TN denied

N

nomadcanadian

New Member
I have just come back from the airport.

Background
Already had 5 TN permit in last 15 years and have 20 year IT experience. Last TN one was in 2016
Today officer put 1st objection on salary that my salary is higher than average. And said Management consultant role more suitable than CSA as most of the work mentioned and worked in software consulting, CSA is wrong category.
Than he asked me what will I doing day to day I explain him he interfere no all these consulting not CSA
I gave him my degrees( which shows mathematics graduation)
He said try another terminal or airport in USA, or USCIS(my last TN was through them all others I got at Pearson). He can not give TN. At that point I asked to withdraw my application. He gave me withdrawal of application paper mentioned 212(a) 7 (a) (i) I. He scanned my papers and took finger print. He talked friendly said sorry after looking my previous TN and said try some other POE.

I informed the company and waiting. What should I do now?
 
I would NOT try another POE before consulting with your attorney and looking at the suggestions the officer made. He may have been completely off-base in his opinion, but simply going to another POE is known as "port shopping" and is looked upon VERY negatively by the CBP.
 
Say your lawyer agreed with the officer's opinion. But your lawyer should be sure your job and position actually meet the requirements on MC, which includes it being supernumerary position, outside the firm's org chart (your lawyer should be able to explain this).

Just a point on salary: there is no "upper limit" on salary. There would have to be a huge pay gap between CSA and MC (which I doubt there is), and salary is negotiated by both parties until agreement. No room for CBP input on that.
 
Hoping it will help others.

Today I got TN under Management Consultant category for 1 year, Officer asked me whether I am applying on the basis of experience or degrees. As I had no experience of applying TN under MC category, seems it was mistake I asked based on experience basis though I have master degree. I was grilled about 1 hour and had to call my client for some papers to support. Seems few applying for TN only two people were in secondary review area.
 
congrats but your last post is confusing.

You said you were approved for the TN, but saying you qualified via experience is a mistake?
 
BTW the salary comments from the officer were irrelevant and inappropriate. It leads me to believe he was less experienced/less trained on TNs. In such a spot I would feel comfortable saying I think he has made a mistake and I would like to to ask the port supervisor to double-check.
 
On weekend I was flying to USA unsuspecting at immigration, officer stopped me and sent me again to secondary review area, there officer asked me why my TN was denied previous week. I explained after 10 minutes he gave me CBP slip and allowed me to take flight. I saw many slips seems for every entry to USA CBP going to send me secondary review and it seems they are doing this to everyone going to USA for work. Is this the normal practice? Seems CBP instructed to discourage Canadian to go to USA for work. I still have entire house stuff which I need in USA, now considering should I take flight to travel Canada to avoid such situation.
 
grant2 said:
congrats but your last post is confusing.

You said you were approved for the TN, but saying you qualified via experience is a mistake?
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Officer gave me two options TN based experience or degree. I asked based on experience. Later I did research TN can be applied without degree under Management Category, that makes it most risky category. As I have master degree should have asked based on degree.
 
nomadcanadian said:
On weekend I was flying to USA unsuspecting at immigration, officer stopped me and sent me again to secondary review area, there officer asked me why my TN was denied previous week. I explained after 10 minutes he gave me CBP slip and allowed me to take flight. I saw many slips seems for every entry to USA CBP going to send me secondary review and it seems they are doing this to everyone going to USA for work. Is this the normal practice? Seems CBP instructed to discourage Canadian to go to USA for work. I still have entire house stuff which I need in USA, now considering should I take flight to travel Canada to avoid such situation.
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Why do you have a house in the US if you stay in Canada? This would seem like your goal is to move to the US permanently.
 
nervouswreck said:
Why do you have a house in the US if you stay in Canada? This would seem like your goal is to move to the US permanently.
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I still have entire house and my stuff in Canada which I need to ship to USA, now considering should I take flight to travel Canada to avoid such situation.

Anybody can own property in USA, in fact Canadian own lot of condos in Florida.
 
Correct. Owning property in US is not an indication of intent to immigrate which would jeopardize a TN application. In fact, Unlike snowbirds/tourists, TNs don't even have to maintain a Cdn residence.
 
nervouswreck said:
Why do you have a house in the US if you stay in Canada? This would seem like your goal is to move to the US permanently.
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It might seem that way but in practice, border officers never ask about property ownership and if they did, it would not be a disqualifier. Plenty of people own property for 1-2 years
 
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