How to Prepare a Job Offer Letter for a TN Visa

You're excited because you're holding in your hands a letter from a U.S. employer, offering you the professional-level job of your dreams. You know that as a Mexican or Canadian citizen, you can lawfully enter the United States as a TN nonimmigrant and accept the position, then potentially work in the United States for years. (See the USCIS Policy Manual at Volume 2, Part P.) Your spouse and minor children, if any, can accompany you.

If you're Canadian, you don't even have to apply at a U.S. consulate for a visa before coming to the United States. But before you sprint to the U.S. border or (if you're from Mexico) to the U.S. consulate, you might want to make sure that your employer's offer letter will stand up to the scrutinizing eyes of a U.S. immigration officer. To successfully obtain TN professional status, you and your employer will have to mention that it's meant to be used in connection with a TN visa application, and then satisfy U.S. immigration officials that your job meets all of the legal requirements for the TN.

Let's look at how you can make sure your offer of employment letter is up to snuff.

Is the Employer a U.S. Entity?

The job you've been offered must be with a “U.S. employer or entity.” It can be organized as a for-profit or nonprofit, and can be either privately owned or government owned. Ideally, the offer letter should be on company letterhead, setting out its name, address, phone number, and email address. In any case, the letter should identify the employer and include this information, and indicate that it's a U.S. entity in which you have no form of ownership interest.

Self-employment will not qualify you for a TN visa. That doesn't only mean solo self-employment, but that you can't be sponsored for a TN by a U.S. enterprise that you own or are sole or controlling shareholder of, or over which you exercise de facto control. (There's a sort of workaround, such that if you create a company in Canada or Mexico that you own, and then have it contract with an organization in the U.S., whereby you will the one providing the services to that company, you might qualify for a TN; but now we're at a level of complexity where you'd definitely want to hire a lawyer for advice and assistance.)

Working as an independent contractor (on an IRS Form 1099) will also not qualify you as working "for" the U.S. employer. The relationship needs to be an employer/employee one.

Whether a foreign company with offices in the U.S. can offer you a TN-eligible job is in doubt. The USCIS Policy Manual suggests that it doesn't, while the Foreign Affairs Manual suggests that it does.

Will Your Position Be a Professional One?

The law says that in order to qualify for TN nonimmigrant status, your proposed job in the United States must be a "professional" position, whether full-time or part-time. Thankfully, the treaties that provide for this visa (originally the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA, and now the United States Mexico Canada Agreement or USMCA) clearly defined the requirements for this.

The list of professions in which Mexican and Canadian citizens can work under TN status is found in in Section 214.6(c) of Chapter 8 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Upon reading the list, you will immediately notice that the treaty requires not only specific types of occupations, but also specific levels of education and experience in order to qualify for those occupations.

For example, the list identifies "Scientist" as an acceptable TN profession, and then lists various sub-categories from Agriculturalist to Zoologist. It says that to qualify for TN entry in a scientist position, the job must require at least a Baccalaureate or Licenciatura Degree from an accredited college, university, or the equivalent. And, to be sure, the degree must be in a relevant academic field, such as agriculture or zoology, for those respective categories.

The "graphic designer" profession, on the other hand, must be a position requiring either a Baccalaureate/Licenciatura Degree or a Post-Secondary Diploma or Certificate and three years of experience.

U.S. immigration officials will be checking your offered position against this list. Your U.S. employer can help greatly by identifying which specific listed profession your job matches and then describing, in detail, what the duties of your job are and why they line up with that profession. Your employer should list and break down the duties of the job and explain, in clear, layperson's terms, how those duties are typical of the specific profession.

One resource to find standard job descriptions for various occupations is the Department of Labor's O*Net Online database.

Your U.S. employer's letter should also explain, in layperson's terms, precisely why performing the duties of your job will require the particular degree and/or experience. These requirements have to make sense; a scientist position would not require a degree in fine arts, for instance, nor would a graphic designer position require a degree in marine biology! Your employer can also list other positions similar to yours where they have required the same or similar degrees or experience.

How Long Will Your Job in the U.S. Last?

The law says that TN workers may enter the United States for up to three years. However, U.S. immigration officials will look for some indication from your employer as to when you will start and then how long your specific job will take. (This can't be left open-ended.) Based on this information, U.S. immigration will admit you as a TN worker for the matching period of time.

To help immigration officials understand what you're legitimately asking for, your employer's offer letter should provide a target start date and note how long your position is expected to last. Just like with the education and experience requirements, the length of time your job will take has to make sense. A short contract job for one medical research project likely won't last longer than a year, but a research position on a long clinical trial might take three years or longer. Your employer should clearly explain why your job is expected to last for the amount of time that it, and you, need.

Fortunately, if the employer has a new need for your services at the end of that time, extensions of TN status are possible.

Do You Have the Right Stuff Required for the TN Job?

Even though you have been offered a U.S. job that fits into one of the TN categories, you will still have to show U.S. immigration officials that you have the necessary education (and experience, if required) for the position.

Your U.S. employer can aid you here by explaining in your offer letter exactly why you are the right person for the job. Your employer should discuss, in layperson's terms, why your education and experience meet the employer's specific needs and also meet the level of the NAFTA/USMCA requirements. This could be as simple as your employer explaining that it needs personnel with your particular degree and/or experience. What is important is that your employer's reasoning makes sense and is understandable by someone outside of your field.

And while you're at it, double-check your diploma and resume or curriculum vitae, to make sure the employer isn't claiming you have a background that your own records don't show. Also back up any claimed work experience by gathering letters from former employers.

How Will You Be Paid?

The State Department's Foreign Affairs Manual also asks that the employer letter contain an explanation of the "arrangements for remuneration." In other words, it should lay out your salary amount and schedule, and any benefits that will come with your job such as medical and dental coverage and/or disability insurance.

If the salary is unusually low for such a position, immigration officials might question whether you're truly being hired for a professional position. Make sure it's at least at the federal or state minimum wage.

Next Steps

Your employer's offer letter can be a powerful tool in meeting the requirements for admission to the U.S. as a TN worker. But it can also create barriers. When you receive the letter from your prospective U.S. employer, give it a good looking over to make sure it is free of typos and errors and meets the above criteria.

Contact the employer if in doubt; better to address potential issues now than be turned away by U.S. immigration officials. Also make sure it's an original, signed letter (an ink signature), not a photocopy.

An immigration attorney can also help if you have questions on your specific employment and how or whether it lines up with the TN requirements. Your employer might want to hire the attorney for this purpose and to help with drafting the letter.