Hi, my name is Michael Niren.
I'm an immigration lawyer and founder of VisaPlace.com.
What happens if your TN Visa application is refused?
It's an unfortunate situation.
It happens fairly frequently, depending upon the
case.
Your refusal can be based on the fact that your job offer did not
appear on the NAFTA list of occupations, or that the description of your
job was not properly drafted, or there's a problem with the U.S. employer
or perhaps what you said at the border when you had your TN Visa interview
raised some concerns.
There are a lot of reasons why your TN Visa could be
refused.
We have a U.S. visa team who deals with TN Visa applications as well as TN
Visa refusals.
So if you are in the unfortunate position where you tried to
apply for a TN and the NAFTA officer at the border denied you, what can you
do?
Well first of all, you have to be aware of the reasons why your
application was refused and in most cases the officer will tell you their
concerns.
If that happens, depending upon the reason you could reapply.
There's nothing preventing you from reapplying.
In most cases, however, there has to be a change in circumstances or
additional documentation that wasn't filed originally and you have to
explain why it wasn't filed in the first place, because an officer will be
skeptical if you apply for a TN Visa and then you're coming back to the
border once again to try it again.
So you have to really make a case as to what was the reason why there was a lack of
documentation or information in the first place that caused the refusal and
here is the additional information.
What we do when someone comes to us who says, "My TN Visa was rejected," we
look at the case in detail and many times the application was just not
prepared properly.
A TN Visa application generally is easy to get if you do
it right.
You just go to the border, you present your documentation, proof
of citizenship, your job offer letter and your credentials and then the
officer will review your paperwork and will be able to issue you a visa
right then and there on the spot.
So it's a great way of getting a visa very quickly but if it's not done right, it's
likely you'll be refused.
So sometimes a job offer letter itself is just
not structured properly.
For example, the job offer letter has to have the salary, the duties, the
name of the company obviously, the description of why it is that company
needs you, and the job title.
This is common sense, but you'd be surprised how many job offers we see that just don't
have the basic elements.
The other side of the equation is the credentials
of the employee.
In most cases, TN Visa applicants need a certain level
of education.
Some of these applicants have gotten their education from overseas and not
from Canada, for example.
That's fine, but there has to be an equivalency analysis, equivalency letter explaining that
the education received overseas is still equivalent to a North American
degree or diploma.
But in addition to that, what about the job credentials?
You have to show job credentials, that you do qualify.
There's a lot that goes in to TN Visa applications, even though they are very simple
in some ways.
Because you can get them right away, you have to make a strong case.
So how we handle it, our TN Visa team handles all
TN Visa applications as well as TN Visa rejections.
When people do come to us, we analyze it, we put it
together, and sometimes we have to deal with the employer as well to redo
the paperwork.
Of course, all applications have to be 100% truthful.
There can be no misrepresentation of the nature
of job and the credentials of the applicant.
But that doesn't mean that the first time around you should have
gotten it in the first place.
Sometimes it means that your paperwork was not properly prepared.
So hopefully this gives you some idea that there
is some hope for anyone who was refused a TN Visa.
Thank you for listening, and have a great day.
Oh, one thing before I go.
You can go to our website, www.visaplace.com for
more information about TN Visas.
Now I'll say thank you and have a great day.