First 3-Year TN--My Experience

My background: 4-year degree in Canada, came to Boston to pursue a graduate degree in urban design, worked a year on OPT following graduation at a local architecture office and was hoping to stay on the same job on a more permanent basis. I started looking into TN around March and remember being discouraged after hearing some of the horror stories about TN rejections. Well, turned out my experience was very pleasant (and I suspect very representative of many actual TN applications).

Flying through Pearson, I had:
1. Letter of employment, clearly stating my category as urban planner and outlining my responsibilities and qualifications. This was prepared to the specification of the TN visa kit, which I thought was actually pretty helpful if overpriced.
2. Resume, transcript, ORIGINAL diploma
3. Work samples from me and my office, to prove it's a legit business--easy since my company is in architecture and planning and has a lot of visual marketing material ready-made. Website screenshots, too.

I told passport control that I was applying for a TN, and was promptly lead to the secondary inspections area, which is an enclosed area. There was a small seating area where you are told to wait and fill out an I-94, and interview stations to the other side for all to see. People were quietly waiting and a few seemed nervous but otherwise CBP didn't go out of their way to make things uncomfortable for you.

The CBP officers seemed impersonal but very professional--clearly they knew what they were doing. While I was waiting two people were rejected for their TN but the officers made it clear it was due to their clear lack of qualifications under NAFTA. They were walked back to the Canadian side but again in a civil way.

When it was my turn I went up and presented my documents, logically organized in a simple three-ring binder. I wrote up a summary of the content and stuck it to the front, which the CBP guy clearly appreciated. He had a few perfunctory questions and asked to see my F1 and OPT paperwork, which I produced. He then took a look at my employment letter and waved me through without even looking at the rest of the documents! The whole thing was over in 5 minutes and I was on my way.

Things I took away from the whole experience:
1. If you qualify for a TN (real job, real company, job title/responsibilities fit NAFTA, correct qualifications etc.), have no past immigration infractions, and prepare your stuff carefully, you WILL get a TN. Sure, the occasional CBP officer might give you hassle but he/she can't re-write NAFTA.
2. Organize your stuff well so you don't have to fumble--makes things easier for CBP and yourself by extension. Present yourself well, be straight-forward, and remember point #1 above.
3. If you were in another status before (specifically F1 OPT in my case), bring everything related to it. They'll wanna make sure you've been in status.
4. Go to a port where they know NAFTA--I specifically chose Pearson on a work day during regular hours to avoid some novice CBP officer screwing up an otherwise simple application.
5. Bring something--a magazine, newspapers--to distract yourself during the wait.

I understand that my experience might not be totally representative and appreciate that other people might have had more complex life situations, but thought I should share my mostly positive experience here anyway to spare some people the unnecessary anxiety and lawyer expenses. Good luck to you all!

What you experienced is what 95% of people who apply for a TN experience. Most of the horror stories come from someone who is trying to apply for a job they do not qualify for or simply because thay are trying to get in under a job that they will not actually be doing aka: programmers trying to squeeze in as computer systems analysts. I deal with TN's everyday, the cut and dry ones take me around ten minutes from start to finish. My biggest peeve is someone showing up to get a professional job chewing gum and wearing ripped jeans and a t-shirt. TN's are for professionals. I am glad to see someone finally post a positive letter here and I wish the best for you!

I was scared out of my mind having read many posts from disgruntled people myself, all over the internet and on canuckabroad.com but I am a consultant with a large company, and I chose nonetheless, as they had instructed me - go to the airport and no other port of entry.

So I booked a 5:40 pm flight on Saturday July 9 even though I was going to start on Monday and headed to the airport. At 1:30 I was talking to a customs agent (first clearance). He sent me to the secondary inspection area where I handed in my yellow file given by the first clearance officer. At that time say around 2 pm on a saturday, the area was not even close to being a quarter full.

Of course any US citizen or anyone who had lost their passport and had one issued by a consulate was given priority. My petition and letter were drafted by a nafta lawyer hired by my company. I went with my resume, degree, transcript, letter, t4, and passport.

The agent only looked at my resume, degree and the letter. He asked me what my job had to do with writing insurance software. I gave a 2 sentence answer and said I could explain more. He just got up off his seat, walked away, photocopied everything, came back, threw the originals back at me (kind of rudely) and stapled the bottom of my I-94 stamped with "MULTIPLE ENTRY" to my passport and told me to walk over to the payments area.

No matter what they tell you, you can pay by cash, draft, or even visa/debit.

By 2:30 I was at my flight gate. But then again, my TN was for 6 months only. He may have been nearly indignant if the company had requested the full 3 years. There's a lot less to it than people make of it.