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I am a Canadian Citizen looking to apply for fulltime/ internship in United State. I am a university graduate student and want to work in the Computer science and Electrical Engineering field. (eg, companies like google, facebook, qualcomm, etc....)

From google, I saw Canadian might need TN visa. Some websites say Canadian would need to get H1 (lottery) Visa just like other foriegn countries... Some says we don't need anything at all.

I am very confused. I am currently applying for a job, and it asks me if I would need "sponsorship" in order to work in this company. I don't know what to say.

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  • Please read the wiki article on TN status. I think it will answer most of your questions. I don't think you qualify unless you have 3 years experience already.
    – mkennedy
    Sep 5, 2016 at 22:35
  • @mkennedy, it says the visa duration would be 3 years, and can be renewed indefinitely.
    – Nygen Patricia
    Sep 5, 2016 at 23:43
  • It also says you need 3 years experience. Do you have it?
    – mkennedy
    Sep 6, 2016 at 0:24
  • TN visas are only available for certain occupations. If you're not in one of those occupations, you need an H-1B or other visa. As a Canadian, you don't need an actual visa in your passport to be admitted in TN status (the same could be true for H-1B, but I don't know about that for sure). Instead, you can show up at the border with all of your documents and have them stamp you in in TN status. It's probably simpler to get the visa at the consulate (depending on how easy it is for you to get to a consulate). I know one person in TN status and he always renews his visa when it expires.
    – phoog
    Sep 6, 2016 at 3:01
  • @mkennedy, Where is "3 years of experience" coming from? I don't see it in the linked article. When I used to do that they were happy with a job offer letter mentioning a NAFTA profession (e.g. "Engineer") and a degree certificate matching the profession. They never asked about prior employment, that may only be an issue if you lack the academic qualification?
    – Dennis
    Sep 6, 2016 at 16:59

1 Answer 1

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To get TN status for Canadian (and Mexican) is very simple.

You get the offer, prepare education documents and go to the border. There you have 20-30 min interview with custom officer, pay $50 and get paper in your Canadian passport. It's valid for 3 years.

And you profession should be in NAFTA list.

You don't need sponsorship.

(For Mexicans, the process is slightly more complicated because it's necessary to have a visa sticker. The documents must therefore be presented with a visa application at a US consulate.)

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  • "and Mexican": Except Mexicans need an actual visa sticker; they can't just turn up at the border as Canadians can.
    – phoog
    Sep 13, 2016 at 2:30
  • not sure about Mexican, I'm Canadian and telling from my experience
    – Alexan
    Sep 13, 2016 at 3:05

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