Open a business

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echo2net

Registered Users (C)
I'm going to register a limited corporation of which I own 30% next week. I'm a Canadian Citizen.

Can I use this corporation to apply for a new TN (as an full-time or part-time accountant)?

Or Can I keep and run this company after I extend my current TN?

Thanks
 
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No. This is self-sponsorship.
You (regardless of how you structure yourself) need to be hired by an arm's length US sponsor.

CBP will see through this sham.

Will you accountants stop at nothing? Haven't you learned yet?
 
Nelsona:

Thanks for your quick response, I won't use it to sponsor my TN.
But I do need to open a business, I know as a foreigner I can register a company, but in no way I can get paid from it, correct? A little confused, what should I do with the profit at end of each year (even I'm an accountant).

Thanks again
 
echo2net said:
I know as a foreigner I can register a company, but in no way I can get paid from it, correct? A little confused, what should I do with the profit at end of each year (even I'm an accountant).
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The prohibition against self-sponsorship goes two ways. While your corporation cannot sponsor you, I believe the corporation can pay you if you are using it to channel revenue from your TN sponsors.
 
Payment can be accepted from any entity. It is unsponsored work that is a problem. If you do not do work, you are fine.
 
Nelsona:

Thank you for your information, your answer is very inspiring, investing in a company is just like investing in stock market, anybody can do it and get paid as dividend.

Thanks again
 
Yup. As long as you have another, real, TN job, you are free to remain in US on TN, and then invest in a company, so long as you are a silent partner.

But, looking back at your threads, this does not seem to be your intent. You seem to want to create this company and work for it. That you cannot do. You can create the company, and then have another US firm contract with you (thru it), but the other firm cannot be related to you in any way. The other firm becomes your sponsor.
 
1. How about incorporating a company in Canada and then the company would get you a contract in the US? Would that work and how?

2. How about incorporating a company together with a US citizen co-founder in the US and then getting contracts in the US and having your US-partner write the TN letters?
 
Its not the company that is the problem, it's an independent US sponsor that he needs. One can get a TN whether the sponsore hires you as an individual, or you as Cdn corporation, or you as a US corporation. It simply doesn't matter. What matters is that there be a separate US sponsor and a Cdn individual.
 
nelsona said:
Its not the company that is the problem, it's an independent US sponsor that he needs. One can get a TN whether the sponsore hires you as an individual, or you as Cdn corporation, or you as a US corporation. It simply doesn't matter. What matters is that there be a separate US sponsor and a Cdn individual.
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There is no "individual" when the contract is between two corporations (corp-to-corp). Let's say I incorporate Sens Inc and Sens Inc gets a contract from a US company. Sens Inc will need to hire me to send me down to the client's site in the US to work on this contract. The money goes from the US client company to Sens Inc and Sens Inc will need to pay me a salary. This is how usually contractors work in my field in order to get a lot of write-offs. But they are US citizens. How can I do the same thing while being a Canadian?
 
By YOU getting a TN or B1.

The TN will still state YOU as the beneficiary and the US entity as the sponsor. It doesn't matter how the sponsor pays you after that. they can pay you as an employee, or they can pay you as a 1099, or they can simply cut a check to corp XYZee or XYZed.

The B1, would not be sponsored, but you would be working for a Cdn comapny, or yourself, a Cdn resident.

But for you to enter and work, you need to get TN (which allows you to live in US), or get B1, which doesn't allow you to live in US, nor does it allow as many activities as TN does.

What we are discussing here is how closely the TN US sponsor and the Cdn TNer can be. They cannot be the same person, obviously. But nor can they be closely affiliated through ownership of the sponsor.
 
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Thanks Nelsona. However I am still a bit confused. Let's pick my example:

Sens Inc is the company I incorporated and founded/co-founded.
US Client Inc is the US client.
My name: Mr. X (Canadian)
My partner: Mr. Y(American)

Now there are two scenarios:

1. Sens Inc is incorporated in the US: The TN letter cannot say Mr X from Sens Inc is hiring Mr X on TN to work on a contract with US Client Inc. But can it say Mr Y is hiring Mr X? Or is there any other solution to this?

