UI for TN visa worker

Hi All,

A close friend of mine who has been working for a consulting firm for the last 2 years in NJ is now in a kind of idle status without pay because his company runs dry of work order/project.

As his TN visa is still valid until summer, he wonders if he can apply for US employment insurance for the time being until his company gets work and pay him again.

Thanks a lot in advance for your taking the time to advise us.

Quang

Your friend would not be able to obtain unemployment insurance because you have to be ready and available to work in order to qualify. If your visa is specific to a particular employer (like a TN), then that means you can only work for that employer. (They don't consider being able to go to the border and get a new TN as being ready and available to work, under the law.)

You should also be aware that if your friend's employment has been terminated (i.e., being laid off), he/she has 10 days to pack everything up and move back to Canada or else they are out of status. (Even if the I-94 is still valid.)

TN is a bit strange as work categories go, if he's actually still officially employed and still on the payroll then his status is still valid. This is not the case with H-1B for example. Now obviously if he's thinking of claiming EI then he must be unemployed, so he's out-of-status at that point and must leave. If he's contributed to EI in NJ he can claim on it, there is a strange formula that is used so some of it comes from Canada and some from the US based on the time worked in either country, tell him to have a look on the Service Canada website because I can't figure it out personally.

Thank you, Steve and all for your fast replies. Actually, my friend is still officially employed by the same company and still on their payroll, but without weekly paycheck because of work shortage (Consultants are paid for the hours spent on projects).

Like all other TN visa holders, my friend has been contributing social security and medicare tax from every pay check until recently. His company has been working hard to pull in new contracts so that my friend can resume his contribution. They pretty much value him and really want to keep him so he's not laid off nor his TN work with this sponsor company is terminated/completed.

As per your replies, my friend will contact the local department of labor for exact details. We're very aware it's not quite the same like at home: We apply for EI upon laid off or job termination; over there we'll have to pack, head home, and try TN again with another sponsor company.

Thanks again for your time,
Quang Tran

You may have to check with the applicable State involved since there may be subtle differences in rules for making a claim between States. However, generally speaking, documented aliens are entitled to make a claim for American UI. For example, California states that an alien must maintain satisfactory immigration status during the claim. Clearly for TN, this involves a change of status to B2 in order to be eligible. Your friend's change to B2 must be approved in order to qualify since your TN Status disappears the day you are laid off.

Ask the State and Canadian UI authorities as to how to proceed since they may say you cannot collect UI on B2 and may in fact have to return to Canada to be eligible.

When your friend is laid off and if he/she has not requested a change of status to B2, they have to depart the U.S. as soon as possible.

has anyone successfully done a claim from a US state while in Canada ? I called up the local office in Ontario and they said, I should file with the US state. Anyone ?

Employees on temporary lay-off or unpaid furlough however, may not be eligible for unemployment benefits, because the work stoppage is only temporary.

I'm having a similar problem. I was working in the US on a TN visa, and I got laid off in the US. I called the EI office in Canada and they said to file with the US state. However, when I did that, the US UI office said I'm not eligible because I'm not available to work in the States. My time for filing is running out soon, so can someone please help me with this? Has anyone successfully filed a claim and how would I go about doing this?

Thanks

Employees on temporary lay-off or unpaid furlough however, may not be eligible for unemployment benefits, because the work stoppage is only temporary.

Most (if not all) states provide for what's called "partial unemployment" -- basically if your hours have been substantially reduced you can get partial unemployment pay outs (unpaid furlough would probably not qualify, but being laid-off for weeks at a time would).

Probably best sticking with this thread as a lot of the questions are already answered: is-tn-qualify-for-unemployment-insurance-vt2893.html