Applying for a Work Visa in the U.S.

Hello!

I've been trying to search for information but have no luck. Hopefully someone will be able to help me out.

I live in Windsor and commute daily at the Windsor/Detroit tunnel. I just graduated with my BBA in marketing from a college in the U.S. I am currently in OPT status and started off with an internship at a marketing company. I would love to continue working here however, I know I will need to apply for some type of Visa. I've spoken to my supervisor and it seems as though they don't want to go through the H1-B process but when I mentioned the TN visa, she was interested. Unfortunately, I don't believe my profession is listed as a qualified profession under the TN requirements.

Ideally, I would like to live and work in the U.S. even if its temporary. However, if its easier/cheaper for me to commute back and forth daily I would go that route.

If anyone can give me any info. regarding which type of visa I should be applying for, costs, wait times, etc. I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks!

You probably wouldn't get H-1B anyway because the quota is massively oversubscribed and you couldn't even apply until sometime in the fall. If they won't do the paperwork for H-1B then I doubt they'd do it for any other category because it's just as bad or worse, so TN-1 is really the only option. Either that or get married to a US citizen. Or if you've got someone in your immediate family who is a US citizen they can sponsor you, but the current wait for brother/sister sponsoring you is ten and a half years.

Or how about doing a master's degree and getting another EAD? You can only work 20 hours a week though during a course of study.

So does this mean I'm SOL on a visa to work? TN-1 doesn't have my occupation listed, although my company requires a bachelor's degree to work. I'm currently doing my master's in the states right now, but only one class a semester.

Pretty much. I was actually in the same situation a long time ago and I did manage to get an H-1B as they weren't as popular back then, and then the company I was working for went bust.

From the sounds of it your best option is to try and get another EAD based on your master's degree, you need to check the regulations closely to see exactly what "full-time" means and how many hours they'll let you work. The university that did your I-20 should have the regs to hand. You might be able to schedule more classes and then work more and avoid any legal problems.

I don't know what degree you're doing but obviously if this is big deal for you, you might want to make sure that whatever degree you get you can tie it into a TN-1.