Withdrawal statements, any withholding-tax documentation, and confirmation from a tax advisor of how the withdrawal was reported.
Coordinate immigration and tax documentation together
Involve a cross-border tax advisor early, since an RRSP withdrawal has its own reporting consequences separate from the immigration filing.
Assemble a continuous record: historical RRSP statements showing accumulation, withdrawal instructions, issuer confirmation, withholding slips, tax-adviser analysis, receiving-bank entries, currency-conversion records, and payments to the enterprise or escrow. Reconcile gross balance, deductions, net proceeds, and each outgoing amount. Tax advice explains reporting; it does not establish E-2 eligibility. Separately document Canadian citizenship rather than permanent residence, at least 50 percent treaty-national enterprise ownership, development and direction through ownership or operational control, and an irrevocably committed at-risk investment. Substantiality is proportional to the business cost and has no fixed minimum. The frequent mistake is supplying a current business statement with no path connecting it to the retirement withdrawal.
Hypothetical example: A Tecumseh-area mobile-device repair franchisee receives net RRSP proceeds after withholding, converts the money, and pays a franchisor, landlord, and equipment vendor from different accounts. The file uses a transaction index matching every source record to each recipient invoice and explains one short transfer through an intermediate joint account. The tax adviser addresses the withdrawal treatment; the immigration evidence separately proves the investor's ownership, control, commitments, and credible plan for a real, active, non-marginal shop.