Work visa turn citizen??

[metals95 1]

I work for a division of a Canadian Company here in the states. I got my Green card thru my wife, but i was here on H1b at the time, based on a BSc in Engineering. You dont even need a bachelors to get an H1b depending on the job, that visa is for Specialty workers and Fashion Models of all things. The employer has to file a labor condition application with a place called a 'state workforce agency', and pay some bucks.

Anyway at my Canadian employer there are many people who have or have had green cards, and if you transferred in as a manager, you can get a greencard straight away without doing the labor certification. PHD's and famous actors and atheletes are the same. The company pays the bucks and the person gets the greencard.

Gotta love government lobbyists.

[metals95 1]

Quote from SapphireDreams

"Then there are certain work visas that are always going to be non-immigrant - like the TN visa for example can never turn into a greencard (from what I've researched)"

Warlord adjusted from TN. The basis for the I485 can just as easily be an approved I-140. people do it all the time from TN even though it is not expressly dual intent. The employee would activate their EAD and use their AP after filing a 485 based on the employmnet I140.

I am not saying that it is right or wrong, but is is done all the time.

Edited July 22, 2009 by metals95

[thetreble 19]

Interesting, Metals.

I still think some of it's bullshit. You've got people waiting years to just be with their wife or husband, and then some #### gets it in a few months because the employer pays the money.

But then 3 years later, the employee quits that job so what is the tie to the company? I don't know.

[warlord 73]

Quote from SapphireDreams

"Then there are certain work visas that are always going to be non-immigrant - like the TN visa for example can never turn into a greencard (from what I've researched)"

Many people are able to do TN to Greencard through work employment legally. It just takes timing and doing your proper research. The TN is temp with non immigration status. However if you are on a TN and your company wishes to change that then they can legally follow through the proceedure to do so. This is a misconception that people seem to think and it is completely untrue.

Here is a good link to explain how it works.

http://forums.immigration.com/showpost.php...amp;postcount=2

Yes there is a lot of work, but yes it's perfectly legal and yes many people do this or are going through this right now. It's pretty common place depending on your work.

TN -> Green Card on marriage based (like other status or visas) is also common place. They know there is a chance someone will find someone where they are living, status or no status. They never questioned my intent since I had been living here for 7 years and dating for over a year before we got married. They are aware that TN's do this all the time and there is nothing wrong with it.

The confusion is why people get the idea TN-Green Card is wrong is because they do not understand what the Dual Intent really is. Comming over to apply for a TN at the border with intent to go for a Green Card would be illegal and denied as they have immigration intent. Comming over on a TN knowing it's temporary and then thinking they will be comming back to Canada eventually when it expires is not immigration intent. While working legally on a TN a company decides to sponser them, then they can as they entered the US with no original intent. Things change, but that's fine as long as they were employed under the proper context originally.

Actors and Atheletes etc come over on a P1 (http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/visa_p.html) visa. And here is a good TN forum for those that have questions and who are doing the TN to Greencard with people that have completed the process helping out: http://forums.immigration.com/forumdisplay...desc&page=2

Edited July 22, 2009 by warlord

[Krikit 1,165]

Some good info in those last few posts. Thanks guys.

[minnew 4]

Humm my cousin is in Houston on a TN and has been for several years....His fiance told me that he has a permanent TN..(which I didn't think they had)..maybe she meant GC sponsorship, I honestly did not know it was possible to go TN-GC without marriage, besides going the H1B route.

Edited July 22, 2009 by minnew

[SapphireDreams 71]

Humm my cousin is in Houston on a TN and has been for several years....His fiance told me that he has a permanent TN..(which I didn't think they had)..maybe she meant GC sponsorship, I honestly did not know it was possible to go TN-GC without marriage, besides going the H1B route.

You learn something new everyday!

I wonder how difficult or expensive it is to go from TN-GC because I know a lot of people who have done a TN and not one of them has gotten a GC. In this economy a lot of employers are just not even renewing them anymore.

I know one girl from my grad school class that went straight from school to working for a US company (she's Canadian) and I've always wondered what work visa she has. She's not that skilled, we have the same credentials and we work in public relations, which is very competitive. I know she did a crazy set of interviews, but still boggles my mind to this day that she beat out so many Americans for an entry level job! I guess I'll never know and don't ever have to worry about that!

[warlord 73]

Humm my cousin is in Houston on a TN and has been for several years....His fiance told me that he has a permanent TN..(which I didn't think they had)..maybe she meant GC sponsorship, I honestly did not know it was possible to go TN-GC without marriage, besides going the H1B route.

No such thing as a permenant TN. They just raised the limit from one year to 3 years for them now though. What he says is common, it means he is considered full time by his company and the job is no longer temporary, but they still treat the job on paper for the TN as temporary. This is what most TN's are in. I was the same, full time job, but on paper it was reviewed every year, like every other person in the company, hence the "Temporary for a year to be reviewed upon completion".

He will just re-apply every 3 years now for a new TN and so forth until he either quits, gets laid off, or NAFTA falls through. TN's are indefinate for the amount of time you apply. So people have been on them for well over a decade. Previous TN's don not mean you have less of a chance for a new TN like many think. So by permenent it's just that his company will continully apply for a new on when it expires. That is all.

And yeah too many people are under the assumption that you need to switch to an H1B visa from a TN status to get a Green Card which isn't true. It may make it easier, however the H1B has a cap to it, so getting on to one could be hard if the cap has been reached.

For TN-Greencard it just really depends on how your employer wants to handle it and if they are willing to go through with it. It's by no means a simple process. They actually will have to advertise your job out to the public to see if a qualified American can do it. This is why they specialize the wording so that no one could qualify for the job but the person they are sponsoring.

As SapphireDreams mentioned employers don't want the hassle or to fork over the money. It's not cheap to do an Employment based Green Card especially from a TN. So while it is possible and many have done it, it's not something you hear about a lot (though many are doing it currently) and it does take a lot of time.

I got my TN by a fluke, it was a new office branch for a company that was looking for GIS people (Geographical Info systems). I had graduated school with a B.A., worked in an auto plant for 3 years then then had an interview. They loved my interview and even stated I really didn't have the qualifications for the job. I had the B.A. requirement for the TN though and they said they would rather have someone like me with my personality that doesn't have the best qualifications over people they couldnt' see really fit that did. They hired me. So yeah, your friend could have lucked out in much the same way. My old job paid off for them though as I got into the technical part, trained people and was with them 7 years. Many of the most qualified people left after a few months and we had to re-train over and over.

So employers do sometimes want people that don't necissarly have the best grades or experience, but someone they think would fit for their company. And with a TN compared to some other statuses and visas. There is no law or requirement that a US citizen if qualified takes that job over a TN prospect, since it's part of the NAFTA agreement. Only when going for the Green Card is when you face this...

Edited July 22, 2009 by warlord