From TN Status to Green Card

[Phil80 0]

I posted this to my blog but thought it would be helpful here on the forums as well. I know I spent a long time searching for information on what to put with respect to my TN Status.

So since I just got my GreenCard I thought I’d throw together a quick blog entry that will help people transition from a TN visa to a GreenCard (through marriage only). The reason I’m doing this is because when I went through the whole process it was basically a ####### shoot trying to get information about the TN status and what I should put where.

I’m not a lawyer and this is just what I did on my forms. If you have questions/comments above and beyond this document you’ll probably want to consult a lawyer.

First some things to get out of the way, from Wikipedia:

TN (Trade NAFTA) status is a special non-immigration status unique to citizens of the United States, Canada and Mexico. TN status was created by virtue of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). It allows American, Canadian and Mexican citizens the opportunity to work in each other’s countries in certain professional occupations.

One thing to pay attention to is that a TN-1 status is not a visa. You do not have a visa number, nor will you have an alien number. All you have is your departure number. If you’re working in the US on a TN status and you get married you can no longer renew that status. With the new 3 year period you’ve probably got a long while until you need to renew but if you get married and leave the country with your TN status in hand be aware that USCIS can deny you re-entry in to the country. So once you get married it’s probably a good idea to start to submit all the paper work. So what can you do? It’s called ‘Adjustment of Status’. It allows you to change your status from TN to GreenCard. To do so you must submit whets known as an ‘AOS Package’.

I’m going to quickly describe what I included in my AOS package:

1) I-130 Petition for Alien Relative

1. My birth certificate

2. Wife’s passport, in full

3. G-325a Biographic information for wife (including 2 passport photos)

4. G-325a Biographic information for me (including 2 passport photos)

5. Evidence of bonafide marriage (marriage cert, joint bank account, lease, car loan etc)

2) I-485 Adjustment of Status

1. Copy of my passport bio page

2. Copy of my I-94 front and back

3. Copy of my birth certificate

4. Copy of marriage cert

5. 2 passport photos of me

6. Another G-325a (including 2 passport photos)

7. I-693 (Medical Exam)

8. I-864

1. i. Wife’s 2009 Tax return and W2

3) I-131 Advance Parole

1. Copy of my passport bio page

2. Copy of my I-94 front and back

3. 2 passport photos of me

4) I-765 Employment Authorization Document

1. Copy of my passport bio page

2. Copy of my I-94 front and back

3. 2 passport photos of me

The I-130 is used to create allow you to get a GreenCard. It’s a petition to give you an alien number and allow you to get a GreenCard. The I-485 is the application to change from TN to GreenCard. The I-131 allows you to travel, more on this in a second. Finally the I-765 is to allow you to work while you wait for the green card.

About the I-131 and the I-765. When you submit your paperwork your status changes from TN to ‘Pending’. Basically you’re still allowed to work under the TN-1 status until you get your Employment Authorization Document (EAD). The only difference between the TN-1 and EAD is you’re no longer tied to a company’s sponsorship when working under and EAD. Once you’ve submitted the paperwork you can no longer leave the country. If you leave the country you are dropping your application, unless you have an Advance Parole (or the I-131). With this document you’re allowed to leave the country without forfeiting your application. You submit both these applications at the same time and you should receive them in about 90 days or less. Mine took 2 months but YMMV.

Now for the helpful advice that took me days to hunt down:

1) You don’t have an alien number (or A# or A). The TN-1 status is not a visa and as such does not give you an alien number. So what are you supposed to put when every form asks for an A#, you but ‘none’.

2) If the form asks for your class of admission, visa type, current status, how you arrived in the country etc. You put ‘TN-1 Status’.

3) This is specific for the I-765 so I’ll just include a screenshot:

4) Within the I-485, since the TN-1 status is not a visa you’re going to put ‘none’ a lot. Just like this screenshot:

5) One of the hardest pieces for me was getting the medical exam (the I-693) completed. What you’re going to want to do is go to the USCIS website and put in your zip code. Then what I did was create a Google docs spreadsheet of all my local doctors and called each and every one of them. Make sure to ask how much the medical including all vaccinations will costs. Doing this I was able to find the cheapest doctor in my area that used the local city vaccination clinic to get my vaccines. Total cost was less than $200. You might be able to get your family doctor to give you a physical and prescribe the shots to have insurance pay for it but I didn’t go that route.

6) When filling out the I-864 it will ask you for 3 previous year’s tax records. You can easily request these records from the IRS.

7) When the package is complete scan the entire thing to email and save a copy. This will save you many sleepless nights when you doubt what you put down.

8) When you’re ready to mail the entire thing take it to USPS and use their tracking feature, this will let you know when it arrived at USCIS and who took it in.

9) You can use the online case status at USCIS when you’ve received your case numbers. Be aware, however, that the system isn’t always up to date; my cases still haven’t shown-up there.

This obviously doesn’t answer every question out there and if you’ve got question I would recommend you check out the rest of the forums. Best bet is to use the forum search feature as 9 times out of 10 someone else has had your exact problem.

[trailmix 77]

Great info Phil, thanks for posting this

[Phil80 0]

Great info Phil, thanks for posting this

Well I remember how much time I spent searching for answers to all these questions. They came in bits and peices but it took a while. So to give back to this community I thought I would put all the answers to my questions here.

Also, if anyone has specific questions you can send me a personal message on these forums and I'll try and get back to you.

[carri3 0]

I just wanted to say 'THANK YOU!'

I'm a Canadian here in US on TN-1 and just married a US citizen. Your post has been so helpful in putting our package together.

Still working on the details and need to do I-693; but you've offered so much.

