"General" job positions and Canadians working in t

Hey everyone. I am a 27 year old MBA graduate nearing a completed job offer with a US employer. My visa situation should be fine under either the TN or H1.

My girlfriend is 23 with an undergraduate degree in communications/marketing.

I have two questions that seem to be gray areas from my preliminary research on getting her set up to work in the US.

1. Can a Canadian pick up a "general" or non-specialized job (ex. waitress at Martini bar) if a US employer makes a job offer? Say if I found a manager at a Martini bar that would like to hire her, would there be a visa that could allow her to work in the US? I have read about a H2B visa which entails seasonal or "soft" jobs. Would this be a possible option? Perhaps she could pick up a job as a waitress until a more concrete, solid job offer comes about that deals directly with her degree.

2. Under the TN agreement and NAFTA job listings, there does not appear to be a specific area that would allow for a position at say an advertising agency, marketing position etc. What kind of position do you think my girlfriend could qualify for with her degree?

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Suggestions on what route to take in her case would be a big help also.

Thanks

She would qualify for H-2B but getting it is a different matter, generally employment agencies are used for H-2B, or the employer is quite large, e.g. a hotel chain. I don't think it's realistic for some casual bar job given the labour certification requirements. (Plus there is a quota on H-2B).

She'd be looking at H-1B by the sounds of it as she doesn't qualify for TN-1.

She would enter as TD or H-4, you can't get a social security number or look for work in those categories.

Before I answer your specific questions, you might want to consider forming a support group for the purpose of lobbying Canadian politicians to gain spousal work permission for Canadian TD/H4 holders. Australian E3 spouses enjoy the right to work in the US, so why not Canadians? Mulroney used his majority to push through NAFTA and in general be friendly with the USA. Harper wants to be friendly with the USA too--perhaps if he wants his majority he should earn it by negotiating better terms for Canadians in the USA.

1. Can a Canadian pick up a "general" or non-specialized job (ex. waitress at Martini bar) if a US employer makes a job offer? Say if I found a manager at a Martini bar that would like to hire her, would there be a visa that could allow her to work in the US? I have read about a H2B visa which entails seasonal or "soft" jobs. Would this be a possible option? Perhaps she could pick up a job as a waitress until a more concrete, solid job offer comes about that deals directly with her degree.

The H2B seems to require labor certification. I'm not sure how complex it would be. I'm guessing that if you just approached a random employer, it would be too much trouble, but if you were friendly with the owner of the bar and they were willing to help out, it might be possible. But it would take some time to push through.

2. Under the TN agreement and NAFTA job listings, there does not appear to be a specific area that would allow for a position at say an advertising agency, marketing position etc. What kind of position do you think my girlfriend could qualify for with her degree?

Technical writer might be a TN-eligible option with her background.

you might want to consider forming a support group for the purpose of lobbying Canadian politicians to gain spousal work permission for Canadian TD/H4 holders.

I doubt TD will ever be allowed to work, it would require an amendment to the treaty or Congress would have to take pity on them.

Mexico has been lobbying Washington for years and years to allow H-4 visa holders to work, it is a major bone of contention. What happens is that labourers go in as H-2A and the employer has to offer accomodation and access to healthcare to them - but not to H-4 and they can't work either so it places a major strain on Mexican families as generally they can't accompany the H-2A visa holder as a result.

There was a Bill a few years ago that would have allowed H-4 spouses to work but it was wittled down to spouses of E visa holders only, which is a tiny number of people.

I wouldn't be surprised if the reason TD are not allowed to work was to discourage Mexicans from applying for TN-2.

Mexico has been lobbying Washington for years and years to allow H-4 visa holders to work, it is a major bone of contention.

Then Canada should be lobbying for its citizens too--regardless of the probability of success.

One more reason for Canadians abroad to vote, people! There are 2.7 million Canadians living abroad and only 40,000 voted in the 2006 elections. Now many of the 2.7 million would be ineligible, but imagine what politicians would think if the expat vote just doubled (to 80,000) or tripled (120,000). The expat community would suddenly have clout (or at least organizations trying to represent that community, like the Canadian Expat Association) would. John

Considering the unemployment rate in most states these days, I'd say any foreigner is lucky to have a job offer in the US! Born citizens can't even find jobs these days

Then Canada should be lobbying for its citizens too--regardless of the probability of success.

How many Canadian migrant workers are there though, not many. In fact there probably aren't that many Canadians with H-1B anymore, let alone H-2.

You've got to understand that the Canadian Govt. (at least under the Liberals) is not keen at all on having Canadian citizens move south, as they tend to be professionals, especially in healthcare, which Canada is desperately short of. Plus they tend to be high-earners, which means you don't want your tax base moving south.

Neither the US or Canadian governments have any real interest in allowing Canadian H-4 visa holders to work, just makes moving to the US more attractive.

As far as I can see the whole tax system is set up to stop it too, technically in TN-1 you are supposed to file as a non-resident (although hardly anyone does) if you do that you effectively pay the combination of US social security tax and Canadian income tax, which is far more as CPP contributions are miles lower. So this makes it more attractive to stay in Canada.

Plus Canada has the "departure tax", which appears to me to be an entirely unique tax which is expressly designed to stop people from emigrating. If you're Joe Schmoe with an RRSP, a car and only one house (i.e. not much of a tax source) you won't get hit with it, but if you're Joe slightly-better off Schmoe with a vacation home in Florida, or you're self-employed and your business is worth more than $50,000, you definitely will get hit with it.

The Americans are just as bad because of their limit on the foreign tax credit which was designed to stop wealthy people living overseas. Which is why they don't, by and large.