Working for a staffing company on a TN visa

Hey guys,

One more quick question I'd like to ask you all.

Does anyone know if you can work for a temporary staffing agency with a TN visa? The staffing agency is an American company, the company I will (hopefully) be working AT is a large multinational corporation.

It seems to me that working for a temp agency would be perfect for TN status, but one of the people I was interviewed by mentioned that he thought it wasn't allowed. I can't find anything in the TN Visa Expert package to either confirm or deny this.

If it is allowed. how do I write the application letter? Do I mention both the temp agency and the company I'll work for, or leave out the temp agency and just write it as if the company is hiring me directly. Actually, now that I write that, it doesn't seem like a very good idea.

Thanks in advance for your time!

I'd suggest you call someone at the TNVisaExpert site for a consult.

You don't need a TN-1 for the temp agency, once they place you the company you're placed with would have to write the letter. Whether it's lawful for a temp agency to place people with no employment status in the US I don't know, but given that you have a reasonable expectation of getting status once placed, I doubt it would be illegal.

Its perfectly legitimate and this has been a routine application for years.

The staffing/employment agency is the U.S. employer, not the work-site employer. The work-site employer needs to be indicated in the documentation, including the name of the company and work location.

This prevents CBP from concluding that the TN applicant will be engaging in speculative employment. In other words, the staffing firm can't support the application without first having prearranged employment for the TN applicant.

I am a Canadian Occupational Therapist and am currently attempting to navigate the TN process in order to work in Boston for 9 months (my partner is completing a Masters there).
I am waiting on my Visascreen and have received a letter of employment from the healthcare staffing company that I will be working for. I have read accounts of a few others that have tried to get TN status by using a letter from a healthcare staffing company and have been denied because the staffing company is not technically the "employer", but is contracted by the employer to place healthcare professionals. However, I will be paid directly by the staffing company. Does this not technically make them my employer?
The catch-22 is that the staffing company that I work for is not able to "place me" with an employer until I obtain my state license, my state license cannot be obtained until I have a SS number and I can't get a SS number without having TN status which means there is no way they could list specific workplace on my letter. Any thoughts? Has anyone else been through this experience?

TN officers are aware of this conundrum and routinely issue TN for those who anticipate getting their license. Since you can't work without the licence, the CBP takes the posistion that giving you your approval is not a danger.