Very specific situation - TN-1

Details-
Myself: currently on H4, two graduate degrees - electrical engineering and business administration (US university), 3-4 years experience, currently live in the US
Spouse: currently on H1-B, Canadian PR/non-US citizen.

Situation: I have been living as a dependent on an H-4 since graduating with an MBA. I now have an opportunity to work in a public corporation to "assist management" on specific tasks which seems to fall under the MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT category. My employment letter will state the duration of my employment to be 1 year as a senior business planner (sorry it cannot be changed, this is a public corporation with 20,000 employees so they have standardized job titles for everything)

Problem: Management Consultant being a dicey case every time, I am wondering if I get rejected will I be able to return on an H4? Logic would dictate that if i wanted to work illegally I am already in the US. Plus I have been in the US on an F1 and H4 several times without ever working illegally or being out of status. I am confident my case is strong but in the chance of a rejection, will I be able to return to my spouse? Maybe not the same day but at least the next day?

P.S. I plan to fly in and out of YVR. Any opinions on this POE?

If you want to get really specific it's hard to answer because we cannot know the mood of the CBP guy you talk to, just how close to the definition of "management consultant" your job is and so on.

What I would say is that given how tricky that category is and that you're already in the US and want to be able to remain there, this may be a situation where applying from inside the US makes sense, i.e. get your employer to file an I-129 for you to change status from H-4 to TN-1. That way if it's denied they'd have to take further action to remove you, which seems unlikely. The only snag is that you're not there to explain why your job is actually a management consultant position.

Plus your wife is a Canadian LPR so her status in Canada depends on yours while she is in the US, so if you got refused entry that would possibly screw up her status too.

-- Wed Feb 04, 2009 7:26 pm --

I looked into this one (or rather I happened to come across some more information coincidentally). To get management consultant it has to be a position that is essentially not internal to the company, i.e. not a position that is being filled by them. You must be able to demonstrate that you are merely "consulting".

The only exception is if you are going to work for a management consulting company that has external clients they need you to consult to.