Tagged: TN Visa
Limit On Renewals of TN Visa?
The simple answer is no. However, this visa/status is designed for “short term” work and not meant for a permanent placement so if the applicant indicates that s/he is filling a permanent and or intends to be in the job with no end date, it could be grounds for the officer to reject the application.
We have heard that some officers may reject the application after 4 or more times of renewals.
Just to clarify, prior to Oct/Nov 2013, TN visa/status was only good for one year. Now it’s good for three years. That said, our experience has been that our team in this room has renewed our visa over 7 times (me 9) prior to 2013.
My point is this – if the officer believes the applicant has a job with no guaranteed end date, the application will likely be rejected. BUT the last time we checked, there are no companies in this world that would offer such a deal even for a CEO role of a Fortune 50 (they can be terminated too!).
Immigration attorneys or the employer legal counsel will likely advise the applicants that they could be terminated in 3 years time and that is their discretion. The TN application letter will also clearly indicate that the role is for 3 years time. Does this mean the company is obligated to fire you in 3 years time because of this statement in the application letter? Absolutely not.
Good news for Mexicans applying for TN Visa
The Department of State has eliminated the need for an approved petition from United States Citizenship & Immigration (USCIS) prior to applying for a TN visa at a US consulate. Under the new rules, any qualified Mexican professional can apply for the TN visa directly at a US embassy or consulate office. This ruling is in effect as of Feb 10, 2014.
The elimination of the first step will dramatically cut down the processing time on both ends of the process. Win win!
More details here:
DOS issues final rule for Mexican citizens applying for TN visa classification
Mexican TN Visa – New Procedures Streamline Processing
TN Visa Rejected – Apply Under A New Category?
Tom Grayson’s TN application was just rejected because he did not meet the requirements defined under the Management Consultant profession that he applied for. Tom has over 8 years of consulting experience and a Bachelor in Computer Science. Moreover, this was not Tom’s first TN visa application and had applied successfully under Management Consultant and Computer Systems Analyst category.
Tom’s current job can easily fall under the Computer Systems Analyst category so he contemplates on changing his application and return the next day hoping to get a different customs officer.
When he called his attorney friend about his plan, her advice to him was this.
1. It’s perfectly fine to have applied and worked under different professional categories in the past. The classification should match both the description of the job and the candidates’ qualifications.
2. To switch the category after a failed attempt, however, may raise a red flag with the officer in the second attempt. There may be a strong case to switch the category but it should be carefully thought through.
3. Management Consultant happens to be one of the highly scrutinized categories due to the number of applicants who use this as a last resort if they do not qualify under other professions.
More on profession categories: http://canada.usembassy.gov/mobile/visas/doing-business-in-america/professions-covered-by-nafta.html
TN info on US Citizenship & Immigration Services’ (USCIS) Site
In case you’re searching for it, here’s the official page on USCIS’ site regarding TN Visa – NAFTA.
http://www.uscis.gov/working-united-states/temporary-workers/tn-nafta-professionals
TN NAFTA Professionals List
Although this list has not changed much, it’s worth mentioning this link that seem to be more “official”:
NAFTA Professionals List or
https://www.nafta-sec-alena.org/Default.aspx?tabid=97&ctl=SectionView&mid=1588&sid=8fd98e3e-4495-43a8-ba47-4a6955d6b5db&language=en-US#Ap1603.D.1
How many TN visas were REJECTED?
In our last entry, we looked at successful issuance of TN visas (and also H1B’s). I also came across the number of rejected TN applicants in 2012.
Drum roll please.
2012 TN Rejection Rate
1,172 out of 8,810 of TN applications were rejected. If I were a math teacher marking a test paper, this gets 13% rejection or 87% success rate. Not bad.
So how does this compare to H1B?
2012 H1B Rejection Rate
29,994 out of 165,524 of H1B applications were rejected or 18% rejection rate. Still not bad.
Keep in mind though that the number of successful issuance includes renewals which has a higher chance of success. What does this mean? It means that if you’re thinking of applying for a TN (or H1B) visa and assuming your paper work is in order, on AVERAGE, your success rate is pretty high but not as high as 87% (or 82% for H1B).
Stats thanks to Buruau of Consular Affairs
How many TN visas were issued last year?
Given Canada and Mexico’s geographic proximity to the US and that there are no limit set on the TN visa/status issued every year, one would expect that the number of TN issued every year will be ridiculously high, right? Well yes and no. Here’s why.
Thanks to Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA), we were able to pull up some quick stats on TN, TD, and some other visas for 2012.
In 2012, only a whopping 7,638 TN visas were issued! How does this compare to the more well-known work visa called H1B? For starters, the limit set on H1B (excluding exemptions) is already at 65,000 but with renewals from prior H1B holders, the total number of H1B’s issued in 2012 was 135,530. That is almost 20 times more than TN’s!
But wait, TN visa/status is only for Mexican and Canadian citizens so if you compare the number of issued visas to the overall country population, the percentage is actually not that far off. Not only that, the ratio of TN issued to Canadian is 3+ times more than that of H1B visas relative the population pool of countries eligible for H1B at 0.12% versus 0,004%.
(The break up of number of TN issued to Canada and Mexico are approximate but total is based on Bureau of Consular Affairs.)
So what does this all mean? Not sure because I was expecting number of TN issued to be much higher given the strong business ties with the US economy, cultural similarity (Canadians), and geographic promixity to the US.
Now that the economy is picking up, maybe this will change.
TN Visa Letters 