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 a vocational counselor role
Vocational counselor requires a baccalaureate or licenciatura degree. This title is sometimes applied to career-services, HR, or general counseling positions that may or may not match the specific vocational counseling profession, so duties documentation matters. Three conditions apply alongside the credential. The applicant must be a citizen of Canada or Mexico; the employment must be prearranged with a United States employer or entity, since the category does not permit an applicant to work for their own account; and the duties must genuinely be those of the listed profession rather than a differently shaped role given a matching title. A Canadian citizen requests admission at a port of entry or preclearance without a visa, or has the employer file Form I-129; a Mexican citizen ordinarily obtains a TN visa first.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Confirm the degree field
- Check the duties against the profession
- Assemble the employer letter and degree evidence
What a small employer must verify when a worker holds permanent residence, not citizenship
A small employer without a dedicated immigration team can reasonably assume that a Canadian permanent resident qualifies the same way a Canadian citizen would for a US visa route, and that assumption is often wrong. Confirming the worker's actual citizenship document, and assigning someone specific to track it, matters more when there is no internal specialist to catch the gap later. The distinction is worth writing down in the terms the categories themselves use, so that it survives being passed between people. TN requires citizenship of Canada or Mexico and E-2 requires nationality of a treaty country; permanent residence satisfies neither. The L categories depend on the corporate relationship and the employment history rather than on nationality, which is why the same worker may be eligible under one heading and not another.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Ask for the citizenship document, not the residence card
- Name one person to own the paperwork
- Separate the offer from the eligibility question
Planning a work visa petition when the employer has limited HR capacity
A small employer without a dedicated immigration or HR function can still support a work visa, but the paperwork burden falls on fewer people and needs to be planned for earlier. The categories differ sharply in what they actually require from the company, and matching that requirement against who is available to do it prevents a filing from stalling at the last stage. It is worth stating what each route actually requires the company to establish, since that is what determines the workload. A TN request rests on a listed profession, the applicant's own qualification and prearranged employment. An L case rests on a qualifying corporate relationship, one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the preceding three years, and a managerial, executive or specialized knowledge role.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify what paperwork the category actually requires
- Decide who inside the company owns each document
- Build in extra lead time
Building an L1 new-office file when there is no HR department
A small foreign employer preparing an L1 new-office petition often has to produce corporate, financial, and staffing evidence without a dedicated HR or legal team. Assign each document to a specific person early, because the petition depends on records that only the company itself can generate accurately. The requirements the file has to reach are worth naming before ownership is assigned. There has to be a qualifying parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationship between the two companies; the transferee must have worked abroad for a related entity for one continuous year within the three years before the transfer; and the United States role must be managerial or executive, or must call for specialized knowledge. A new office is approved for one year to begin with.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assign ownership of each evidence category
- Write the staffing plan around real capacity
- Keep the qualifying role distinct from bookkeeping tasks
L1 versus E2 when the employer has little administrative support
A small employer without a dedicated immigration or HR function faces different burdens under each category. L1 places documentation weight on the corporate relationship and the foreign role history, which a small company must assemble itself. E2 places weight on demonstrating the investment is real, committed and adequate to run the business, which a small company can often document more directly from its own accounts. Neither route removes the need for accurate paperwork, but the source of that paperwork differs. The two also differ in what has to keep being true, which matters more to a small employer than the filing burden does. Time in L-1A is capped at seven years and in L-1B at five, and in both the qualifying relationship has to survive for the whole period. E-2 carries no comparable cap, but treaty ownership, capital left at risk and the investor's control must all continue. Neither confers permanent residence.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Map who can produce each required document
- Consider ongoing compliance capacity, not just filing capacity
- Do not let convenience substitute for eligibility
How a small employer without a personnel department supports a work visa filing
A limited administrative team does not lower what a TN or L1 filing needs to establish; it changes who inside the company has to produce it. Naming exactly which documents come from ownership, which from a supervisor, and which the applicant must gather independently prevents the file from stalling on a task nobody owns. It is worth naming what each route requires the employer to establish, since a small team can only plan around requirements it can see. A TN request depends on a listed profession, the applicant's own qualification and prearranged employment with no self-employment; an L case depends on a qualifying corporate relationship, one continuous year of qualifying employment abroad within the preceding three years, and a qualifying role.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- List what only the employer can produce
- Do not let thin administration blur petition, visa and admission
- Give the applicant a defined role in the gathering
How a small enterprise investor should weigh EB-5 against a Gold Card contribution
An investor backing a small new commercial enterprise with limited administrative capacity carries an evidentiary burden that a Gold Card contribution does not. EB-5 depends on documenting ten qualifying full-time jobs over time, which a lean operation may struggle to track without dedicated support. Weighing the two options means weighing sustained recordkeeping against a one-time contribution with its own separate eligibility requirements. The two routes differ in kind rather than only in amount. Under EB-5 the money goes into a new commercial enterprise, stays at risk there, and has to produce the qualifying jobs; residence is granted conditionally first and the conditions are removed later on a further petition. The Gold Card route is a processing fee and a gift paid by the applicant to the United States government, neither of which is returned and neither of which establishes eligibility on its own.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Assess the job-creation recordkeeping the enterprise can sustain
- Weigh a fixed contribution against an ongoing operational commitment
- Plan for dependents before the enterprise structure is finalized