Tricky Questions at the border interview: Software Engineer (Job Title) & CSA (Nafta category)

[tn_software]

Hi, I have 9 YOE, laid off 5 months back in Canada and found a job in the US. The employer prepared the support letter with CSA category for staff software engineer title. Are there any tricky questions that I should be aware of? Some questions that I found online

[1] How did you find the job - via LinkedIn
[2] Does your job involve coding/programming? - I am not 100% sure how to answer that. I can say no but I wonder if its lying coz at the end of the day some coding or programming maybe involved. Can they ask if your job involves "software development"?
[3] will your husband move with you or what are his plans? - My husband is a Canadian citizen and living in Canada. He doesnt plan to apply for a dependent visa.
- If my husbands L1-B is in progress can the border officer view it on their systems somehow? My husband is in talks with his company so I am not sure if his application is officially filed or not.
[4] I have learnt my job responsibilities as much as possible from the support letter. My employer wrote a lot of stuff in my responsibilities.
[5] The support letter mentions my duties and also assigns %time to each of them. One duty says "Perform other related duties as assigned. (5% of the time)". How to answer if the officer asks if this duty can involve coding.
[6] I am taking a risk of just carrying WES Canada instead of WES US because WES US evaluation is still in progress. I am hoping I will get a chance to withdraw my application if officer mandates that WES US should be there. Should I say my WES US is in progress or at this point it wouldnt matter? The evaluation pdf will be generated online however it will have "UNOFFICIAL" printed across it.
[7] My employer refused to remove the following para and it has word computer programming in it which makes me a bit anxious. If I am asked about it prolly I can say that its not core part of my responsibilities.

As part of her degree program, Ms. ABC completed relevant coursework, including: Mathematics I, II, III, Engineering Graphics, Computer Programming I, II, Technical Report Writing, Discrete Structures for Computer Science, Operating Systems, Theory of Computation, Computer Networks, Advance Computer Organization, Program Language and Compiler Construction, Data Base Systems, amount others.

 

[nelsona]

[1] Doesn't matter. Just answer the question truthfully , just as you should with any question asked.

[2] If the officer interprets coding as programming, you're done. Denied.

[3] They won't care and it doesn't matter what your husband does or where he lives.

[4] Don't know what you are asking.

[5] If the officer misinterprets coding, you won't have a chance to rebut; he will deny you.

[6] Was the WES Canada eval done against US equivalence? If not, it is worthless.

[7] The paragraph about your quals is meaningless to the officer, since the sponsor provides absolutely no proof of your quals, since that is your responsibility. The officer will ignore that paragraph. "among others" WTF does that mean? Zoology? quantum physics? Dumb paragraph by a lawyer who doesn't know what a TN letter serves.

 

[tn_software]

[5] Cool, so it depends on how they read and not much I can do about it? Also, how is coding different from programming

 

[tn_software]

[6] The report mentions canadian equivalency (doesn't use the word US). Your comment here (unable to hyperlink it, weird) -

I would simply use the WES document you have.

on the post with title

Is WES certificate (Canadian Equivalence) accepted as Credentials evaluation when crossing the border from Canada to US for TN Stamping ?​

By default, won't everyone have Canadian equivalence WES from the time individuals immigrated to Canada?

 

[nelsona]

Perhaps, but that does not satisfy US requirements. You need a eval against US standards. This can be done by Cdn firms (like WES and UofT), this is the normal process for anyone wanting TN with a non=North American degree.

My response about using WES was in connection with an offcier insisting on UofT for the eval. As the rest of that thread (and all other threads) point out, it needs to be a US equivalency.

 

[tn_software]

Thanks, Nelson. I will take the risk, & hope I get a chance to withdraw the application if the officers mandates the US evaluation (Some folks on Reddit were able to use WES Canada equivalency so..). Appreciate your prompt and detailed responses!

 

[sp1976]

Thanks, Nelson. I will take the risk, & hope I get a chance to withdraw the application if the officers mandates the US evaluation (Some folks on Reddit were able to use WES Canada equivalency so..). Appreciate your prompt and detailed responses!

tn_software what happened to your TN application at POE

 

[Desser]

Hi, I have 9 YOE, laid off 5 months back in Canada and found a job in the US. The employer prepared the support letter with CSA category for staff software engineer title. Are there any tricky questions that I should be aware of? Some questions that I found online

[1] How did you find the job - via LinkedIn
[2] Does your job involve coding/programming? - I am not 100% sure how to answer that. I can say no but I wonder if its lying coz at the end of the day some coding or programming maybe involved. Can they ask if your job involves "software development"?
[3] will your husband move with you or what are his plans? - My husband is a Canadian citizen and living in Canada. He doesnt plan to apply for a dependent visa.
- If my husbands L1-B is in progress can the border officer view it on their systems somehow? My husband is in talks with his company so I am not sure if his application is officially filed or not.
[4] I have learnt my job responsibilities as much as possible from the support letter. My employer wrote a lot of stuff in my responsibilities.
[5] The support letter mentions my duties and also assigns %time to each of them. One duty says "Perform other related duties as assigned. (5% of the time)". How to answer if the officer asks if this duty can involve coding.
[6] I am taking a risk of just carrying WES Canada instead of WES US because WES US evaluation is still in progress. I am hoping I will get a chance to withdraw my application if officer mandates that WES US should be there. Should I say my WES US is in progress or at this point it wouldnt matter? The evaluation pdf will be generated online however it will have "UNOFFICIAL" printed across it.
[7] My employer refused to remove the following para and it has word computer programming in it which makes me a bit anxious. If I am asked about it prolly I can say that its not core part of my responsibilities. In addition to conducting interviews, it is also important that you already have an automated HR system in place. It is very convenient in fact, if of course it is created in a quality and convenient for you. I myself have created such systems, it helped me a lot that here I was able to learn more about it and now having created a HRIS system I can keep track of personnel with comfort and without problems.

Very good selection of theses, I am practicing something like this myself.