Articles Posted in TN Visas

In a recent NY Times article, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner spoke about improving economic relations between Tijuana and San Diego. Mr. Filner has taken steps to make progress in improving these relations by opening up an office in Tijuana in order to work closely with businesses and the mayor’s office in Tijuana. When he opened San Diego’s Tijuana office this year, Mr. Filner spoke in grand terms about the future of cross-border relations. “Dos ciudades, pero una region — we are two cities, but one region,” he said, using the phrase popular among those who want more collaboration in the area. San Diego would put in a bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, he said, but only to host jointly with Tijuana.

“We need to make the border the center, not the end — but the biggest problem we have is not security, it is openness and communication,” Mr. Filner said in an interview in his City Hall office. “People have to understand that the infrastructure that we need should be an important part of any discussion on immigration. The volume here is so incredible, yet nobody understands how much this matters. People can’t go back and forth, and we’re losing out.”

“The political buzz made it so that there is a self-evident truth that the border was out of control, and that national stigma remains,” said Paul Ganster, the director of the Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias at San Diego State University. “It might make people from Iowa feel better knowing that it takes hours to cross the border, but a better approach is to fix the border so it functions for legitimate purposes. Right now we’re just penalizing ourselves with huge inefficiencies.”

USCIS has announced a new filing option on behalf of Canadian TN Nonimmigrants. As of October 1st, USCIS will begin accepting Form I-129, Petition for Nonimmigrant Worker, filed on behalf of Canadian citizens who are outside of the United States and seeking classification as a TN nonimmigrant. This change in the policy allows Canadians who wish to petition USCIS rather than applying at the port of entry through U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) as has been the procedure in the past.

While this change does grant more options to Canadians who may not be able to readily make their way to a U.S. port of entry, it must also be noted that it is more expensive to apply to USCIS, as the filing fee is $325 rather than the less expensive fee of $56 at the port of entry. In addition, the filing for a TN petition with USCIS will take a longer time to get adjudicated because the immigration service center will need to review the petition. This could take anywhere from 1-2 months at a minimum, while a petition at the port of entry will have a decision that day for the TN visa and the visa will be issued that very day.

So while the change is a good one for providing Canadians more options when filing for a TN visa, the considerations mentioned above should be discussed with any employer before deciding what is best when applying for a TN visa. Our office has been very successful in getting TN visas granted for our clients and can answer any questions you may have should a TN visa be in your future.

The following is a brief update regarding the period of admission allowed under the TN visa and how is it determined by CBP officers.

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) allows certain Canadian and Mexican professionals to qualify for TN nonimmigrant classification in order to provide professional services in the United States.

A citizen of Canada may apply for TN classification concurrently with an application for admission at a U.S. Class A port-of-entry, at a U.S. airport handling international traffic, or at a U.S. pre-clearance/pre-flight station. It is not necessary for a citizen of Canada to first apply for a TN visa at a U.S. consulate outside the United States.