Working in the US - TN visa
Aug 20, 2024 · 20 min read
Great, you accepted an offer from a US company that is willing to sponsor you! The hard part is over. All those hours you've spent prepping for interviews was worth it — you finally did it. Now you can finally relax... but not so fast.
This is a lengthy article that details all that you might need to do to apply for a visa as well as stuff that I wish I knew for my move (moving furniture, apartment, bank accounts, social security, etc.)
There are two different types of work visas in the US. An immigration visa and a non-immigration visa. Unless you can qualify in one of the following rare cases:
- Your current company has US offices (L-1 visa)
- You are investing a substantial amount of money in a US business (E-2 visa)
- Have extraordinary ability in sciences, arts, education, business, or athletics (O-1 visa)
You are left with either a TN visa or a H-1B. The TN visa is a non-immigrant visa meaning you intend to return to Canada eventually. The H-1B visa is a dual intent visa meaning you could have intentions of living in the US in the future.
H-1Bs are usually provided by bigger companies due to their larger financial resources, legal teams, and track record. This article will focus on the TN visa, so if you're not interested you can click off 😁.
TN stands for Trade NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). It is for Canadians and Mexicans who fall under certain criteria. Those being:
- You are a citizen of either Canada or Mexico (we will be talking only about Canada in this post)
- You have at minimum a Bachelor's degree from an acredited university
- You have an offer letter from a US company
- Your degree is related to the job in the offer letter
- The job must be a NAFTA profession (see full list here)
For those whose degree is different from their offer letter (Ex: Degree is in Biology but have an offer for a Product Manager role) see here
Getting a TN visa is pretty straightforward. You can get it at the border. Yeah I was surprised when I first heard this too. You apply right at customs if you're flying or at the border station if you're driving. It only costs $50 USD.
I applied at the airport before my flight so I can tell you about my experience with that. Right after you get past security (where they check your carry-on and stuff), you'll have to get in line to meet with a US customs officer. They will ask you your purpose for coming into the states and you will mention that you are looking to apply for a TN visa and they'll take your fingerprint and passport and take you to a separate room to wait for your interview.
Depending on how busy it is, it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours to go through the entire process so I'd recommend coming 4 hours before your flight. Another thing to note is the time at which the customs office opens. I made the mistake of booking my flight too early in the day. At Pearson (Toronto airport), the customs office opened at 3:30 AM and my flight was at 6:30 AM and due to "delays" at the customs office, I ended up missing my flight after getting my visa (United rebooked me free of charge).
After sitting for a bit you will be called up for your interview. This part is pretty hit or miss. Officers have the right to reject your visa and there are many such cases of this happening
Here's what you have to bring to your interview (all printed):
- A support letter from your employer which contains your official title, job duties and responsibilities, the start date and end date, your salary (and how often you will be paid, i.e. semi-monthly, annually, etc), your educational qualifications, and previous work experience (especially in similar roles) can help.
- Your offer letter
- A copy of your official transcript
- A copy of your official degree (I brought my official degree as well but they just need a copy of it for their records)
The TN visa can last up to 3 years from where it can be renewed again either by:
- You or your employer filing the USCIS a Form I-129 by mail (up to 6 months prior to expiration or within 10 days of the expiration)
- Leaving the US and re-applying at the border
Don't worry, it’s not as impossible as it sounds — but it does take a bit of maneuvering.
The TN visa has specific categories, and your job title needs to fit into one of them. Here’s the kicker: the support letter your employer writes for you — which is different from your offer letter — needs to fit one of these pre-defined categories, even if your actual role has a more modern, broad-sounding title.
For example, while "Product Manager" isn’t listed as a TN category, you might still qualify under the Management Consultant category, provided you’re not in a hands-on managerial role but rather doing more advisory work. Or, if the role leans heavily on your background in Commerce, you might slide into something like Economist or Accountant, depending on the tasks involved.
The support letter from your employer needs to be crafted very carefully to align with one of these TN categories. And when I say carefully, I mean this letter is more important than your offer letter. It’s not about your actual day-to-day duties, but rather how the role can be framed to fit within a TN-approved category.
This is why many companies hire lawyers — because messing up the support letter can be the difference between getting your visa or being turned away at the border. The employer has to understand that the job description in the support letter is what CBP cares about, and it might not match exactly with what’s in your offer letter.
Here’s the thing: your employer needs to get on board with this. They have to understand that crafting the right job description for immigration purposes is crucial. It’s not about lying or stretching the truth — it’s about making sure your role fits within the rules. The offer letter can be as broad as “Product Manager” or whatever title they want to use, but the support letter? That has to speak TN visa language.
Now I knew that border agents can deny you pretty easily, but I didn't know how easily. After waiting for about 10 minutes I get called up by the border agent lady. She asks for my letter, and I inquire which one, as I had both an offer letter and a support letter from my employer. She then says sternly, "your letter.", by now in my head I know she's one of the border agents I've read about that can deny me on the smallest of things.
I pull out my booklet containing my documents. By booklet I mean the papers were hole punched and binded together (there were about 60 pages in total so I bound them together to prevent them from falling apart). She takes the booklet, looks at me with a disgusted face, and says "I can't accept this, I'm going to send you back from where you came from".
