TN
That U.S. opportunity is worth a conversation. Explore professional work through the TN pathway.
Laird U.S. VISA SUPPORT · CANADAYOUR FUTURE HAS NO ZIP CODE.
A BIGGER LIFE IS CALLING.
U.S. visa support in Laird. YOURAMERICANDREAM.
Let’s make your move.
✦WORK.
BUILD.
BELONG.
BUILD.
BELONG.
Enquiries reaching us from Laird share one awkward detail more often than any other: the person asking already invoices through a numbered company of their own. That single arrangement pulls in opposite directions depending on the route. It is fatal to a professional work admission, which cannot be used to be self-employed in the United States. It is beside the point for an intracompany transfer, which cares instead whether two corporations are genuinely related and whether a qualifying year abroad has been served. It is the entire foundation of a treaty investment, which is built on ownership and control. So the first page anyone should fill in is not a list of categories but a short account of who pays them, who directs their work, and what they own.
U.S. visa support for Canadians
ready for what’s next.
EXPLORE
CANADIAN ROOTSAMERICAN HORIZONS
Live the next chapter. Work. Build. Invest. Make your move.
THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY FORWARD.THE DREAM IS YOURS.
THE DREAM IS YOURS.
LET’S FIND THE WAY.
A registered forester marking hardwood for a woodlot programme, a kiln technician who understands one mill's drying schedules better than anyone else on the floor, a haulage owner whose trailers already run south, and an exploration contractor sitting on the proceeds of a sale can each have a real option in the United States. Very rarely is it the same option. Reading the six route pages here against one another shows which facts each category examines hard and which it barely glances at.
YOUR LAIRD STARTING POINTMAKE THE FIRST
MAKE THE FIRST
CONVERSATION COUNT.
Choose what brings you here. Leave with a short list of things to discuss—not another long form to fill out.
0 OF 4 READY TO DISCUSS
Gather this before you accept the position
For a Canadian citizen the whole case rests on two findings: that you personally meet the listed profession's own rule, and that the American job consists of that professional work.
FOR PEOPLE WHO SEE A LITTLE FURTHER.YOU WEREN’T
YOU WEREN’T
MADE TO
THINK SMALL.
Three starting positions cover almost everyone who writes to us from this township, and the middle one causes the most trouble. Some people are straightforwardly employed by a mill, a contractor, an equipment dealer or a municipality, and their question is answered by citizenship, credentials and the content of their duties. Some own the business outright, and their question is answered by capital, control and where the money came from. In between sit the contractors who are employees in everything but paperwork, and for them the paperwork is what decides.
Meet the people in your cornerTHE BIG MOVE. BROKEN DOWN.FROM “ONE DAY”
FROM “ONE DAY”
TO YOUR NEXT STEP.
Personal support.
A practical plan.
No promises we can’t keep.
01
Name the payer and name whoever directs the work
These are two separate answers and they are frequently different people. Write down the entity that will issue payment, the entity whose supervisor sets your tasks, and the entity whose premises you will stand on. Where those three answers point at three different companies, that pattern needs resolving early, because several categories are decided by exactly that question.
02
Describe a working week rather than a job title
Set out what would fill each day: what gets designed, measured, supervised, negotiated, repaired or approved, and roughly how many hours go to each. Titles travel badly across the border and industries reuse them loosely. An adjudicator reads the described activity, so the description is worth more preparation than the title ever repays.
03
Put citizenship and a birthdate beside every name in the household
Record the citizenship shown on each passport, not where anyone lives or what residence card they hold, and note each child's age today. Some routes are open only to citizens of particular countries, derivative status ends at a fixed age, and a spouse's right to work depends entirely on which category the principal applicant holds.
04
Follow the money backwards before any deposit leaves an account
If capital is involved, work from the destination account back to the original source: a timber sale, a business disposition, a mortgage advance, an inheritance, retained earnings. Each step needs a document that a stranger could follow. Reconstructing that trail after funds have moved is far harder than assembling it while the records are still to hand.
A LITTLE CLARITY GOES A LONG WAY.YOUR FUTURE.
YOUR FUTURE.
