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.
Make an older diploma traceable when the institution changed its name
An employer may recognize the current name of a college while an applicant’s diploma carries its former name. A Cap-Acadie applicant can explain that difference without changing the historical document or asking a reviewer to infer an institutional relationship.
Record the name on the diploma, award date, field of study and name of the issuing institution exactly as shown. Then ask the institution or appropriate records custodian for reliable confirmation of any relevant name change, merger or succession. Keep that explanation beside the diploma and transcript. A current website directory may identify a useful contact, but it should not be presented as proof of every feature of a programme offered years earlier. Do not recreate the award with a modern institution name.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Keep the original award as the starting point
- Check what the selected profession actually requires
- Finish the employment account independently
A Canadian diploma does not answer the TN citizenship question
Consider a Cap-Acadie resident who earned a Canadian degree years ago and now holds Canadian permanent residence. Their education and immigration documents answer different questions. Before investing effort in a TN employer letter, establish whether the applicant currently holds Canadian or Mexican citizenship.
Put the current passport or other citizenship evidence in one part of the file and the diploma, transcript and institutional history in another. TN principals must be Canadian or Mexican citizens; a Canadian PR card is not a substitute. A diploma may help establish the qualifications for a listed USMCA profession, but neither its age nor its Canadian origin changes the nationality rule. If citizenship is pending, label it pending rather than describing a hoped-for decision as an established fact.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Sort identity evidence from academic evidence
- Test the proposed job only after that first decision
- Build any alternative from its own evidence
Read an asset valuation beside the transaction it supports
A Cap-Acadie buyer should distinguish appraised value, purchase price and capital actually committed. Those figures can answer different questions.
Reconcile the appraisal’s date and scope with the purchase agreement. Do not count equipment excluded from the sale or describe an estimated value as cash paid.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the acquired assets
- Apply investment and nationality rules
- Support economic capacity
Explain a business cycle without substituting forecasts for operations
A quiet invoice month does not tell the whole story of a company, but an optimistic annual forecast does not prove current operations either. A Cap-Acadie business planning a US office should show how orders, performance, billing and staffing connect across its actual cycle.
Choose representative contracts and trace when the work was performed, when employees were paid and when customers were invoiced. Explain timing differences in ordinary business terms and label future work as forecast. The qualifying group must conduct regular, systematic and continuous business in the United States and abroad during the relevant L-1 stay. Registration or possession of an office alone does not establish that activity. Separately document the qualifying corporate relationship and the employee’s continuous full-time foreign employment year within the relevant three-year period; US days do not count toward that foreign year.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Construct a dated account of the foreign business
- Connect the cycle to the proposed US role
- Identify what must be updated before the next decision
An operating group and a personal asset purchase need different evidence
Suppose an applicant can either transfer within an existing company group or buy assets for a personally directed US business. A Cap-Acadie planning file should describe both transactions accurately before choosing which immigration requirements to assess.
Name the foreign employer, proposed US employer and the ownership or control link between them. L-1 requires a qualifying relationship, qualifying foreign employment and an eligible US managerial, executive or specialized-knowledge assignment. The group must keep doing business in the United States and abroad. A profitable foreign company does not satisfy these conditions merely by introducing the applicant to an unrelated US purchaser. Identify whether the proposed transaction changes the companies themselves or only transfers selected equipment, contracts or other assets.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Draw the employer relationship for the transfer proposal
- Reconcile the purchase price with the E-2 investment
- Compare the work that would start after authorization
Build a household budget around permissions each person actually has
A family can have enough savings for relocation and still face a gap in lawful earning capacity. For a Cap-Acadie household, prepare two linked plans: one showing who pays the bills and another showing the status and permitted activity of each family member.
If the principal pursues TN, a spouse in TD status cannot work merely because the household needs a second income. Qualifying E and L spouses may have employment authorization incident to their appropriate status, with the required evidence; that spouse rule does not extend to dependent children. Record the intended status beside each proposed salary and ask what documentation will establish permission before work starts. Preparation of an application, ownership of savings or an employer’s informal assurance is not employment authorization.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Remove unconfirmed earnings from the starting budget
- Give each relative a separate timeline
- Match shared money to individual obligations
Read an EB-5 protection clause before comparing it with a gift
An offering may describe insurance, a reserve or an expected exit. A Cap-Acadie investor comparing that proposal with Gold Card should first ask what event the protection covers, who owes the obligation and whether the investor still bears the required risk. A government gift is a different transaction.
Mark the precise contract clause being relied on and request an explanation of exclusions, payment triggers and the entity responsible. A projected repayment date is not proof that capital will be returned. EB-5 requires qualifying capital at risk, a lawful source and documented path, and management or policy-formulation participation. Generally the amount is US$1.05 million, reduced to US$800,000 for qualifying targeted employment area or infrastructure cases; statutory adjustments begin January 1, 2027, so review the filing-date rules. The enterprise must support at least ten qualifying full-time jobs per investor. A financial protection cannot substitute for those immigration requirements. Do not assume an enforceable repayment promise can satisfy the investment-risk condition: capital subject to contractual repayment rights, including investor puts, or a guaranteed rate of return is excluded. An enterprise’s sole-discretion buyback is a separate statutory exception, subject to the applicable sustainment period and other requirements.
WHAT THIS GUIDE COVERS
- Identify the promise, the counterparty and the risk
- Budget Gold Card without treating the gift as an asset
- Keep the financial exit and immigration milestones apart