Curious about any TN options I have - Software Dev/Engineer - Degree in Finance

AlexDTO

AlexDTO

New Member
Hi All,

I'm a Canadian citizen that recently made the switch from a career in finance (B.Comm 4 year Undergrad) to software engineering at one of the large tech companies where I have been employed in Canada full time for 6 months. My job title is Software Development Engineer, and I'm self taught and did not take any official classes related to computer science or engineering.

I have recently been wondering what it would take for me to get work status within the US for a different (or the same) company. I did some preliminary research on the TN visa and it seems that even those with computer science degrees have a tough time getting the visa.

Is there any chance or pathway for those with a 4 year degree in a different field? Does the work experience with a "engineer" title help my chances at all? If I am ineligible for the TN visa, am I completely out of luck?

Thanks for the help! This forum seems like a wealth of information.
 
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The work experience does not count toward TN qualification. Your degree determined your eligible field. H1-B allows for cross-discipline hiring, but not TN. There is a difference between "hirability" which you appear to have, and TN eligibility.

Of course if you were transferred to a sister firm in US, on an L1 status, you could work in any capacity with that firm.
 
nelsona said:
The work experience does not count toward TN qualification. Your degree determined your eligible field. H1-B allows for cross-discipline hiring, but not TN. There is a difference between "hirability" which you appear to have, and TN eligibility.

Of course if you were transferred to a sister firm in US, on an L1 status, you could work in any capacity with that firm.
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Thank you for the reply Nelsona! So it would seem that my options would be H1-B for external hiring and L1 for internal transfers? I guess that makes it a bit more difficult for me but at least I have options. I'll look into the L1 status!
 
I am Mathematics graduate and got multiple TN. While getting 1st TN officer asked me couple of technical questions to get some idea about my experience, I abled to answer as had 10+ year experience.
 
Experience doers not count at the border for Math, and "a couple of questions" would not be sufficient evidence if it was needed.
 
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