All posts by Bahar Suri

TN Visa Family Members

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TN-Visa-USAIf you want to travel to the U.S. temporarily to work, then the TN visa is for you. The TN visa allows you to work in the U.S. for a 3 year term that can be extended over and over. You can apply for a TN visa at a port of entry if you are Canadian but if you are Mexican you will need to apply at a U.S. Embassy or consulate from Mexico.

The documentation you must provide include:

  • Identification (i.e. passport or citizenship card)
  • Your relationship to your spouse and children (i.e. you can show your marriage certificate and your children’s birth certificate)
  • Your worker agreement with your employer
  • Bringing your resume along with references is recommended
  • The job offer that states your job, the conditions in which you will work in
  • The job for which you’ll work must be enough to maintain your family

Your job also must meet the requirements of the TN visa:

  • The employer must be American
  • You must work under the American employer
  • Recognized under NAFTA
  • You must qualify for the job
  • The job must require a NAFTA professional
  • And must be pre-arranged to be part-time or full-time

As a NAFTA professional you are allowed to bring your family members who can be your spouse and children who are under 21 years of age and single. You cannot bring your parents or siblings. They would be classified as TD dependents. You must provide proof of your relationship with them to the CBP officer at a U.S. port of entry. This proof can be your marriage and birth certificates.

Your spouse and children under 21 years of age will not be allowed to work during the duration of their stay. But your children will be allowed to study while there.

To seek an extension of staying, you must seek an extension of staying. But you must provide an intention of returning in the future though. This will also permit any TD dependent who wishes to extend their stay to do so.

Contact Akrami & Associates

It would be beneficial to seek the help of a legal adviser because they can help you to make a strong application with the appropriate documentation and this can further increase your chances of getting the TN visa and to be working in the U.S.

How to Qualify for a TN Visa

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The TN visa was created as a result, of the free trade agreement that was signed by all the countries in North America. Eligibility for a professional to get a TN visa under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is as follows:

  • The applicant must be a citizen of Canada or Mexico;
  • The profession of the applicant is on the NAFTA list;
  • The position the applicant has attained in the United States requires a NAFTA professional;
  • The applicant must work in a prearranged full-time or part-time job for an employer;
  • In addition, the applicant must have the specific qualifications that are required for the job, as well as the specific education, and/or experience required for the profession.Self-employment is not permitted and does not fall under the TN visa requirements and does not qualify as a NAFTA professional. If you are not a Canadian or Mexican citizen, you cannot apply for the TN visa. Persons with Permanent Residence do not qualify for the TN visa.There are different requirements for Canadian citizens versus Mexican Citizens when coming into the United States as a NAFTA professional. Although Mexican Citizens always require TN visas to request admission into the US, in some cases for Canadians, they do not need a visa. As a NAFTA Professional and a Canadian citizen, you usually do not need a visa as a NAFTA Professional, although the visa can be issued to a qualified Canadian for the TN visa, upon request.

    As a Canadian citizen, you can apply for a TN non-immigrant status at a US port-of-entry, which is an alternative to getting a TN visa.

    There are some instances when a NAFTA Professional (TN) visa may be required for Canadian citizens. In cases where a Canadian, who does not have a TN non-immigrant status, lives in a third country that is not Canada or the US, with a non-Canadian spouse and/or children, who wants to enter the US as a NAFTA professional at the same time as one of their family members. They will need a TN visa in order for the family members to be eligible to apply for derivative TD non-immigrant visa(s).

    Ineligibility

    There are certain situations that may make a visa applicant ineligible for a visa, which are called visa ineligibilities, and these situations may deny you from getting the visa. Some of these situations are:

  • Health related grounds,
  • Criminal and related grounds,
  • Security and related grounds,
  • Public charge,
  • Illegal entrants,
  • You had previously removed from the US, and many other reasons.For some of these ineligibilities, there may be a waiver of ineligibility they may be able to get, which then would qualify them to receive the TN visa.

Contact Akrami & Associates

Qualifying for a TN visa is not as simple as you may think. Do not hesitate to contact us; someone from our legal team will be happy to answer any questions you may have.

How to submit a TN Visa Application

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Steps to TN Visa Application

There are several steps you need to take in order to apply or a TN visa. You must first begin by completing an online Non-immigrant Visa Application and you submit a photo online. That is the first step you need to take if you want to get a TN visa.

Schedule an Interview

This is the next step that needs to be taken. Interviews are usually not required for anyone 13 and younger or 80 and older, but it is up to the discretion of the officer reviewing your case to decide whether they would like an interview or not. If you fall within the 14-79 age groups, you must schedule an appointment for your visa interview, which is usually at the US Embassy or Consulate in the country where you are residing in at the time.

Preparing for your Interview

The application fee is $160, which is a non-refundable application fee and you are required to pay it before your interview begins.

Next, you would have to gather all the required documentation that Is needed for your visa interview. The documents are as listed:

  • A valid passport to travel to the United States, and it must be valid for at least six months beyond your period of stay in the United states,
  • Non-immigrant Visa Application, confirmation form,
  • Application fee payment receipt, which you are required to pay and bring proof of that to the interview,
  • Photo, when you uploaded the photo online but it did not work, you must bring a copy to the interview,
  • A contract or letter of employment in the United States to show that you have a job offer, there are certain requirements that must be included in the letter, and
  • Documentation that proves you have met the minimum education and/or work experience that is required for the job, there are specific documents that may be submitted to demonstrate these.There may be additional documents that might be required to help establish if you are qualified. Sometimes proof of a license for your given profession is not required, but should be brought into considered to bring along, just in case you are accepted into the US. You may need that licensure to practice a given profession.Your spouse and children may apply for TD visas to accompany you to the United States or join you later. You need to be able to prove your ability to financially support your family when you are in the US.