Now when I tell you I was SHITTING MY PANTS, I'm not kidding. She then says that she needs to photocopy them and can't when it's bound together. I tell her my lawyers told me to have them bound (they most certainly didn't LOL but if I could get away with shifting the blame I'd take it). She then replies with "Well you can tell them that when you get sent back"
I apologize and say it's my first time and that I can unbind them right now. She tells me to go sit down and that she will call me again. I then wait two hours... I get called up and hand in my papers as she asks for them. Support letter, offer letter, degree, transcript. She photocopies them and hands them back. She then gives me a form to fill out that details my address (I put the hotel I was staying at), my work address, my work's phone number, and the duties I will be performing at my job along with their relative percentage.
Make sure the duties you fill in correspond to what's in your support letter. After handing it in she then prints out piece of paper and directs me to the payment section where I have to pay the $50 USD for the visa.
At this point a weight is lifted off my shoulders because I know I have gotten the visa. After paying the fees, I wait another 20 minutes and she gives my passport with a TN visa stamp on it.
Unfortunately, due to the time I was stuck waiting, I missed my flight. Thankfully, United rescheduled me for the evening for free!!! I just had to update when I was picking up my rental car to the next day, which leads to the next section.
Everyone's move is different. One person could be bringing just a few suitcases whereas another is moving their entire family, apartment, and the furniture along with it. I'll talk about what I did and give suggestions for alternatives. First things first, you want to get 4 things booked once you get your support letter: Flight, Hotel, Rental Car, and Apartment tours.
You can enter the US on a TN visa up to 10 days before your start date. This will give you time to get settled. I booked my flight through Google Flights but that was after checking prices from other services like Hopper and Expedia.
If you have an Amex, you might be able to save more by converting your amex points to air miles and purchasing a flight with those air miles. Do your research!
ATM withdrawals have limits so I recommend bringing cash over the border. You can bring up to $10'000 CAD across the border without having to declare it. Unfortunately bank foreign exchange rates can set you back so I recommend finding a third-party foreign exchange business near you (this may or may not be legal so do at your own risk).
In addition to your flight you might be moving lots of stuff. You have two options, rent a U-Haul and drive the stuff yourself or have a moving company do it for you. Depending on the distance you might be paying a couple thousand for the moving company. I'd search around a lot if you're planning on going this route since the quotes moving companies can give differ DRASTICALLY. One quoted me $2000 and another quoted me $1000 for moving about 10 boxes.
There is a third option, take some stuff with you on your flight. Yeah seriously! I was planning on take 2-3 suitcases with my clothing and other items. However, I also was planning on taking my PC, two monitors, and my chair. I had spent a pretty penny on my office chair so I really didn't want to buy another one lol.
Most airlines have allowances of overweight and oversized checked baggages. For Air Canada you're allowed to have your overweight baggage be up to 70lbs and up to 115 inches in linear dimensions (height + width + length). In this way I was able to put my chair (it folds) and one of my monitors into one large cardboard box. I had another cardboard box for my PC and some clothes I stuffed in it but that fit the regular limits of checked baggage.
Oversized and overweight baggage only costs $100-$120 so it was really worth it over having them shipped in a truck.
I would recommend getting a hotel for 3-4 days as a temporary place to stay while you look for an apartment and sign a lease. It's better to only book for a couple days, you can always extend your stay if you need to. I would compare local hotel prices with Airbnb as sometimes one may be drastically cheaper than the other. I was moving to Sillicon Valley and the hotels were cheaper than the Airbnbs. For those looking for a nice place to stay, the Good Nite Inn in Redwood City was only $99/night and was kept up really well!
As much as you might dislike car-centric infrastructure, this one is almost a necessity. The transit infrastructure here sucks which is a surprise especially if you come from a city like Toronto (the transit infrastructure in SE Asian countries is so much better). You're going be busy for the first 10 days going from place to place so you need a car.
For those in the Bay area, check out Kyte. They can be significantly cheaper compared to other rental companies. I was able to rent a 2023 Volkswagon Tiguan (SUV) for 13 days for under $600! If you're bringing your own car for the move, this obviously isn't necessary.
Unless you plan on paying exchange fees, you have to open a cross-border bank account. BMO, RBC, and CIBC all have their own versions of cross-border accounts. I don't recommend CIBC, as I couldn't deposit money at the same time I opened the account, so I went with RBC. Check out your options but I recommend getting this done 2-3 weeks before your flight since it will take some time for your cards to come in the mail.
Apartments, depending on when you where you're working can be really cheap or really fucking expensive. My guess is you're going to somewhere that's really expensive. Since this is going to be somewhere you're living for the next couple years, I recommend putting a lot of effort here. You want to be searching for apartments through multiple different websites and app. Some I recommend are: zillow, apartment list, and apartments. Create a shortlist of the apartments 1-2 weeks out from your move and reach out for tours.
Planning your start date around a week after the 1st of a month can be ideal, as many apartments become available around that time.
Be aiming to look at 4-5 apartments a day (which is why you need a car — commuting is too slow, and rideshare is too expensive.). Spread them out 2-3 hours from one another which will give you time to eat and do other things.
