I130 approved - can he get a tn visa?

[squidleet 0]

Okay so here is the story. I am an American citizen married to a Canadian citizen. I have been living in Canada as a permanent citizen for a year (permanent citizen for a year, visitor for a year before that. Total time in Canada will be three years in February. )

Recently my husband got a job offer from a university in michigan. He's decide to attempt to pursue it and rather than moving closer to the border and commuting he thinks we should move to the states. His job interviews went well and he was advised to apply for a tn visa to try to start work as soon as possible (I believe the h-1b takes much longer or has some other wait involved)

Now the very day that he got his job offer we had submitted paperwork to start sponsorship for him.

Checking my status today, I learned that our i130 form was approved and to await further information.

So my question is this - can he still apply for the tn visa at the border? Is there a less scary way to apply for the tn visa (which as I understand it, we pack our stuff ready to go, drive to the border, and kind of hope the guard is in a good mood and let's us go)

Many thanks for taking the time to read this. Really hoping someone else has the same situation and csn offer their advice.

[TBoneTX 47,519]

*** Thread moved from CR-1 Process forum to the Work Visas forum. ***

[squidleet 0]

So I suppose no one has ever applied for a spousal sponsorship then gone to apply for a tn visa so they can work in the meantime?

[Dakine10 5,452]

So I suppose no one has ever applied for a spousal sponsorship then gone to apply for a tn visa so they can work in the meantime?

People have entered successfully in Tn status with a pending I-130. It is relatively straight forward. They may or may not deny the Tn based on a pending I-130, but it is possible to convince them that there is not immigrant intent. A filed I-130 does not automatically indicate immigrant intent.

Entering on a Tn with an approved I-130 is something I have not heard of. I'm not sure if they would treat it the same or not. I would guess it's easier for them to infer immigrant intent from an approved I-130 than form a pending one, but I am not sure if that would be an absolute indication for denial or just make it a little harder.

[Boiler 47,487]

Tn is non immigrant, get a H?

[BlueSteel 3]

Both TN and H1B is a both non immigrant statuses. Answer to your question, you theoretically can apply for a TN while your I130 is pending but you can only have 1 status at a time. You cannot be both a TN and H1B for the same job. H1B takes longer to get and more costly. TN is $50 USD + $6 for I-94. The TN is easier to get but being Canadian you can just show up at the border to apply. However there would be more scrutiny for a TN. There are limited number of job professions available to a TN. http://canada.usembassy.gov/visas/doing-business-in-america/professions-covered-by-nafta.html. You need to bring documents proving you qualify for that job profession.

Job Title / Description: _________________________________________________

Edited November 18, 2015 by BlueSteel

[Boiler 47,487]

H is dual intent

[BlueSteel 3]

H is dual intent

No he still seeking employment in the US. It just a different category. There should be no issue there.

[Boiler 47,487]

Immigrant intent issue would not arise with a H.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Both TN and H1B is a both non immigrant statuses. Answer to your question, you theoretically can apply for a TN while your I130 is pending but you can only have 1 status at a time. You cannot be both a TN and H1B for the same job. H1B takes longer to get and more costly. TN is $50 USD + $6 for I-94. The TN is easier to get but being Canadian you can just show up at the border to apply. However there would be more scrutiny for a TN. There are limited number of job professions available to a TN. http://canada.usembassy.gov/visas/doing-business-in-america/professions-covered-by-nafta.html. You need to bring documents proving you qualify for that job profession.

Job Title / Description: _________________________________________________

The I-130 is no longer pending, it is already approved.

[newacct 688]

Tn is non immigrant, get a H?

H1b has annual quota and only a small fraction of people who qualify each year get it, and it needs to be applied only in April of each year for a start in October. H1b requires a lot of work from the employer and not many companies do it.

[newacct 688]

Okay so here is the story. I am an American citizen married to a Canadian citizen. I have been living in Canada as a permanent citizen for a year (permanent citizen for a year, visitor for a year before that. Total time in Canada will be three years in February. )

Recently my husband got a job offer from a university in michigan. He's decide to attempt to pursue it and rather than moving closer to the border and commuting he thinks we should move to the states. His job interviews went well and he was advised to apply for a tn visa to try to start work as soon as possible (I believe the h-1b takes much longer or has some other wait involved)

Now the very day that he got his job offer we had submitted paperwork to start sponsorship for him.

Checking my status today, I learned that our i130 form was approved and to await further information.

So my question is this - can he still apply for the tn visa at the border? Is there a less scary way to apply for the tn visa (which as I understand it, we pack our stuff ready to go, drive to the border, and kind of hope the guard is in a good mood and let's us go)

Many thanks for taking the time to read this. Really hoping someone else has the same situation and csn offer their advice.

He's not supposed to use TN status to immigrate. The question is, does he intend to file Adjustment of Status while in TN status? If he has a preconceived intent to do that, they should deny him entry. If he intends to enter in TN, work, later leave and do Consular Processing in Canada, there should be no problem (though they could still deny him entry if they don't believe him).

[MLH2020 0]

Just wondering what happened here. We are looking at a similar situation, though unsure if our I-130 will be approved by the time we go for the 

[millefleur 5,052]

**Six year old zombie thread now locked from further comment. Please start a new thread if you have your own question.**

 

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