    Attend your Visa Interview

    During your interview with the officer, they will determine whether you are qualified to receive a visa and if so, which visa category you qualify for based on your purpose of travel.

    As you can tell, there are a lot of steps that need to be taken to move your TN visa application along and many documents are required for the interview. Allow our legal professionals to answer any questions or comments you may have or to help you given compiling your application package for your interview. Do not hesitate to contact us.

Specialized Knowledge USA L1B and Canada

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Specialized knowledge means that the individual holds special knowledge of the products, service, research, equipment, techniques, processes, procedures, management or other interests of the organization. The employee must have more than the simple skilled knowledge of the employer’s business. It must be beyond the ordinary knowledge that any other worker would have of the company. The person has to have expert knowledge of the company’s interests to be considered under this category. This requirement is to target the main key personnel in order to distinguish them from normal personnel. These key individuals carry much more knowledge than any other ordinary person. The visa requires evidence of how the individual holds specialized knowledge which distinguishes him/her from others.

L1B visa is a category for individuals who hold socialized knowledge of the organization’s business looking to enter USA under the intra company transfer program.

L1B visa is similar to Canadian intra company transfer visa. The USA L1 visa is a non immigrant visa that allows companies with branch in America and foreign countries to transfer employees with specialized knowledge of the company’s business from its foreign location to the location in USA. The time limit on this visa is for total of five years. The employee must have worked as a specialized knowledge staff. The employee must have had worked in the transferring company for at least one year out of the last three years.

For Canada

For specialized knowledge holders, the workers must possess knowledge at an advanced level of expertise and propriety knowledge of the company’s product, service, research, equipment, techniques or management.

In order to qualify for specialized knowledge and applicant is required to show a high degree of propriety and advanced expertise. Propriety knowledge refers to expertise that are specifically related to the company’s product or services. In order to show advanced knowledge the applicant must show that he/she hold uncommon knowledge of the company’s products or services and its application in international markets. This advanced knowledge can be through the research for the company, or its equipments, techniques or management.

Advanced expertise are required through significant and recent experience within the last 5 years which contributed greatly to the company. In order to consider specialized knowledge officers consider the following:

  • Abilities that are different from others in the same industry and are not easily transferable
  • The knowledge or the expertise has to be highly unusual
  • It must be critical to the company’s business of the Canadian branch and without it there would be disruption in the business
  • The applicant’s proprietary knowledge of the business must be unusual and not widespread

The evidence that an applicant can provide to show his/her specialized knowledge can be through a resume, references, letters of verification from company, years of experience, degrees or certifications related to the company’s work, list of awards or accomplishments, and the work required to perform in the company in Canada.

The officers assess all the information provided and make a decision based on that information. If the officer is not satisfied by the information provided then the application would be rejected. Usually specialized knowledge applicants are exempt from LMIA however if the officer finds the applicant ineligible for LMIA exemption then the application would be rejected.

Specialized knowledge workers can renew their work permits for up to a maximum of 5 years. After the maximum period is over the worker must leave Canada and the Canadian labour market for at least one year before re-applying and begin the cycle again.

L1 Visa Qualifications

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What does it mean “Qualifying Relationship”?

Before starting the process of applying for an Intra-Company work permit there are qualifications you should determine that match your current situation.

There are a few qualification that you must have such as you must be a citizen of North America (Canada, the United States, and Mexico). You must hold the position of either a manager or an executive or have proven that you have specialized knowledge. The position must have been held for at least one continuous year. Your plans in Canada do not go outside the time frame of how long your work permit is valid for.

One of the most important qualifications is that the company you current work for must have a relationship with the company you are transferring into. It must be a qualifying relationship. This means that both companies have a connect somewhere in the ways of doing business with each other. There are a few different ways that both companies can have a qualifying relationship.

Both your company and the Canadian company must be legal businesses and be in connect by way of either one company is Parent, Subsidiary, Branch or Affiliate. To be considered as two companies doing business with each other both your company and the Canadian company must have evidence of business transactions, such as offices with actual employees, supplies being transferred, and tax returns. All communications between both companies must on regular and continuous.

In better detail the following types of business are considered to be qualifying:

Parent:

One of the companies own more than one company. They have multiple subsidiaries.

Subsidiary:

means that one of the companies is owned by the parent company either directly, 50-50, or less than half but still has control over the other company.

Branch:

both are the same company just with different offices in different locations

Affiliate:

companies are own and operated under the same parent company or own by multiple individuals who each have about the same amount of control and ownership in the business.

If the relationship changes between your company and the one in Canada it may change in regards to whether it remains qualifying.

Qualifying relationships are focused most with the Intra-Company work permit. There are other options available if this particular work permit does not work. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement there are three other work permits you may qualify. There is the Professional work permit, Trader Status, and Investors permit. Take note, that both the Trader Status and the Investor work permits are complicated, are limited in their use, and are complex.

 

Contact us here at Akrami and Associates today and we will assist you in finding out which option is best for you.