Need advice: have been stucked in TN for past 3 years...

Hi,

I need some advices from the experts here. I graduated with my bacholar in 2000 and worked in Ottawa as an Engineer for about 5 years and then got hired by one of the big hi-tech company in US since end of 2005 (I started my part-time master degree in Ontario while I was working in Canada and completed it in 2007).

Back in 2005 I was holding a TN visa to work for the company, since then they have tried to help me to apply for the H1B visa. In 2006, they submitted my application late because they want to wait until my wife to move from Canada to US before applying the H1B visa for me, which it turned out that the quota had been exceeded. Then they tried to apply H1B for me in both 2007 and 2008 but wasn't successful because I lost in the lottery. The alternative is that I applied the TN visa from the US/CDN border and this has been the 3rd year that I do that.

Questions:
- Is there anything my company's lawyer and the company's immigration office to do in order to get me out of the TN loop? Or any suggestion for me to talk to the lawyer about going from TN to green card?
- Since I have > 8 yrs of engineering experience and the Master I got from Ontario, am I in EB2 or EB3? (My department actually paid for the premium processing this year to speed up my application process; however, I still lost in the H1B lottery. )
- My wife is in a similiar situation as me and she has a dental degree in Canada and now working in US as a dentist, does she qualify in EB2 or EB3?
- Will the custom eventually deny my TN renewal if I keep on applying (if I am really this bad luck of losing in the lottery continuously)?
- I switched position within my big hi-tech firm. Now I need to travel almost once or twice a month. Will I get into problem if I'm lucky enough to get a H1B visa next year?
- Initially, I was hired as a "Test Engineer" to do system validation work. But in 2007, I switched to do software programming, which they switch me to "Software Engineer". This year my new position requires me to design test solution. In the business card my title is "Manufacturing Test Development Engineer" but they put me as "Test Engineer" in the TN application. Do you think I should ask the law firm to put me back to "Software Engineer" so I may have a better chance to get the H1B or later on the green card? Does the job title matter that much?
- The job description of my new position saying to want "prefer master degree" but I think it is ok for my boss to change it to be "master degree is necessary". If that's the case, do you think I have a better chance to get the H1B or later on the green card easier?

I'm really sorry for so many questions but I'm pretty sure some other folks may have similar questions in mind. Hope the experts here can help me out

man9

Job title doesn't matter for H-1B really (the qualifications are the most important), but it does for TN-1.

Requiring a master's degree won't help for H-1B (other than reducing the applicant pool) unless you got it from a US university.

Travel isn't a problem on TN-1 or H-1B.

You might get turned down eventually for TN-1, the key is to maintain "bona fide non-immigrant intent" which is the requirement. E.g. have an address in Canada, file taxes in Canada, have a Canadian driver's licence, etc.

You could qualify for either EB-2 or EB-3, but TN-1 is not dual intent so you have to use consular processing (which means they don't put down anything about your TN-1 status on the I-140 and you have to have a Canadian address, essentially).

For EB-2 the master's degree really needs to be a requirement for the job, that will help, but it doesn't guarantee you will get it.

Steven,

I understand that if you get a master degree you will automatically compete with fewer people. But you mention
"Requiring a master's degree won't help for H-1B (other than reducing the applicant pool) unless you got it from a US university. "

How is it different a Master degree from US and elsewhere?
I never heard that there is a difference.

Thanks

ya, should not matter.

There's an extra 20,000 H1B visas specifically for people who got advanced degrees (Master's or better) from a *US* university.

So, yes, it does matter (unless the regular H1B visa cap is raised high enough so that they are not being used up).

Note, though, that this only applies to H1B visas, and not things like green cards, etc.

Ooh
I thought it applies to any master.
But anyway, I think I am eligible.

this is now a lottery as well as it goes in the first 30 days

Honestly I don't think there is much point to H-1B for Canadians unless you really don't fit into the NAFTA categories. Forgetting that it's a lottery to begin with, you've also got the problem of the employer doing the labour certification. Plus you've got to apply for the visa.

Yes it's a hassle keeping some residential ties to Canada to prove the "non-immigrant intent" but that's not a big problem compared to all the hassle of H-1B. And TN-1 can be renewed forever and there is a proposed rule to extend the validity to three years anyway.

All work permits are crappy in some respect, both of them have serious downsides, depends on which downsides you want to live with. Getting booted out in six years time after doing a heap of paperwork, or not being able to apply for permanent residency easily and having to keep a job title and ties to Canada.

They both suck.

Well both suck but they give someone valuable experience. One does not need permanent residence so being booted out after 6 years or less or not being able to apply for PR is not necessarily a bad thing. It is mostly some work permit holders of a specific nationality who are absolutely ready to do anything for the 'green card' ot whatever it is called now, at least in 1998 they called it that. Most Canadians would be happy to get the experience and move back if they need to.

The main downside is that you cannot do anything else ie work on the side etc. The second being that no unemployment benefits if the job is gone. The UK offers a better deal I think, no ?

All over the world, work permits are temporary and do not necessarily lead to permanent residence. For some strange cultural reason, I see a few nationalities desperate for PR in the US.

It's not a strange cultural reason, it's just the US system is far harder to go from work permit to permanent residency, because the US system is biased towards family rather than employment-based immigration. Plus the work permits have all kinds of weird quotas and time limits on them, whereas most work permits in most countries can be renewed ad infinitum. Plus the US is a large country so there's more people in the same situation immigration-wise.

If you want to see people who are desperate for permanent residency, do a search on "Cayman Islands", as all work permits there expire after six years. They never tell you that in their glossy job ads.

You get this fantastic high-paying job with no income tax - but there is a rather large catch!