Black Hole Sun

Get TN visa for me was as easy as a tourist VISA. O maybe easiest.

I was a little anxious, even if my friends told me to not be. Is not that I really need to have the VISA, Guadalajara is a place with many open positions, but paperwork always put me anxious. Another event happened, at the time of writing we know that Mr. Trump it’s the elect president of the United States of America, one of the many campaign promises includes the renegotiation of the NAFTA (TLC on Mexico), which includes the TN visa. So, nobody really knew how this will affect my future immigration status. Anyway, it was easy, there was nothing to be anxious about.

The TN Visa (Treaty National) was created “after the NAFTA sign on 1994 to facilitate the temporal movement of qualified professionals between Canada, Mexico and the United States. A TN Visa for non-immigrant professionals allows to the Canada and Mexico citizens to hire in business activities pre-arranged for a US based employer. Only Canadian and Mexican passports are eligible for TN Visas”

While you have an USA company based offer letter (and a Bachelors Degree Cedula) everything will be easy. The company make me make an digital file (with hardship things like scan ALL the pages of the passport, even those in blank). Because I’m married, we need as well a complete digital file of her, including additional things like marriage certificate. After apply thru the US VISA site with the same process as a tourist VISA (Application DS-160, fingerprint verification, photo, etc..) and the endless queue on the Guadalajara consulate the momenth of truth came with the consulate agent interview:

– Agent: ¿Es la primera vez que tramitan TN?

– Yo: Si

– Agent: Do you speak english?

– Yo: Yes

– Agent: Where are you going to work?

– Yo: Bellevue, Washington, Great Seattle Area

– Agent: Do you have a cedula?

– Yo: Yes

– Agent: Both (me and my wife) are engineers?

– Yo: Yes

– Agent: How much will you earn at year?

– Yo: XXX dollars

– Agent: Who will report to you?

– Yo: I don’t know yet

– Agent: Take this (brochure), it explains your rights as a temporary worker, do that make sense to you?

– Yo: Yes

– Agent: When are you planning to go?

– Yo: As soon as possible

– Agent: You will receive the Visa in one week, we will print it today or tomorrow. Have a nice day.

And that’s all, on one week the work visa was on a DHL post. No additional paper (like marriage certificate) was required.