In this short video, with accompanying transcript, Attorney Michael Murray explains TN visa eligibility for Mexican and Canadian nationals. If you have additional questions or concerns about the TN visa, or any other business immigration issue, contact the attorneys at FordMurray today.

Who is eligible for a TN visa?

Transcript of Video:

The TN visa is the Trade NAFTA visa. It was created under the North American Free Trade Agreement. It’s only eligible or accessible to Mexican nationals and Canadian nationals who are our NAFTA partners to the north and to the south of us. There’s a big difference though between the requirements for a Mexican national and a Canadian national and that is that the Mexican national will have to take an extra step of getting a labor condition application certified by the Department of Labor which verifies that they’re making the prevailing wage before they can proceed to get the TN work visa.

The TN is only for professional grade positions and that is defined in the regulations under what’s known as the TN schedule. There’s a finite list of about 30 or so professors that are enumerated there and only those professions are eligible for the TN visa classification. As examples, we have different types of engineers, computer systems analysts, professors, accountants, management consultants and a plethora of different types of what they call medical allied professions so you always have to check to make sure that the position you’re hiring someone in is in that, is listed on the schedule.

In terms of what is required, again, you have to go back to the TN schedule. Each profession will have a listed requirement, whether it’s a bachelor’s degree, some type of lesser degree or a license requirement and sometimes you’ll just have a term of experience that’s required for example the management consultant position requires five years of relevant experience. The TN application can be great because there’s not a long petitioning process like you have with H1B or L1 visa.

If you’re Canadian, you simply go straight to the border with a support letter and documentation showing that you qualify, you’re a Canadian national. You have the education required or the license required and you can be given the TN work visa status right on the spot at the port of entry. So it can be a nice, convenient way of hiring a foreign national who meets the requirements.