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.
Assembling a veterinarian's TN file when the state licence is still pending
Hypothetical example: a Kent veterinarian accepting a U.S. dairy-practice position can satisfy the TN credential rule with her D.V.M. alone, because the profession is listed with the degree or a state or provincial licence as alternatives. The file should therefore be built around the degree and the employer's letter, with the pending state licence explained as a practice condition rather than hidden. Citizenship, a prearranged professional job, temporary intent and no ownership of the practice complete the case.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Lead with the credential the regulation names
- Write the employer letter around the licensing gap
- Carry the household's documents and the disclosures
A Dutch citizen with Canadian permanent residence in Kent: which routes use which nationality
Hypothetical example: a Kent farm-operations manager holds Dutch citizenship and Canadian permanent residence. His PR card gives him no TN eligibility, because TN requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship. His Dutch passport, however, is a treaty-country nationality for E-2 purposes, and L-1 does not look at nationality at all. The route depends on which document he holds, not on how long he has lived in Kent, and each family member's own nationality is assessed separately.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What the PR card cannot do
- What the Dutch passport can do
- What needs no nationality at all
Proving a nursery purchase is substantial and not marginal
Hypothetical example: a Kent couple buying a U.S. retail nursery must show two things that are easy to confuse. Substantiality compares their at-risk contribution with the total cost of buying and running this business; marginality asks whether the nursery can produce more than a minimal living for them, now or within five years. A modest business fully funded by the investors can pass both tests; an expensive business funded mostly by a loan secured on its own assets may pass neither.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Substantiality is a proportion, not a threshold
- Marginality is about capacity, shown through people and projections
- Ownership, control and what the seller keeps
What a service branch needs before its manager can be transferred
Hypothetical example: a Kent dealer in milking and barn-automation systems wants to open a U.S. service branch and transfer its service manager to run it. Because the branch has not operated for a year, the petition is a new-office case: USCIS requires secured premises, a defined U.S. entity with a qualifying relationship, financial ability to start operations and pay the manager, and a plan showing the operation will support a managerial role within one year. The initial approval is one year, and the extension tests whether that plan happened.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- The four things USCIS wants to see at filing
- Writing a first-year plan that describes a manager, not a technician
- The year after approval
Expand the Kent dealership into the United States or buy a U.S. dealer outright
Hypothetical example: the owner of a Kent farm-equipment dealership can either open a U.S. branch of her own company and transfer herself or a manager under L-1A, or personally buy an existing U.S. dealer and enter as an E-2 investor. The choice turns on who will own the U.S. business, whether the owner herself qualifies for the transfer, how the money is structured, and whether the family eventually wants permanent residence. Each route has conditions the other lacks.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- L-1A: the company expands and the person transfers
- E-2: the person invests and directs
- Deciding between them
When the second earner's route matters more than the first job offer
Hypothetical example: a Kent dairy-nutrition consultant with an animal-science degree holds a TN-eligible offer, but her partner, a herdsperson without a listed profession, cannot work as a TD dependant. The household's real decision is whether one income is enough, whether the partner has a route of his own, or whether a different category for the consultant—one whose dependants may work—changes the answer. Each adult's activity is assessed separately, and the children's ages set a clock of their own.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- What each dependant status permits
- Does the partner have a route of his own?
- Children, citizenship and timing
A buyout in hand: money at risk in a business or a gift to the U.S. government
Hypothetical example: a Kent motel operator receiving a partner buyout is weighing an EB-5 regional-center investment against the Gold Card framework. The two are not versions of the same thing. EB-5 places capital at risk in a job-creating enterprise, with the possibility of commercial return and a two-year conditional residence tested by Form I-829. The Gold Card, as described on the official page checked on 2026-09-07, involves a nonrefundable processing fee and a gift to the U.S. government after vetting, connected to an employment-based category. Compare what each requires and returns, and verify current terms before any money moves.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- EB-5: capital, jobs, engagement and conditions
- Gold Card: a fee, vetting and a gift
- The questions that actually separate them