Start Date - BC / WA Land Border Crossing

I

itspeng

Registered Users (C)
I live at Vancouver, and recently got offer of working as a transportation engineer at Phoenix, AZ for a largest engineering consulting firm in the US. I have bachlor and master degree in Civil Engineering in Canada.

After much researches, the HR drafted a letter of support without specifying a start date except: "Company XYZ requires Mr. X's service temporarily for a period of one year immediately, upon approval of TN status." In reality, it takes time to drive from Vancouver, BC to Phoenix, AZ so can BC / WA USCIS enforce the start date on the letter to be the same day as the job reporting date?

Will this approach of "upon approval of TN status" work in BC / WA border?

Any thought? Please help.

Thank you.
 
I would just call one of the BC/WA POE's and ask them if they'll grant you a TN with the understanding it will take you 3 days travel time to get to the destination.
I can't see that it would be a problem they can't expect you to cross into the US and be in at work 4 states away the same day.
 
Contact Info. for POE at BC / WA

Thank you for the suggestion

May I ask if anyone knows the contact phone information for POE at BC / WA please?

Sincere Thanks
 
For what it's worth I did go through Port Huron, MI and my job was in Seattle, WA. It would obviously take a few days to get there (4 days actually) and they didn't have a problem with this.
 
Job title

Thank you all for the valuable information

There is a debates going among the reviewers of my TN support letter: whether to use "transportation engineer", "civil engineer" or just "engineer" as job title on the letter. My concern with "engineer" is that the job description defined by the HR are all relevant to transportation engineering tasks. Transportation engineering is actually a sub-group of civil engineering, but I am affraid that officer may deny my application in stating that transportation engineer is not part of the "engineer" category under NAFTA, which does not have a list of acceptable engineers under "engineer".

Here is the content of my TN letter:
......Company XYZ would like to employ Mr. ABC, who is a Canadian citizen, as a transportation engineer [“005.061-038 Transportation Engineer (profess. & kin.)] with the duties which are outlined and described by the Department of Labor's Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT). Company XYZ requires Mr. ABC's service temporarily for a period of one year beginning February 7, 2007 or as soon as possible thereafter, upon approval of TN status......

Any thought?

Thank you.
 
You are using the Dept. of Labor's version of your specific discipline. This is used more for H1B descriptions. Why don't you just say "Engineer" and then move on with the description. When they say are you an engineer, you just say yes and show them your diploma. If they say this is for civil engineering, then you say yes and that this is the type of engineering degree you would need for this type of work.

You can say Engineer to perform transportation related design work blah, blah, blah. Is Transportation engineer even on this list?
 
Job Title discussion

Transportation Engineer is a sub-group under Civil Engineers in both O*NET and DOT.

O*NET: http://www.onetcodeconnector.org/ccreport/17-2051.00
DOT: http://www.occupationalinfo.org/00/005061038.html
Occupational Outlook Handbook: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos027.htm

<-------- Information source: http://srwlawyers.com/nafta_tn.asp------>
Appendix 1603.D.1 includes the occupation of "Engineer" within its list of professions. However, Appendix 1603.D.1 provides no further guidance as to what disciplines of engineering fall under this occupation, and that has led to mercurial adjudications and denials at various POE's.

In a memorandum dated July 24, 2000 from Mr. Michael D. Cronin, Acting Executive Associate Commissioner, Office of Programs, the issue of software engineers was once again addressed. The memorandum, titled "Guidance for Processing Applicants under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)", provides further direction on whether the occupation of software engineer is included under NAFTA. Mr. Cronin states, "Since the appendix doesn't specify certain specialties, the three NAFTA partners interpret this to mean that all engineering specialties are included.
<--------------------------------------------------------------------->

Some friends with lawyers' help say use specified DOT and O*NET description to reinforce, but some said not necessary.

Really don't know which side to listen to now, and will be going to apply TN Visa for the first time soon.

Any thought?

Thank you
 
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