NOW BOARDING.
The six route pages and the seven guides below are all set in the same working world on purpose. When the industry stays constant and only the category changes, what stands out is the category itself: the same person, with the same skills, in the same trade, passes one test and fails another for reasons that have nothing to do with how good they are at the job. Find the situation nearest your own, then note precisely where yours diverges, because that divergence is the part worth an adviser's hour.
Find your pathway
YOUR NEXT CHAPTERCANWHERE IT STARTSUSAWHAT COMES NEXT
TRAVELLERA BIG THINKER
PURPOSEMORE POSSIBILITY
FIND YOUR STARTING POINT
THE FIELD GUIDEBIG QUESTIONS.
The complete field guide BIG QUESTIONS.
STRAIGHT ANSWERS.
SILVICULTURE CREDENTIALS
A diploma, a degree and a listed profession are three different documents
Read the guide LEASED ASSETSWhen most of the business is leased, what exactly has been invested?
Read the guide NEW OFFICE EVIDENCEPremises are the hardest evidence for a business that works out of a truck
Read the guide LAIRD IS HOME. THE WORLD IS OPEN.SUPPORT THAT REACHES YOU.
SUPPORT THAT REACHES YOU.
A BIGGER HORIZON.
Questions from Laird are handled remotely by Shneur Herman, Jo Kubti and Alexander Paton. We keep no premises in this township and none in the surrounding area, and we do not offer in-person appointments anywhere near here; every conversation happens at a distance. A first discussion is used to sort facts and locate the gaps in them. When a formal filing is required, a licensed U.S. immigration attorney takes carriage of that filing. Everything on this site is general information about federal requirements rather than legal advice.
Let’s connect YOUR SAULT STE. MARIE CONNECTION
Let’s talk about your plans.
Arrange a remote consultation to discuss your next steps.
BEFORE THE BIG MOVELET’S CLEAR
LET’S CLEAR
A FEW THINGS UP.
I invoice my bush work through my own numbered company. Can I keep doing that on the American side?
Not under a TN admission, which does not permit self-employment in the United States. The work has to be prearranged professional services for a U.S. employer or under contract to a U.S. entity that controls what you do, and any ownership interest you hold in that entity has to be disclosed and examined. Continuing to bill an American client through your own Canadian corporation while living and working there is the arrangement most likely to end an application, and it is also the one people improvise most readily when a start date slips.
Our mill's American customer wants our specialist on their site five days a week. Is that still a transfer?
It can be, but the placement is scrutinised. Where a specialized-knowledge employee will work primarily at a third party's premises, the petitioner must remain in day-to-day control of the work and the arrangement must not amount to supplying labour for hire. Evidence of who assigns tasks, who supervises, who evaluates performance and what the contract with the customer actually says carries the point. A body-shop arrangement dressed as a transfer is refused, whatever the corporate chart looks like.
I hold a permanent resident card. Does that let me cross for a professional job?
No. The professional admission created by the trade agreement is available to citizens of Canada and Mexico, and permanent residence in Canada is a different fact from Canadian citizenship. A PR card proves lawful status here; it says nothing about the nationality the American officer must find. Other routes are indifferent to nationality: an intracompany transfer turns on the corporate relationship and your own employment history, and the immigrant investor category is open regardless of citizenship. A treaty investment, by contrast, depends on the nationality you actually hold.
Is there somewhere in Laird we could sit down with someone?
There is not. This site serves the township remotely, with no local address and no scheduled visits to the area, and that is true of every community it covers. Consultations run by phone or video with Shneur Herman, Jo Kubti or Alexander Paton, documents are exchanged electronically, and where a petition or application has to be filed, a licensed U.S. immigration attorney is engaged to handle it.
PLANNING SOURCES
Editorial source review: 2026-09-07.
- Township of Laird
- U.S. Department of State: USMCA professional workers
- USCIS: L-1A Intracompany Transferee Executive or Manager
- USCIS: L-1B Intracompany Transferee Specialized Knowledge
- USCIS: E-2 Treaty Investors
- USCIS: EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program
- Official Gold Card program and FAQ
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule
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NEXT CHAPTER?
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