Employment Authorization Document required AFTER TN?!?!?!?!

SO I'm a Canadian who just passed the TN visa "interrogation" and was granted the TN, along with the i-94 form. Now, I found out I ALSO NEED an "employment authorization card"?????

They won't let me get a Social Security number without the Emloyment Authorization Document.
They won't let me start work without that EAD (i-688 or i-766 or i-765).

Isn't the TN supposed to take care of that???

Did any TN holders get that EAD? It's really slowing things down for me over here...

Thanks.

You don't need an EAD if you are in TN-1, they're wrong. However you need to show them your I-94 and it needs to have been processed by USCIS into the SSA system so they can issue you an SSN, which can take weeks. This is required for the E-verify system so your employer can see that you are entitled to work (which sounds redundant I know for TN-1 but that's the law).

EADs are generally only required for people in non-immigrant categories where work is optional, e.g. L-2 spouse, E-2 spouse, F-1 student etc. Obviously if you enter expressly to work as L-1 or H-1, etc. then having a separate document would be a waste of time.

I finally got my SSN last week and it did indeed take the full 6 weeks. As Steven said, they do require the i-94. They removed mine from my passport and photocopied it, along with the stamp in my visa.

The SSN office actually told me I would have been better off waiting 10 days for USCIS to input my visa into the SSA system. If I'd waited to go into their office it would have only taken a few weeks after I'd applied, but because I applied and my TN wasn't yet in the USCIS system, it held things up and took longer.

Thanks you guys have always been super helpful.

Thank God the 1st SSN employee actually DID know what she was talking about, and told me I'm better off waiting 10 days after my arrival than applying now and waiting 6 weeks...

But then a 2nd employee said I needed an Employment Auth. Card.... and that just unnecessarily sent me in meaningless circles.

So I'm trying my luck on Friday again with the SSN... that's 14 days after my TN so hopefully I'll have my details on the USCIS system and will only require the I-94 that I already have...

Thanks... she was going to make me pay $329 for the EAD which I apparently don't need...

I know, people on here are awesome....it's good to know that others have gone through the same administrivia.

To be fair to the SSN peeps, after they tried to find my visa and didn't, they did provide me with a letter stating that I'd applied, was waiting and was legally able to work without the number. I had to use that letter many times (applying for housing, at work etc.)

If you do a search on here there is a long thread about how the SSA is required to do this now, the gist of which is that even though you aren't aware of it, they de-activate the SSN when your I-94 expires. This isn't a particularly big problem if you carry on working for the same employer because they won't check again, but if you change employers you need to get the SSN re-authorized. It's still valid for everthing else, taxes, etc., just not employment.