Renew TN-1 by mail less than 45 days before it expires?

Hi,

I have a TN-1 visa as a management consultant for a client in the US. I’ve done work for them periodically over the past year. I live in Canada, and go to the US occasionally to work for the client, just for a few days at a time. (we got the visa initially for just one year)

We plan to continue this working arrangement, and so we’d like to renew the visa. For a number of reasons, it seems appealing to do this by mail.

I’ve read that if you’re renewing by mail, it’s best to do so at least 45 days before the old visa expires. There are a couple of obstacles that might delay our renewal application, so I’m not sure it we’ll be able to make that deadline. I have a couple of questions:

a) If I try to renew the visa by mail, say, a couple of weeks before it expires, what happens? Does it just mean there will be a period of 3 weeks or so where I don’t have visa? That would be fine for me, since I’m currently in Canada, and don’t plan to go back to the US for a couple of months.

b) Is it possible to renew the visa by mail *after* it has expired?

Thanks!

To renew by mail, you need to file I-129 BEFORE your current one expires, but you do not need to have the renewal approved before your current TN expires. All I-129 extensions of status with the same employer benefit from a 240 day garce period during which your work status is legal (pending).


That said, if you leave US during this grace period and before you get TN approval, you will then need to get a new TN at the boorder to re-enter