the date of the change, so a reviewer reading a resume naming one designation and a letter naming another can reconcile the two without inference. Where the degree route is used instead, obtain the transcript directly from the institution and keep the electronic verification, because a photocopy raises a question the applicant then has to answer in person.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm which credential path is current
- Match duties to the accounting profession, not a broader finance title
- Assemble the employer letter and credential evidence together
How PR and citizenship records interact with a gap in ownership or employment history
An incomplete ownership or employment record is a documentation problem, not something permanent residence status can fix. Canadian permanent residence establishes where someone may live and work in Canada; it says nothing about whether a US employer's corporate relationship, an applicant's employment history, or an E-2 investor's ownership stake is properly documented. Close the specific evidentiary gap before treating the underlying route as viable.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify which record is actually missing
- Reconstruct from primary sources first
- Confirm the gap is resolved before relying on it
Reconstructing an incomplete ownership record before an E2 filing
An E2 petition depends on being able to show, in documents rather than description, who owns the enterprise and how much of the qualifying capital came from treaty nationals. When that ownership or capital-contribution record has gaps, the fix is to rebuild it from contemporaneous records before filing, not to explain the gap in a cover letter after the fact.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Reconstruct the ownership chain in writing
- Match ownership to the nationality requirement
- Distinguish reconstructable gaps from unresolved ones
Filling gaps in ownership or employment records before an L1 new-office filing
An L1 case depends on proving a qualifying corporate relationship between the foreign and U.S. entities and at least one year of qualifying employment abroad. When ownership records are incomplete or employment history has gaps, the priority is reconstructing those facts with primary documents before drafting any narrative, because a well-written petition cannot substitute for missing proof of the relationship itself.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Reconstruct ownership with primary documents first
- Rebuild the employment history with dated evidence
- Confirm the role matches an executive or specialized capacity
Fixing an incomplete ownership or employment record before choosing L1 or E2
Both L1 and E2 depend on documentation that is often assembled after the fact: corporate ownership charts for L1, and capital-source and control records for E2. An incomplete record should be repaired before deciding between the categories, since the gap usually determines which one is realistically available.
L1 eligibility turns on a documented qualifying relationship between the foreign and U.S. entities and proof of the applicant's prior employment abroad in a qualifying role. E2 eligibility turns on proof that invested funds are the applicant's own, lawfully sourced, and already committed or irrevocably committed to the enterprise. A missing ownership certificate blocks L1 differently than an unclear source-of-funds trail blocks E2, so name the specific missing document before assuming both routes are equally affected. Make two lists side by side, one per route, and mark each missing document against the requirement it serves. The lists rarely have the same length, and the shorter one is often the practical answer. An unprovable year abroad closes the intracompany route entirely for now, whereas an unprovable portion of capital may only reduce the investment figure, leaving a treaty investor case that is weaker but still available.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what the gap actually blocks
- Reconstruct records with the right authority
- Decide the category only after the record is verifiable
How to address a gap in ownership or employment records
An incomplete record threatens two different categories in different ways. E2 status depends on documented treaty-national ownership and control of the enterprise; L1 status depends on documented qualifying employment abroad for the required continuous period. Before assuming a paperwork fix will solve it, determine whether the underlying fact the record is meant to prove actually exists.
A gap in ownership documentation and a gap in employment history documentation call for different evidence and are governed by different rules. E2 eligibility requires proof that treaty nationals hold at least half the enterprise and that the applicant has a controlling, developing, or directing role. L1 eligibility requires proof of one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the three years before filing, in an executive, managerial, or specialized-knowledge capacity. Confirm which requirement the missing record was meant to satisfy before choosing how to close the gap. Start by asking who would have created the document at the time. Ownership records are created by the company and its registry; employment records are created by payroll, the tax authority, and the personnel file. Sending both requests to the same person is why reconstruction stalls. Where a household is still deciding whether to relocate at all, this sorting exercise is also the cheapest step available, because it usually reveals within a week whether the underlying fact exists.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Distinguish which record type is missing
- Reconstruct the record with primary documents
- Assess whether the gap defeats eligibility outright
Closing gaps in an ownership or employment record before comparing EB-5 and Gold Card
EB-5 requires documented lawful source of funds tracing the invested capital back through the applicant's ownership or employment history, and an incomplete record there is a direct threat to eligibility, not a formatting issue. Gold Card contributions also require the government and gift/investment funds to be verifiably sourced, so the same category of documentation gap undermines both routes, just through different filing mechanics.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what the record is missing
- Reconstruct records before either filing, not during it
- Match the reconstruction effort to the route chosen