Read the general eligibility basics overview
Hypothetical example: a Balgonie equipment sales representative holds Canadian permanent residence and a British passport. His employer wants him to spend a year with its U.S. distributor, and separately he is considering buying a small U.S. business. Canadian permanent residence gives him nothing under TN, which requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship. His British nationality, however, is treaty nationality for E-2. L-1 does not depend on nationality at all. The household plan should be built from what each document actually permits.
Rule TN out and stop planning around it
TN is available only to citizens of Canada or Mexico. A permanent resident card, however long held, does not qualify, and an application for Canadian citizenship that is pending does not either. The sales representative should not accept a U.S. role framed as a TN position and hope the citizenship ceremony arrives in time; if citizenship is granted later, TN becomes available then, and days spent outside Canada on a U.S. assignment may delay the physical-presence count for citizenship. Note also that his British passport allows visa-free business visits under the Visa Waiver Program for meetings and negotiations, but not for productive work for the distributor. The employer's project needs a work-authorizing route from the start.
Test L-1 and E-2 against his actual facts
L-1 asks about the employer relationship, not nationality: if his Canadian employer owns, is owned by or is affiliated with the U.S. distributor, both entities remain actively doing business, and he has worked for the Canadian company for one continuous year in a qualifying capacity, L-1A may fit a primarily managerial or executive U.S. role and L-1B may fit special or advanced knowledge of the employer's products, processes or procedures. L-1A is generally capped at seven years and L-1B at five. If the distributor is unrelated, L-1 is unavailable no matter how long he has worked. E-2 asks about nationality and investment: the United Kingdom is a treaty country, so if he personally makes a substantial, irrevocably committed and at-risk investment in a real, non-marginal U.S. business that he owns at least fifty percent or otherwise controls, E-2 is open on his British passport. E-2 has no direct path to permanent residence.
Sequence the household around the routes that exist
If his spouse is a Canadian citizen in a listed profession, she may be the household's TN principal while he considers E-2 or L-1 on his own facts; dependants of a TN principal cannot work, so that order only helps if he has his own route. If he becomes the E-2 principal, his spouse would be employment-authorized incident to E-2 status regardless of her nationality. Children follow the principal as dependants under any of these routes and may study but not work. Write the options as a short table: each adult, each possible route, the document that supports it and the one that blocks it. Then consult on the combination rather than on one person's case in isolation, and keep the Canadian citizenship application moving, because it will widen his options later.
What else is on your mind?
Does Canadian permanent residence give me access to TN?Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.