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Fort Erie TN guide: separate a professional offer from a possible opportunity

Encouragement is cheap and prearranged professional work is not. Before anyone assembles employment evidence, write down what the U.S. employer has actually committed to: the employer of record, the job title, the duties, the dates of the engagement and the pay. If those five facts cannot be stated without hedging, there is no TN offer yet, only interest. This worksheet separates the two, then shows which document settles each remaining question.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Identify the actual commitment
• Apply the profession and credential requirements
• Explain the arrangement and permission

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Fort Erie guide: a Canadian career and a U.S. job lead do not establish citizenship

A permanent resident may have substantial work experience in Canada and promising U.S. contacts. Identify actual citizenship and the proposed category rather than treating that history as a TN nationality qualification.

Hypothetical example: an employer assumes a long-term Canadian resident is a Canadian citizen. TN requires actual Canadian or Mexican citizenship as well as listed professional work and credentials. A residence card or Canadian résumé does not supply citizenship.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Record citizenship accurately
• Assess other proposals on their own evidence
• Keep the next opportunity concrete

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Fort Erie E-2 guide: distinguish supplier quotes from committed startup resources

A startup can own a folder of quotations and still hold no qualifying investment. A quote is a price someone is willing to accept; qualifying capital is money the investor has already put beyond recall into a specific enterprise. This worksheet sorts the paperwork of a planned opening into four piles, estimates, signed obligations, funds actually paid out, and services already delivered, and then tests only the last two against the treaty-investor conditions.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Identify what is actually arranged
• Show qualifying capital and direction
• Assess the real operation

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Fort Erie L-1 guide: show what continues abroad after the key employee transfers

A handover plan must explain the foreign operation that remains after the transferee leaves. Identify who will perform the work, then test the individual foreign-employment period and the U.S. launch separately.

Hypothetical example: the employee moving to the United States handles a large part of the foreign company’s work. List the responsibilities that continue, the people or arrangements taking them over and what is still only planned. The qualifying group must conduct business regularly, systematically and continuously in the United States and at least one other country during the relevant stay. A registered foreign entity without that activity does not meet the condition. Do not describe a planned replacement hire as a worker already delivering services.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Identify what stays operational abroad
• Separate the employee’s completed history from the handover
• Test the receiving operation against its launch requirements

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Fort Erie guide: compare a continuing company transfer with a new personal enterprise

Being wanted by a group company and wanting to build something of your own are two different immigration questions, and each is answered by its own set of facts. The danger in running them together is bookkeeping: the employer’s trading history gets used to make the private start-up look established, or the start-up’s ambition gets written into the transfer petition. Keep two files. This worksheet says what belongs in each, and what may never cross between them.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Identify the qualifying transfer
• Identify the qualifying investment
• Keep the proposal internally consistent

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Fort Erie family guide: distinguish a relative’s role from a qualifying worker or applicant

A relative can be an owner, worker or intended immigrant, but the evidence for one role does not establish the others. Identify the proposed activity and relationship before relying on a family business plan.

Hypothetical example: a spouse helps organize a business while a child is offered paid work. Record where each activity would occur and whether it involves providing services. TD does not authorize employment, including remote work while physically in the United States. A qualifying E or L spouse may work incident to valid status with appropriate documentation; an EAD is not universally required. Dependent children do not receive that spousal benefit. Ownership or a family connection cannot replace the individual authorization assessment.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Describe the work the relative would actually do
• Put relationship and age evidence in the personal file
• Keep family inclusion out of the project-worker calculation

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Fort Erie guide: distinguish qualifying project workers from sponsored applicants

Start with the person named in the proposal: an EB-5 project employee and a Gold Card sponsored employee serve entirely different purposes. A staffing spreadsheet cannot establish both immigration cases.

Hypothetical example: the payroll includes the investor’s spouse, an adult child and several nonimmigrants. Those workers are excluded, as is the investor; direct-employment contractors also do not count as qualifying employees. Apply the actual standalone or regional-center method to at least ten qualifying permanent full-time jobs per investor, rather than treating every name as a job created. The investor separately needs lawful source and path, committed capital at risk, and management or policy-formulation participation; qualifying limited-partner rights may satisfy participation.

WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS

• Check which positions support the EB-5 account
• Read the investment provisions before relying on capital
• Identify the person the corporate sponsor proposes
• Distinguish relatives from additional sponsored staff

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