TN USMCA Professional, Canada and Mexico
TN status lets Canadian and Mexican citizens work in the United States in one of the professions listed in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, formerly NAFTA. There is no cap, no labour certification and, for Canadians, no visa and often no petition: you can present your paperwork to a CBP officer at the border. The catch is that it is strictly single intent and strictly limited to the listed professions.
- Срок
- Up to three years per admission.
- Продление
- Extend by having the employer file Form I-129 with USCIS while you remain in the United States, or by departing and reapplying at a CBP-designated port of entry or pre-clearance station with the same documents. There is no statutory maximum number of extensions, but repeated three-year renewals invite scrutiny of the temporary intent requirement.
- Работа
- Yes, incident to status, for the employer named in the support letter and in the listed profession only. A second employer requires a second TN authorisation. A change of employer requires a new admission or a new Form I-129.
- Двойное намерение
- false - TN is expressly a temporary status. Filing an immigrant petition or a labour certification is a common reason for a TN refusal at the border or the consulate, and it is the sharpest practical difference between TN and H-1B or L-1.
- Члены семьи
- Spouse and unmarried children under 21 get TD status for no longer than the principal's period. TD dependants may study but may not work. Canadian citizen spouses and children do not need TD visas but should check CBP port of entry requirements; non-Canadian spouses and children, and Mexican citizen family members, must obtain TD visas.
- Путь к грин-карте
- There is no TN route to permanent residence, and pursuing one endangers the status. Most people who want to stay switch to H-1B or L-1, which permit dual intent, before starting a green card case. A TN holder whose employer files PERM should expect problems at the next border crossing.
- Срок рассмотрения
- For Canadians at the border, same-day. For Mexicans, the consular interview wait governs, and since the October 2025 interview waiver rollback that has lengthened. Where the employer files Form I-129, regular processing runs several months and premium processing gives 15 business days for $2,965.
Кто подходит
- Citizens of Canada or Mexico. Permanent residents of either country do not qualify
- People whose profession is on the USMCA professionals list, which includes accountants, engineers, scientists, lawyers, architects, teachers, management consultants, economists, and a range of medical and allied health professions including registered nurses, physicians in teaching or research roles, pharmacists and physiotherapists
- People with a prearranged full-time or part-time job with a US employer or entity
- People holding the specific degree or credential the USMCA appendix requires for that profession
Требования
- Citizenship of Canada or Mexico, evidenced by passport
- The profession must be on the USMCA list and the US position must actually require a USMCA professional
- A prearranged job with a US employer or entity, not self-employment
- A letter from the prospective employer setting out the professional capacity, the purpose of employment, the length of stay and your educational qualifications
- A credentials evaluation where the qualification was obtained outside the United States, with any applicable fees
- Mexican citizens must obtain a TN visa at a US embassy or consulate in Mexico before seeking admission
- Canadian citizens may present the documents to CBP at a designated port of entry or pre-clearance station instead
Как подать
- 1
Confirm the job title maps onto a profession in the USMCA appendix and that you hold the exact credential it requires
- 2
Get an employer support letter covering the professional capacity, purpose, length of stay and your qualifications
- 3
Obtain a credentials evaluation if your degree is from outside the United States
- 4
Canadians: present proof of citizenship, the employer letter and the evaluation to a CBP officer at a designated port of entry or pre-clearance station, and pay any inspection fee
- 5
Mexicans: complete Form DS-160, pay the $185 MRV fee, interview at a post in Mexico, then apply for admission at a designated port of entry
- 6
Alternatively the employer may file Form I-129 with USCIS in advance, with premium processing available at $2,965
- 7
Apply for TD status for the family, remembering that Canadian citizen dependants need no visa
- 8
Extend by employer Form I-129 or by departing and reapplying at the border
Сборы и формы
| MRV nonimmigrant visa application fee, Mexican citizens | $185, the non-petition-based tier |
| CBP admission fee for Canadian citizens applying at a port of entry | Applicable inspection fees are payable at admission; confirm the current amount with CBP |
| Form I-129 where the employer petitions USCIS instead | $1,015 paper or $965 online; $510 for a small employer of 25 or fewer full-time equivalent employees, or a nonprofit |
| Asylum Program Fee on Form I-129 | $600 regular petitioner, $300 small employer, $0 nonprofit |
| Form I-907 premium processing on a TN Form I-129 | $2,965 |
| Credentials evaluation | Varies by evaluator |
| Public Law 119-21 visa integrity fee | $250 statutory minimum; absent from the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026, so collection is unverified |
Что изменилось в 2025 и 2026 годах
- Oct. 1, 2025: the interview waiver rollback announced Sept. 18, 2025 took effect and superseded the July 25, 2025 guidance. Almost every nonimmigrant applicant now needs an in-person interview. The standing carve-outs are A-1, A-2, C-3 other than personal staff, G-1 through G-4, NATO-1 through NATO-6, TECRO E-1, diplomatic and official visas, and 12-month renewals of B-1/B-2, Mexican border crossing cards and H-2A. Waiver-eligible applicants must also apply in their country of nationality or residence, must never have been refused a visa unless overcome or waived, and must have no apparent ineligibility. The old under-14 and over-79 age exemptions were abolished. No further update has issued as of September 2026. Mexican TN applicants no longer have any dropbox route and must interview in person.
