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.
Thorold TN guide: reconcile two versions of an employment offer
A revised offer can change more than wording. Identify the activities currently proposed and explain relevant differences before relying on an earlier profession assessment.
List the actual employer, duties, compensation and temporary period. Hypothetical example: an amended offer keeps the title but adds responsibility for daily operations. Explain that change directly rather than preserving an earlier duty summary that no longer applies.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Make the operative terms clear
- Recheck the profession and qualifications together
- Resolve the inconsistency before relying on the assignment
Thorold guide: update the application facts after a citizenship event
A citizenship ceremony, pending application and issued passport are different events. Record what has actually occurred and which evidence exists before revising a U.S. route assessment.
Hypothetical example: a Canadian permanent resident anticipates a citizenship ceremony while an employer prepares an offer. State the present facts and the genuine future uncertainty. Do not describe citizenship as obtained before it is, or assume an expected passport is available for a particular travel date.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Separate the event from the travel document
- Reassess the route on the established nationality
- Keep the household records individual
Thorold E-2 guide: explain how a smaller acquisition will still operate
When a seller removes assets or rights from a deal, the revised enterprise needs its own explanation. A reduced price is not the only change that matters.
Write out what the revised agreement actually conveys: which machines, which stock, which lease rights, which customer contracts and which licences pass to the buyer, and which the seller has kept back. Hypothetical example: the amended schedule transfers the finished stock but excludes the two presses that produced it, leaving the buyer to source equivalent machinery separately. Where a withdrawn asset has to be replaced, show the replacement arrangement — supplier, price, timing and whether anything has been signed. Where it has not yet been arranged, say so in those words rather than letting the original plan stand as though nothing had changed. A schedule that still describes the first version of the deal misstates the enterprise the applicant would actually be buying.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Compare the actual transaction scope
- Rebuild the financial explanation from genuine terms
- Show that the smaller undertaking still meets every condition
Thorold L-1 guide: revise the launch evidence after a planned hire falls through
A launch forecast may rely on someone who will no longer join. Explain how that development changes the actual operation and the transferee’s duties rather than retaining a chart that is no longer true.
Describe the work the missing employee was expected to perform and who will actually undertake it. For L-1A, assess whether the transferee will still be primarily managerial or executive. There is no universal minimum headcount that decides every case, but genuine staffing and operational support matter.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify which responsibilities need reassignment
- Keep the new-office rules specific
- Preserve a current record for the next stage
Thorold L-1 or E-2 guide: compare the rights that remain after negotiations
A proposed investment may change ownership percentages or management rights before signing. Reassess the final arrangement rather than choosing a route using terms that were removed.
Ownership percentages and voting rights are separate things, and a negotiation can move one without moving the other. For the transfer route, trace the corporate chain through the share registers and constating documents as they will read after closing: which entity owns which, in what proportion, and whether the resulting link is genuinely that of parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate. Confirm that the group will keep doing business in the United States and abroad, and that the applicant’s own qualifying employment and duties are documented. For the investment route, establish the applicant’s treaty nationality, the proportion of the enterprise held by nationals of that treaty country, and the authority the applicant will actually exercise. Companies sharing a trading name are not necessarily related, and a percentage stated without the rights attached to it establishes neither the relationship nor the control.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Trace ownership and control through the real entities
- Identify which individual requirement is independent of the deal
- Bring the final terms and the specific unresolved question
Thorold family guide: distinguish a changed family plan from a change in status
A relative may decide to join later or take a different role in the move. Update the plan without assuming a private decision changes eligibility, work permission or an authorized stay.
Identify who will accompany, work, study or remain in Canada. A revised itinerary does not alter an admission record. Check each person’s actual nationality, relationship, category and dates rather than treating the principal’s plans as everyone’s immigration record.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Record the new intention and existing permission separately
- Assess work and school activities by the actual category
- Review immigrant participation before relying on a late change
- Respect the order of immigrant entry
Thorold investor guide: distinguish a revised project report from an official case request
A private project can revise a forecast while the authorities request case evidence. Identify who issued the document and what it actually establishes before changing an investment or relocation plan.
Begin by asking what the document is and who produced it. A sponsor’s revised projection models what the project expects to happen; it is not a record of positions that have been filled. Identify whether the case rests on a standalone enterprise, where the jobs must be direct and demonstrable, or on a regional centre, where the applicable methodology and its inputs must themselves be examined, and confirm how many qualifying positions the model attributes to each investor. Whatever the projection says, the capital must remain lawful in origin, genuinely at risk, and the investor must remain engaged in management or policy formulation. A family member travelling with the investor remains a derivative and does not become an additional principal. Terms that promise the money back defeat the requirement: a contractual entitlement to repayment, or a guaranteed rate of return, disqualifies the capital outright. Congress carved out one narrow case, an option held by the enterprise and exercisable solely at its own choosing to buy the interest back, which remains bound by the sustainment requirement and the other governing conditions and must never be read as a promise of repayment to the investor.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Read the EB-5 report for its assumptions and framework
- Read a Gold Card request for the named applicant and action
- Keep deadlines attached to their actual source
- Attach each figure to the stage it belongs to