Independent Contractor in Canada working for a US firm

[Janet.Neilson]

I have been offered a six-month position working for a US-based think-tank to run an advocacy campaign as an independent contractor working out of Canada. The job would require me to go over to the US for meetings, to organize a couple of events in the US and go to some training seminars in the US. Otherwise I would work in Canada from home.

I called the US Consulate and was told that I would need either TN status or an H1 visa for this position, but it almost seemed like they made up their mind without really listening to my situation. On the other hand, an immigration lawyer told me that if I wanted to I could just do the work and try to minimize my visits to the US, but he probably wouldn't recommend it.

I live near the border and cross often for non-work reasons and I don't want to risk getting flagged by CBP or inadvertently breaking any laws.

I was hoping someone here would have some advice on whether I need a visa (or TN status) to do this type of work or some more specific questions to ask the Consulate. I am trying to keep everything as simple as possible as the guys who tried to hire me were under the impression that they would circumvent the visa process by hiring me in the way that they did.

[Steven]

There are a ton of threads on this topic in the US section of the forum.

Basically, do a web search for "B-1 NAFTA entry" and see if what you want to do while in the US is listed there. If it is then you don't need to apply for anything. Generally meetings with clients, taking orders, doing in-house training and the like is permitted as a B-1 visitor.

Make sure you have set up a company in Canada (self-employed or whatever) and are invoicing them (i.e. a client relationship), if CBP think you are directly working for them while in the US they might deny you entry.

The tax situation is where it gets interesting.