From OPT to TN

M

morgan990

New Member
Hello,

I’m looking into applying for a TN visa and I had a quick question.

I’m a Canadian who’s been attending school in New York since September 2012, and have been working as a full-time graphic designer under OPT since October 2014. My OPT will expire at the end of May, and I want to apply for a TN visa so I can keep working before my OPT runs out.

Now, I see there are two ways that a person can get a TN visa: either filing a change of status form, or going to a port of of entry and applying directly for a TN visa. Looking at some other posts, it seems like going to the border would be quicker and more painless. But the question is, what are the mechanics of actually doing that? Can I just show up at JFK Airport (the port of entry closest to me, according to the CBP port finder) and just ask someone in customer service to direct me to border services? Or can I only do this if I return to Canada and then come back?

Thanks.
 
TN is an entry status, so you need to be entering US. This means travelling abroad. You can't just walk up to an airport POE and request a status. The simplest is to drive/fly up to canada and turn around.
By mail works too (Form I-129), but is more expensive and unless you pay for premium processing you could run out of time.
TN is really designed for border applictions.
 
Of course. Thanks for the info.

One quick follow-up: do you have a reliable link that has a checklist for the documents I'd need to make a TN petition at the border? CIS only covers H-1B visas, the Department of State is a maze of broken links, and Google is giving me contradictory info.

Again, thanks so much for the speedy reply.
 
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