foreign credentials evaluation for unrelated bs degree

A

aseke

New Member
Hi,

I have a BS degree in engineering from outside of North America. But after getting my MBA from McGill University I have been working in finance and accounting roles for around 10 years. I am looking for an FP&A job in the US. As far as I understood here I could be able to apply to TN visa in accounting category for most of these FP&A roles.

I have a CMA certificate and I would like to use it as the main basis for my TN degree requirement. My question is that do I need to get an evaluation for my foreign BS degree given that I cannot use it as the basis of my application in accounting category?

Thanks,
 
Thank you very much for the answer. I have one more question. I also have an MS degree in accounting again outside of North America. Given CMA should be sufficient, is there any benefit of getting this foreign degree evaluated before my TN visa application?
 
If you are going to pursue Green card, it will be useful. But not necessarily for TN.
 
I have one last question about my application. Do I need to provide transcripts in sealed envelopes to the USCIS officer or can I provide original but opened transcripts? As far as I understood I need to provide photocopies of them as well. In that case obviously I would need to provide original but opened copies of transcripts but I just wanted to check since I have always asked to provide sealed copies of transcripts in my applications.
 
Hi,

I now have a job offer and I need to go through the TN process.

In the templates I found on the Internet, there is a part about how the employee is qualified for the job.

As I mentioned above I would like to base my eligibility on CMA certificate. But I also have unrelated engineering degree and also MS in Accounting from outside of North America. I also have an engineering degree from the USA and other non accounting certificates as well.

Should I mention all these in the letter or should I not include them and just mention CMA certificate, since they are not directly related to the position I am offered?

Thanks
 
My original response still stands. TN in accounting doesn't require a degree -- and certainly not unrelated ones.
 
Do I have to use the internal position title in the TN letter or using just the TN category enough?

I understand that the position title is not important and only the job description is important but in some templates that I found on the internet the internal job title is also written. I prefer to not to write it if possible but if it is a must excluding it is the problem.
 
I have another question related to the original posting. I read the following paragraph on the site of a law firm.

As far as I understood their client was not denied by CBP. So why did they fight to show that their client actually took accounting courses while studying economics instead of relying only on his CA?

In this particular case, our client earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. While this degree major is not the “normal major” for an Accountant, the XXX Law team presented the argument that our client should still be granted the requested status. We showed through transcripts that our client’s degree included accounting and other “normal” courses that are taken in the accounting major. Based on our argument, the transcripts, our client’s years of experience in the accounting employment field and his Canadian Chartered Accounting Designation, our TN application was approved.
 
Because, like most lawyers, they are unfamiliar with TN requirements, and, again like most lawyers, they like to portray that they are actually earning the fee they are charging for something that is designed to be done without a lawyer.
 
Nelsona, I have one more question to you related to this posting here. My CMA certificate is from IMA (US CMA). Previously I have read a post by the Law office of Brian Zuccaro. I am pasting the initial part below. So it also make sense to me that CMA from both countries should be accepted as degrees from different universities in both countries are accepted and contents of both certificates are similar. But as my date of TN application is approaching I started to think about this point once more.

Do you have any ideas or experiences related to this point?


NAFTA TN Accountants –

Eligibility as a Certified Management Accountant (“CMA”).

Question: Can I qualify for a TN visa under NAFTA if I am a Certified Management Accountant? Also, is it important where I get my certification from?

Answer: You should qualify for TN status under the Accountant category if you obtain a CMA from either The Institute of Management Accountants in the U.S. or from The Society of Management Accountants of Canada.
 
Just reviewing this thread, you do not need transcripts, and the TN letter should not describe your TN qualifications. That is what YOU do when you go to the border (by showing your CMA), and the officer decides. Your firm is in no position to know if you meet TN quals, they only determine if they want to hire you.
 
nelsona said:
Just reviewing this thread, you do not need transcripts, and the TN letter should not describe your TN qualifications. That is what YOU do when you go to the border (by showing your CMA), and the officer decides. Your firm is in no position to know if you meet TN quals, they only determine if they want to hire you.
Click to expand...

There is already a few sentence about my qualifications on the letter. The exact wording is as follows:

"[name] has the skills and experiences required by the position. He has a CMA certificate which fully qualifies him to work as an Accountant under NAFTA and he is an exceptional candidate for this professional position."

Is there any problem with this?
 
nelsona said:
How many positive answers do you need? Get on with it!
Click to expand...

It would be nice to hear someone says he/she or someone he/she knows got the TN with the US CMA. But if nobody has a practical experience on this subject as you said I will be the firts one who will share his experience on this subject in a few days.
 
Hi Everyone,

I wanted to share my experience with you. I got my TN status for 3 years.

I applied through a preclearence facility in Canada. I have been working in management accounting in the last 8 eight years and I have a CMA certificate from IMA as mentioned above. The job offered to me is also a typical non managerial management accounting job. So everthing was actually straightforward.

So I went in to the preclearance facility around 9:15 am in the morning. There was a few other people waiting for different purposes. I needed to wait for a CBP officer to become available. After sometime they called my name. I went there. Officer asked for my documents. I gave my CMA certificate, the original TN letter from the company and the copies of these and the passport (they already had taken the passport while I was entering there). After 10 minutes or so the officer came back and wanted me to pay the fee which is $50 in the airport (it is $56 in the border since $6 is included in the airline ticket if you are flying). I think he had already decided to approve my application at that point. After I paid the fee, he asked me to come with him and he started to fill the paperwork for the TN status, while filling the paperwork he asked me questions about the job, the name of the company etc. He also asked me if I have a resume with me, which I gave to him. Then he finished the paperwork and gave me my passport back. That was it. Aside from waiting maybe 20 minutes or so. The company I will work for is a pretty large public company.

Some points that I would like to mention is that CMA from IMA is accepted, no questions were asked about residential ties to Canada, he did not even asked for my address although I brought phone bills and bank statements from both countries and he did not ask for my unrelated degrees or transcripts, he just looked at my CMA certificate.
 
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