Jaco Cloete

I've read a lot about the NAFTA agreement but if you have got Canadian Citizenship
what is your position in the USA with regards to working, staying and a possible
green card and USA Citizenship?

Regards

Jack

Ned

Being Canadian just means that you have the option of getting (through NAFTA) a 1
year TN working visa at the border (actually Canadians, unlike Mexicans, are not
required to obtain the visa but instead can obtain TN "status" with the INS) . The TN
can be renewed but I'm not sure how many times you can do this. In theory, I don't
think there's a limit but in practice the TN is intended for temporary stay so I
can't see you being able to renew indefinitely. Canadians are also eligible to get
the 3 year H1 working visa that everyone else gets. You can spend a total of 6 years
on H1 before you have to leave the country for 1 year to reset the H1 clock (Oct 2000
legislation, namely S2045, not yet implemented by the INS may change this though).

However, when it comes to staying and applying for a green card (GC), Canadians are
in the same boat as everyone else. There is also a "dual intent" issue when applying
for a GC from TN or H1. You can definitely switch from H1 to GC because H1 allows for
the "dual intent" of (a) coming to the US to work temporarily ands (b) applying for a
GC to stay permanently. I don't think that TN allows for this - although I've heard
some people express an opinion that it does and others say the opposite.

More info on TN visas can be found at
http://www.shusterman.com/cgi-bin/ex.../tn_visas.html

Dual intent is discussed at http://www.immspec.com/dualintent.htm

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