2. Sens Inc is incorporated in Canada: The only way to get Mr X to work on the contract with US Client Inc is if the US Client Inc directly sponsors Mr X, right? Is there any other alternatives besides B1 in this scenario?
 
1. The TN letter says US Client Inc is hiring Mr. X.

2. The TN letter says US Client Inc is hiring Mr. X.

In both cases they will try to ascertain if US CLient and you are the same person. If not, you are good to go.

It doesn't matter how the money gets from US Client to you, as long as US client sponsors you, and you and US Client are not legally joined.
 
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nelsona said:
1. The TN letter says US Client Inc is hiring Mr. X.

2. The TN letter says US Client Inc is hiring Mr. X.

In both cases they will try to ascertain if US CLient and you are the same person. If not, you are good to go.

It doesn't matter how the money gets from US Client to you, as long as US client sponsors you, and you and US Client are not legally joined.
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Thanks Nelsona. Unforunately the US client, in either scenarios, is not willing to soponsor anyone. In my field of work, there is a middle-man that gets the contract from a client and then hires contractors to work on the client's contract. So the TN sponosor is the middle-man. I want to get around that middle-man even if it takes to get a US-citizen partner.

Are you saying even if I am a co-founder and one of the owners of the midlle-man company, my middle-man company cannot hire me on TN? I was under the impression that owning stakes in the sponsor's company is OK if I can satisfy I don't substantially control the company according to the NAFTA handbook:

"(E) Substantial Control. Whether the businessperson “substantially controls” the U.S. enterprise will
depend on the specific facts of each case. The following factors, among others, are relevant in
determining what constitutes substantial control:
• whether the applicant has established the receiving enterprise;
• whether, as a matter of fact, the applicant has sole or primary control of the U.S. enterprise
(regardless of the applicant’s actual percentage of share ownership);
• whether the applicant is the sole or primary owner of the business; or
• whether the applicant is the sole or primary recipient of income of the business."

I could make my US-citizen partner the primary owner if this is what it takes.
 
The mere fact that you could "make" the US-citizen partner do something, kinda indicates your substantial control, no?

And you established the company, which is one of the criteria for substantial control.

You need an independent sponsor.
 
nelsona said:
The mere fact that you could "make" the US-citizen partner do something, kinda indicates your substantial control, no?
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OK then, it is a grey area! How about my US-citizen friend founds the company and then approaches me: "Hey buddy, I got a contract that I need you on. I give you a good hourly rate and some founder's shares to join my company and work on this contract." Would this work?

How would a high-school drop-out CBP officer know who the substantial controller is?!!
 
He will err on the side of keeping you out. They put these items in manuals for a reason.

It is not out of their realm to ask for company details.

and they will ask questions, until they know you are telling the truth or lying. How do you think they catch smugglers without first tearing cars apart?
 
nelsona said:
He will err on the side of keeping you out. They put these items in manuals for a reason.
Click to expand...

Also, lawyers always find totally legal loopholes in these manuals, regulations and laws.

And BTW, smugglers are usually very low IQ people, otherwise they wouldn't be in the smuggling business. So they are a good match for a high-shool drop-out!

Bottom line: there is a totally legal way to work on TN for a company in which you hold shares. Heck, dah, I am already doing that! I work for a big corporation and I own a lot of shares of it but it's not at the level of having a substantial control!
 
OttawaSenators said:
Also, lawyers always find totally legal loopholes in these manuals, regulations and laws.
Click to expand...

They don't find loopholes for everyone, any more so that criminal lawyers always get their guilty clients off on a technicality.

Substantial control is a question of fact; it's up to the CBP officer to determine if it exists. If he or she determines so, then you're out of luck. Even if they can be convinced that there isn't substantial control, in a one or two person company they can easily claim that the job is not valid, which is also a question of fact.

Bottom line, if they don't want you in, you won't get in. End of story, loophole or no loophole. Find a client who's willing to write a TN letter.
 
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