canadian moving to the united states

Generally speaking, there are two methods for immigration to the U.S.: 1) through a relationship to a U.S. Citizen; or 2) though employment. There are some other methods but they are very difficult and are useful only to a select group of prospective immigrants. One of the other methods is through making a substantial investment in a U.S. business--usually $1 million or more. These are commonly referred to as an investor greencard or EB5 visa. Unfortunately, the capital requirements for this kind of business investment make it prohibitive for most people. If the partnership you mention may involve an investment of this size, this might be an option for you.

There are other non-immigrant visas that may be options for you including the E1 or E2 visas or the TN visa. Neither of these would allow you to stay in the U.S. indefinitely but both are renewable for extended periods of time.

Employment-based and investment related visas are very complicated. If you want to look into any of the potential options I have discussed here I would recommend that you seek the counsel of a U.S. immigration attorney who specializes in these types of cases. I provided some links above to the website for my law firm. I handle a lot of these types of cases and the information there is useful, but I am not accepting new clients at this time. If you want to look into this further I would recommend that you use the American Immigration Lawyer's Association lawyer search service. Best of luck.