The bay area can be pretty expensive especially if you're looking to move in San Francisco. My work was in Mountain View so I was looking for places within a 15-20 minute drive from work. Despite me hearing that I'd end up spending $3000 a month on the lease for a 1b1b, I ended up finding a 2b1b for $2695 in Santa Clara (15 minutes away), and it even has a pool, jacuzzi, and EV charging 😎. Some tips:
- Look daily, even if you already have rental viewings lined up. You might end up finding a gem that was posted 23 minutes ago. You can always cancel existing appointments anyways!
- 2 bedroom apartments are not as hot on the market as 1 bedroom apartments and you might find one that is only a couple hundred more. You could share that extra room with someone or use it as an office
- The most important one:
Your electric bill will eat up most of the extra expenses on top of rent. The Bay Area has two electricity providers, P&E and SVP. These two have DRASTICALLY different prices. P&E is far more expensive than SVP so make sure to factor that into your search and ask the property manager who their electricity provider is:
You've arrived from your airport, you got your rental car, and have a bunch of apartment viewings booked for the next couple days. That's it right?... well no.
An I-94 document is an official U.S. record of your arrival and departure. It's basically a record of your immigration status and the terms under which you are allowed to stay in the country. Your employer will ask for this document and you will need it to get your social security. You can get your most recent I-94 after you have gotten your TN visa on this website. You can save your I-94 as a PDF for safekeeping on your device but make sure to print it once you are in the US. The Social Security office will require it in physical form to give you a Social Security number. You can print this at any nearby USPS/Office Depot/Staples near you. Make sure to get this done day 1!
A Social Security number is very important in the US. It's a unique identifier used by the government to track your earnings and determine your eligibility for benefits. You need it when signing up for credit cards, taking loans, and your employer will ask that you get one within the first couple weeks. Make sure to get this done day 1 as well. Here's what to bring to the Social Security office:
- Your passport with the TN stamp on it
- A piece of ID (driver's license)
- Your I-94 form (printed)
- An address for the card to be mailed to
Regarding the mailing address, I used a friend's apartment. If you don't have someone you know nearby then make sure you open a USPS PO BOX beforehand
Opening a bank account is mandatory. It's where your paycheck is going to be going to. Your cross-border bank account is fine for the short-term but for the long-term you want to open an account with an American bank. You have two main options.
BoA's benefit is that they allow you to open an account and get a credit card without needing to have a social security number yet. While it may be a secured credit card (you will have to put a deposit for that card to use it), it's still something you can use to start building credit.
Chase on the other hand is a fan favorite. They have great customer service and have a ton of cards with much better perks when compared to BoA. Only downside is you need a social security number to get approved for one.
I recommend using your cross-border bank account temporarily. A couple of days after applying for your Social Security number, return to the Social Security office to obtain the number in person, so you don't have to wait 1-2 weeks for it to arrive by mail. After you have your number, go to chase and open an account with them and get a credit card.
Chase has great credit cards, such as its Sapphire credit card. However, to qualify for these you would need you to have a pretty good credit score as well as looking at how many credit cards you've opened recently. You'll be looking at a year or two before you may even qualify for one of these cards, unless...
If you have an Amex card in Canada, you can use your Canadian credit history to qualify for a US Amex card. This is what I did, and I had no problem qualifying for the Amex Gold (which has similar requirements as Chase's Sapphire).
By now you should have mostly everything set up. Some small closing notes.
Since you are a new arrival, you will have a credit score of 0. Your credit score is everything in this country. If you want to take loans and get approved for good interest rates you want to put attention to this one number. It may take about 3-6 months to generate your first credit score so make sure you pay your credit card bills on time and the full amount (nobody wants to pay money on interest). Increase your credit card limits after a few months (as they may be low initially), keep usage under 30% of your limit, and avoid opening too many credit cards. Within a year you'll have a score over 700.
So you've got your rental car and you're zipping around, no problem. But what happens when you want to buy your own car or use your Canadian license long-term? Spoiler alert: You’re going to need a US driver's license pretty soon.
The exact time frame depends on the state you’re moving to. Generally speaking, most states require you to switch to a US driver’s license within 30 to 60 days of becoming a resident. This means as soon as you’re settled, it’s time to think about hitting up the DMV (or the RMV if you’re in Massachusetts because, of course, it has to be different).
Here's what to bring to your local DMV:
- Proof of Identity – You’ll need your passport or Canadian driver's license
- Proof of Residency – Bring your lease agreement, utility bill, or a bank/credit card statement showing your address (not your hotel address, though – make sure you’ve signed that apartment lease before heading to the DMV).
- Social Security Number – Some states require it, some don’t. Make sure to check your state’s DMV website beforehand.
If you've made it this far, congrats! That was a lot of information to take in, but hopefully, it’s given you a clear roadmap for your big move to the US. Resources were scattered across different areas when I was planning my move so I wrote this as a guide for my past self. I hope this has made your journey a little easier. Safe travels and best of luck with your new adventure in the US.
Connect with me on LinkedIn if you wanna shoot me a message about anything else I've missed