NAFTA

[grimace 0]

Have been finding conflicting answers on internships under NAFTA. Anyone know whether they (internships) are permitted to get a Canadian work permit? Most online searches have workers entering the US but I need to intern in Canada which yields few results.

[warlord 73]

I doubt it as with NAFTA and the TN Status, they have to petition that they can't find any qualified candidate to fill the position still. An internship I would think would be easy to fill since it's usually non-paid (or low paid) and for very short duration which would be more work for the employer than it's worth. But I don't think you would be having too much luck with it.

That's just my understanding of why, but yes you are correct it's usually a one way status between people from Canada moving to the US and not as much of people from the US moving to Canada...

[Rob & Monika 87]

I think it depends on the field of work. Canada regulates certain trades and limits how many work visas are issued per trade, so I would start by finding out if your field of work is regulated or not. If it is, you would be competing with full time workers trying to immigrate, I don't think you would get through. Many of the high tech fields are not strictly regulated, so you might have some luck in those fields.

[grimace 0]

NAFTA removes the LMO that is normally required so that is one less hurdle to jump over. I talked to an immigration lawyer and he stated that internships are permitted. He added that they removed lot of the details online so that it's fairly difficult to find any info.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

I'm no NAFTA expert but when I attempted a TN VISA (Canada to US) it was the company hiring me who dealt with their own lawyer to figure out all the legal details before I showed up at the border because they had to provide documentation and letters of intent to hire me etc..... I would assume its similar for an internship?

Do you already have a company who wishes to hire you for an internship? If not its all kind cart before the horse at this point.

[grimace 0]

I'm no NAFTA expert but when I attempted a TN VISA (Canada to US) it was the company hiring me who dealt with their own lawyer to figure out all the legal details before I showed up at the border because they had to provide documentation and letters of intent to hire me etc..... I would assume its similar for an internship?

Do you already have a company who wishes to hire you for an internship? If not its all kind cart before the horse at this point.

Yes have a job offer. I was just confused whether internships would qualify under NAFTA because I was getting conflicting answers from 2 separate attorneys.

[warlord 73]

NAFTA removes the LMO that is normally required so that is one less hurdle to jump over. I talked to an immigration lawyer and he stated that internships are permitted. He added that they removed lot of the details online so that it's fairly difficult to find any info.

Ok then that's good. That was the only issue I was thinking about was that the TN Status might not classify an internship as valid. But since you found out it is, then go for it and see what happens. Though if it's only for a few short months, then I don't know if a business will invest the money or time going through the TN Status process at all...

[grimace 0]

Ok then that's good. That was the only issue I was thinking about was that the TN Status might not classify an internship as valid. But since you found out it is, then go for it and see what happens. Though if it's only for a few short months, then I don't know if a business will invest the money or time going through the TN Status process at all...

Correct about the business not providing assistance. This one is all on me. I am seriously considering living on the US side and working in Canada after my internship. Would there be any problems with crossing the border daily?

[warlord 73]

Correct about the business not providing assistance. This one is all on me. I am seriously considering living on the US side and working in Canada after my internship. Would there be any problems with crossing the border daily?

Not if you have a TN Status there wouldn't be an issue. That is actually quite common for people to do. Or if you get hired by the Canadian company, they might sponsor you for a visa or something instead of a TN Status (Though those are now 3 years)...