Quote:
Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
Your situation and that of any other Canadian visiting the US on vacation is going to be vastly different than someone who is there trying to work while on a revoked visa.
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Sooo... I worked in the US on a few TN Visas over the years...
You basically have a job offer (on company letterhead) that says you're working in a field where there local searches have provided no Americans who can fill the position (in my case I was an archaeologist working in digital media on recreations of a museum).
It MUST be on company letterhead with contact info for the company.
You take your letter and application to any border agent and ask them to approve a 6mo-1y TN visa. Yup. You're trying to convince the rental cop at the border you're legit. If they agree, they stamp you, and you're g2g for a year.
If they disagree, you don't get the TN visa. My immigration guy told me that if it ever happened, you should depart, and return the next day to try to get a different agent.
In large border crossings it's usually a rubber stamp. They are used to TN visas, there are hoards of people crossing, and generally they don't GAF.
If you go to a smaller crossing, expect the bored agent to subject you to greater scrutiny. The only time I ever had an issue was with this lady who decided randomly to approve me for 6 months rather than a year. No reason given. So much for my apartment lease! I was sweating that year, but pretty quickly got an H1B, so it didn't matter.
I was in the deep south, but would ALWAYS fly or drive back to Canada for the visa renewal. I would rather be stranded in Ottawa, or Vancouver, or even POS Salmo (f that b) than have anything to do with a trigger happy American border agent working on the line in Mexico.
So, it sounds like it went sideways for a few reasons.
- TN visa is for a specific job and specific company. Sounds like she switched companies. As to the job... no shortage of snake oil hippies in CA?
- A major component of the application paperwork is the company letter on company letterhead (I actually carried the letterhead with me so I could print as needed if anything happened). She said didn't have that (and was kind of snooty about it).
- She tried to cross from Mexico. This shouldn't be a huge deal, but it's the time of Orange Dotard, so that feels like a role of the dice.
- The TN Visa is at the discretion of the border agent. You hit the wrong meathead on the wrong day... sounds like she did.
But here's the thing (as was pointed out by the attorney in the video). If you get rejected,
you should be able to turn on your heel and just go back to the country you were trying to get in from.
"This is not approved."
"Mkay, byeeee"
That didn't happen here. Maybe she was being rude. Maybe her application looked fraudulent. Maybe the Agent is bigtime MAGA. But it is SUPER weird she wasn't allowed to just go back to Mexico. God only knows how long she's going to be stuck in a cell now.
Scary time for immigrants, and visa workers.