TN Visa: Should I apply at the Border/Consulate or with USCIS?

TN Visa is a great visa option for Canadian and Mexican nationals as it does not require the dreaded company sponsorship that many other visas require.

In fact, the two biggest requirements are that you are one of the professions listed under the USMCA agreement (and have the necessary qualifications), and that you have a job offer from a US company.

If you are a Canadian national, you can either apply for a TN visa at the border, or you can apply through USCIS. If you are a Mexican national, you can either apply for a TN visa at a U.S. Consulate abroad, or you can apply through USCIS.

This blog post will analyze the pros and cons of each approach.

• The biggest advantage of applying at the border is that the process is extremely fast. You don’t need to schedule your appointment ahead of time and you can just apply at any time (although we do recommend to call the particular CBP port where you want to apply at and make sure they process TN visa applications on the day/time you plan to cross). You can apply for a TN at any Port of Entry, but CBP recommends that if you are applying for the TN visa for the first time, you apply at one of these 14 designated Ports of Entry. You will basically just have come to a port of entry, present your TN visa application to the CBP officer (See What documents you should bring to the interview here), and the officer will make a determination right there whether they are approving the petition or not. Applying at a port of entry is a great advantage for Canadians – when they receive an offer from a U.S. company, they can apply for the TN visa relatively quickly and once approved, they can start working in the U.S.
• Another advantage of applying at the border is that you will only have to pay a fee of $50 (and additional $6 if you are applying at a land border for the paper I-94 form) (as compared with the higher filing fees associated with USCIS filings).
• USICS scrutinizes certain types of petitions (for example petitions for management consultants or economists) much more than CBP, so depending on which TN category you are applying under, it may be better to apply at the border to avoid denial.

• To apply with USCIS, you need to be already in the U.S. on some other status. The employer can either file a Change of Status petition (for example, if you are here on F1 student visa and you want to change your status to TN, the employer would file a change of status petition) or Extension of Status petition (if you are here on a TN status and you want to extend your status) with USCIS. For USCIS filing, the Employer will need to sign the I-129 form – some employers may not want to do this as they may think that by signing the form they will incur additional obligations (for Consular filings, the Employer only needs to sign an Employer letter).
• The current filing fee for the I129 petition is $460. It will take USCIS several months to make a decision on the petition. There is an option to pay for Premium Processing (you would need to pay a fee of $2,500 and the government would make a decision on the case within 15 days). The Premium Processing option is one advantage of applying with USCIS as if you find an employer in the U.S., you could have a decision on the case within 15 days of filing the petition (Approval, denial, or request for additional evidence), but again if you are Canadian, you can just leave the U.S. and apply at the border at any time.
• You can only change status in the U.S. if you are in a valid status. This means, that in case there is any status violation (e.g. you overstayed your current status), you would not be able to change status in the U.S. In this scenario, it would be better to apply at the border (CBP may still ask about this and you would have to answer truthfully and disclose the violation).

• The big advantage of applying at a U.S. Consulate is that if the TN is approved, you will get a TN visa stamp in your passport. The TN visa stamp will allow you to travel internationally. Mexican nationals can now get the TN visa issued either for 1 year or 4 years (the reciprocity fee currently for the 1-year TN visa stamp is $79 and the reciprocity fee for the 4-year visa stamp is $357).
• For Consular Filing, you will have to submit a DS160 form, pay the visa fee, schedule a biometrics appointment and schedule your interview appointment. Getting an interview appointment at a U.S. Consulate abroad may take some time (the interview wait times change often but it could take several months to get an appointment, depending on which Consulate you are applying at). This means that if you get an Offer from a US company, the Company would need to wait for some period of time until you have the TN visa issued in your passport and you are able to come to the U.S.
• Costs: the fee for the TN visa is $185 (this is the TN visa fee per applicant, meaning that if you have dependents each of them would have to pay this fee) + You will also have to pay the reciprocity fee per applicant as outlined above.
• USICS scrutinizes certain types of petitions (for example petitions for management consultants or economists) much more than Consulates, so depending on which TN category you are applying under, it may be better to apply at a Consulate rather than applying with USCIS.

• To apply with USCIS, you need to be already in the U.S. on some other status. The employer can either file a Change of Status petition (for example, if you are here on F1 student visa and you want to change your status to TN, the employer would file a change of status petition) or Extension of Status petition (if you are here on a TN status and you want to extend your status) with USCIS. For USCIS filing, the Employer will need to sign the I-129 form – some employers may not want to do this as they may think that by signing the form they will incur additional obligations (for Consular filings, the Employer only needs to sign an Employer letter).The current filing fee for the I129 petition is $460. It will take USCIS several months to make a decision on the petition. There is an option to pay for Premium Processing (you would need to pay a fee of $2,500 and the government would make a decision on the case within 15 days). The Premium Processing option is one big advantage of applying with USCIS for Mexican nationals especially if there are long interview wait times at US Consulates abroad, as if you find an employer in the U.S., you could have a decision on the case within 15 days of filing the petition (Approval, denial, or request for additional evidence). You can then start working for the US employer after you get the approval.
• You can only change status in the U.S. if you are in a valid status. This means, that in case there is any status violation (e.g. you overstayed your status), you would not be able to change status in the U.S. In this scenario, it would be better to apply at the Consulate – You would still need to disclose the violation on the DS160 form but your visa could still be approved (of course, depending on what the violation was, but if you overstayed for a week or two, your visa could still be approved).

Please see our blog post on whether You can qualify for a TN visa based on your work experience.