- July 15, 2026: State told nonimmigrant applicants to interview in their country of nationality or residence, or at the designated processing post if their country has no routine operations. Applying elsewhere is allowed but harder to qualify, the MRV fee is non-refundable and non-transferable, and waits are much longer. A, G, C-2, C-3, NATO and diplomatic applicants are exempt. Mexican applicants must interview in Mexico or their country of residence, which removes the practice of applying at a convenient third-country post.
- Jan. 1, 2026: Presidential Proclamation 10998, signed Dec. 16, 2025, took effect at 12:01 a.m. EST and replaced Proclamation 10949 (signed June 4, 2025, effective June 9, 2025). It fully suspends visa issuance to nationals of 19 countries - Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Burma, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Laos, Libya, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria and Yemen - plus holders of Palestinian Authority travel documents, across every nonimmigrant and immigrant category. It only reaches people who were outside the United States and held no valid visa at 12:01 a.m. EST on Jan. 1, 2026; no earlier-issued visa was revoked under it. Neither Canada nor Mexico appears on the PP 10998 suspension lists.
- July 4, 2025: Public Law 119-21 added non-waivable immigration surcharges on top of normal filing fees. The ones that touch nonimmigrants are the Form I-94 fee, held at $24 for FY 2026, the parole fee, adjusted to $1,020 for FY 2026, parolee EAD surcharges of $560 initial and $280 renewal, and a statutory visa integrity fee of at least $250 on nonimmigrant visa issuance. The $250 visa integrity fee is enacted but unverified as collected: it appears nowhere on the State Department fee schedule as of September 2026 and no implementing rule has published.
- Current USCIS fee schedule, Form G-1055 edition 05/29/26: a TN Form I-129 is $1,015 on paper or $965 online, or $510 for a small employer or nonprofit, plus the Asylum Program Fee. Premium processing is $2,965.
- Aug. 18, 2026: State's nonimmigrant visa expedited appointment pilot launched at Mission Canada and, from July 21, 2026, Mission Mexico. It is limited to B-1/B-2 applicants at $750, so it does not help TN applicants.
- USCIS operates a Form I-129 pilot programme for Canadian L-1 nonimmigrants; there is no equivalent pilot for TN, so Canadians continue to use the port of entry route.
Где чаще всего ошибаются
- Job titles that do not map to a listed USMCA profession. Software engineer is the classic problem, since computer systems analyst is the listed category and the fit has to be argued.
- Permanent residents of Canada or Mexico who are not citizens. TN is a citizenship-based benefit.
- Filing a green card case while on TN, which is the most common reason for a refused re-entry.
- Self-employment, which TN does not permit.
- Employer letters that describe a generic job rather than a professional one requiring the specific credential.
- Registered nurses who overlook the separate health care worker certification requirement.
- Assuming TD spouses can work. They cannot, unlike H-4 in some circumstances or L-2.
- Repeated three-year renewals without any change of circumstances, which increasingly draws temporary intent questions.
Также в категории USMCA professional
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