when to apply for TN status?

M

mapleleaf15

Registered Users (C)
Hi

This topic seems to have been brought up a number of times but I guess I wanted to ask more specific questions for my situation...

My start date for work in CA is May 21. Ideally I would like to fly out to California on May 9/10. But I would like to go to a land border crossing earlier in the week to apply for my TN at a Washington POE and immediately apply for a SSN.

My employment letter currently states that my TN visa will be for one year...but there is no start or end date.

If I go land POE to get my TN...wont they ask why I dont have any luggage in the car? Maybe they might ask me if I am driving up to California that day? Would I tell them that I am turning back to go home and pick up my stuff?

When I return to Canada, what do I say when they ask what I was doing in the US?

Thanks in advance!
 
US immigration may give you tough time depending on which officer you see on the border. Returning back to Canada should not be a problem. You need to be very careful about the letter. Having no hard coded start and end dates in your offer letter may create some serious problems at the border. If I'm in you shoe, I wouldnt take this risk. At the minimum it should indicate your start date.
 
Sheeka said:
US immigration may give you tough time depending on which officer you see on the border. Returning back to Canada should not be a problem. You need to be very careful about the letter. Having no hard coded start and end dates in your offer letter may create some serious problems at the border. If I'm in you shoe, I wouldnt take this risk. At the minimum it should indicate your start date.
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I agree with you on this. Technically, a TN status is indefinite however you have to remember that renewal is made every year. The date of start and end of work must be clearly stated in the letter from your prospective employer.
 
Yes the start/end date is a good thing to have on there as TN's are only good for one year. Every year you will need to apply for a new TN. So this way, the officers will know, it's specifically a temporary job. If not, they may think it's a full time permanent job in which case would exceed the TN life (1 year).

As for crossing earlier at the border, a few years ago that wasn't a problem. In 1997 when I first got my TN status, I got it at the border a few days earlier before I officially moved over.

Now I have heard from several other boards, that now they are requiring all TNs who apply to have their start date that day (or the next day). Heard this more along the Washington border. So they may not allow you to get your TN status, until the day of your official start day at work. Yes people were confused as they would have to drive to California theoretically that day from getting their TN.

So you may want to get your employer to state your start date on the letter early and so you can apply for your TN the day before. You might need to look around and see about others who recently got their TN's at the border there. I just recall seeing several with this problem...
 
i got my TN this past summer. Definitely put the start and end dates of your job in the letter. i applied at the buffalo border crossing a week before my start date of my letter and i didnt have a problem. but no matter what you do, if you apply at a border crossing you are at the mercy of the customs agents.

i used a kit called the "TN Visa Expert", it was $100 to buy and it has sample letters and all the info you need. I handed my documents to the customs agent, he told me to sit in the waiting room and wait, 10 minutes later he called me back and gave me my TN / I-94.

There was a guy before me who had a lawyer prepare all his documents and he was being yelled at by the customs agent asking who prepared these documents, this is all wrong, etc.

Dont mean to scare you, just make sure all your t's are crossed, tell the truth and you will be fine. Sometimes they talk in circles and make you answer the same question 8 times in different ways.
 
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Thanks for all your responses.

So my option is to take my chances, book my flight and get my TN at the Vancouver airport just before my flight.

OR

A few days before my start date, go to the Washington border and apply for it then. My question is then what do I say if they ask me if I am driving to California that day? Really I would just be turning back around to Canada.

I do have a lawyer so my employment letter looks pretty good.

Thanks!
 
You might as well try just driving to the border and just seeing what happens. The worst they'll say is, sorry you can't get it until you start, and then you just go ok, and get it at the airport.

If you do get it, it will save you the hassle at the airport with luggage and a flight to catch. If they do find something at the land border you need to correct, then that also gives you a few days to fix it, while at the airport you could risk missing your flight.

Just be honest with them, if they ask. Just say you want to get it now so you have less hassle at the airport etc. And if they say you can't do it until you are moving officially, then oh well, you gave it a shot...
 
globalfellow said:
I agree with you on this. Technically, a TN status is indefinite however you have to remember that renewal is made every year. The date of start and end of work must be clearly stated in the letter from your prospective employer.
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There is ample reasons NOT to have a specific start date on the letter. The letter itself should be dated, but without a start date.

The TN will be issued for 1-year from date OR the end date, which could be less, so you could be cutting time off your TN by putting a date.

Also, having a start date more thna 2 weeks in the future will probbaly get you turned away at the border and told to come back.
 
mapleleaf15 said:
Thanks for all your responses.

So my option is to take my chances, book my flight and get my TN at the Vancouver airport just before my flight.

OR

A few days before my start date, go to the Washington border and apply for it then. My question is then what do I say if they ask me if I am driving to California that day? Really I would just be turning back around to Canada.

I do have a lawyer so my employment letter looks pretty good.

Thanks!
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What many do to get around this is to arrange a telecon with their boss just over the border. You can then truthfully answer that you are going to work (not California) after you get your TN.
 
Thanks..I'm now seriously considering flying out the day before my start date on my letter even though I wouldnt actually start until a week later. Doing it at the land border before my flight would have just given me that extra security of knowing I have my TN before flying out.
 
mapleleaf15 said:
Thanks..I'm now seriously considering flying out the day before my start date on my letter even though I wouldnt actually start until a week later. Doing it at the land border before my flight would have just given me that extra security of knowing I have my TN before flying out.
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In the good ole days, you could go down to the border ANYTIME with a TN letter, regardless of start date, and get your 1 year TN. Sure, you may have lost 3 or 4 weeks or more at the tail end, but, by the time you started work, you had given notice at work (after getting TN) you had moved (the movers need your TN), had your SSN (it took 5 days), could buy a car, rent an appartment, etc.
 
I wish it was still like that...I gave my 2 weeks notice at work before I'll even get my visa approved...oh well..whatever is meant to happen will happen...if I dont get approved then it's on to plan B...not sure what that is though!
 
mapleleaf15 said:
I wish it was still like that...I gave my 2 weeks notice at work before I'll even get my visa approved...oh well..whatever is meant to happen will happen...if I dont get approved then it's on to plan B...not sure what that is though!
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Notice is always optional on the employee's part. I gave notice so I would get a nice lunch, nothing else. There is nothing that prevents you from phoning them to tell them you are through, effective immediately
 
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