Thanks.

[bluberry 0]

I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I do have a question for you though...I noticed in your time line you moved to the States prior to getting engaged...In my case I got engaged and then I moved (before that I was just commuting back and forth)...Do you think that poses a problem????

THanks again

[Phil80 0]

I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I do have a question for you though...I noticed in your time line you moved to the States prior to getting engaged...In my case I got engaged and then I moved (before that I was just commuting back and forth)...Do you think that poses a problem????

THanks again

I don't think that poses an issue. From what my lawyer has said (and I am most certainly not a lawyer) the reason you got the TN-1 status was not to move down to marry your fiancee but to be allowed legally to work in the US. You could have applied for a fiancee visa if that was your intent but from what I was told the USCIS doesn't view intent the same way we do.

We see it as "my intent is to marry this woman, oh god I hope USCIS doesn't find out" when the USCIS sees it as "This person has applied to work in the US on a TN visa and has no legal means to immigrate at this time". Once you get married though you have legal means to immigrate in to the country from Canada and therefore have "intent" to immigrate even if you just want to work in DC for a year before moving back to Canada and have no intent of EVER applying for a GC.

Just, whatever you do, DO NOT LEAVE THE COUNTRY AFTER GETTING MARRIED WITHOUT THE I-130 APPROVAL! Infact, always apply for Advance Parole and EAD together because once you leave the country and come back , you get your AP (Advance Parole, or I-130) and you lose your TN status, which means you need the EAD to work.

[alundy 0]

Thanks for the helpful info!!

I am a TN holder thinking about marrying my US citizen boyfriend.

At what point in this whole process do I change my name (to his last name)? Do we file all of these forms under my current last name (which will match my Canadian passport and my U.S. SSN and tax history) - and then later change my name? Or file under my new name which exists nowhere except on the marriage certificate?

Thanks!

[fiestagirl 7]

One thing to pay attention to is that a TN-1 status is not a visa. You do not have a visa number, nor will you have an alien number. All you have is your departure number. If youre working in the US on a TN status and you get married you can no longer renew that status. With the new 3 year period youve probably got a long while until you need to renew but if you get married and leave the country with your TN status in hand be aware that USCIS can deny you re-entry in to the country. So once you get married its probably a good idea to start to submit all the paper work. So what can you do? Its called Adjustment of Status. It allows you to change your status from TN to GreenCard. To do so you must submit whets known as an AOS Package.

I am curious as to why people say that you can't renew your TN status once you marry a USC. I did and the reason why I renewed it is because my stay was to be temporary. We planned to start the immigration into Canada. I've heard many times "you can be denied, you can't enter, etc" but where does it stay this? If you can convince (and be honest about) your intent to leave the US, then where is it written that you're doing something illegal? It wasn't until I got pregnant and would possibly not go back to work that we started the AOS process.

Not only that, but we went on holidays together and came back through the border with the only questions being asked are "are you two married?". Yes we are, and through the border we went. I understand if they suspect you are trying to immigrate that they can stop/bar you but they never did with me.

Edited August 27, 2010 by fiestagirl

[Dakine10 5,452]

I am curious as to why people say that you can't renew your TN status once you marry a USC. I did and the reason why I renewed it is because my stay was to be temporary. We planned to start the immigration into Canada. I've heard many times "you can be denied, you can't enter, etc" but where does it stay this? If you can convince (and be honest about) your intent to leave the US, then where is it written that you're doing something illegal? It wasn't until I got pregnant and would possibly not go back to work that we started the AOS process.

Not only that, but we went on holidays together and came back through the border with the only questions being asked are "are you two married?". Yes we are, and through the border we went. I understand if they suspect you are trying to immigrate that they can stop/bar you but they never did with me.

If USCIS follows their own rules, they should not issue a new Tn or allow entry on an existing one if ANY immigrant intent has been shown. Some officers consider marriage to a US citizen to be enough intent to deny entry. Others don't as happened in your case. But yeah, there is nothing saying it can't be done.

It's very similar to the issue with B2's. Sometimes the non USC spouses can get them, sometimes they don't. The onus is completely on the applicant to convince USCIS that they don't have immigrant intent at the time of entry.

[Dakine10 5,452]

That's a good comprehensive guide Phil. I wonder if you might want to have a mod move it to the Canadian forum and maybe sticky the thread.

I would just add that for the I-864 you can use your own income in addition to your USC spouses as long as you reside together and your employment is expected to continue with the SAME employer.

Also if you have worked in the USA for 10 years (40 quarters) you would qualify for social security benefits and would not need the affadavit of support.

[Dakine10 5,452]

I don't think that poses an issue. From what my lawyer has said (and I am most certainly not a lawyer) the reason you got the TN-1 status was not to move down to marry your fiancee but to be allowed legally to work in the US. You could have applied for a fiancee visa if that was your intent but from what I was told the USCIS doesn't view intent the same way we do.

We see it as "my intent is to marry this woman, oh god I hope USCIS doesn't find out" when the USCIS sees it as "This person has applied to work in the US on a TN visa and has no legal means to immigrate at this time". Once you get married though you have legal means to immigrate in to the country from Canada and therefore have "intent" to immigrate even if you just want to work in DC for a year before moving back to Canada and have no intent of EVER applying for a GC.

This is the only part I disagree with you (and your lawyer). Trying to enter the USA on Tn status and having immigrant intent is clearly visa fraud.

The parallel again is with getting married on a visitors visa. It's not about having a legal means to immgrate, rather it's that you are circumventing the immigration process.

For those that qualify, it's much faster to enter on a Tn than a fiance visa, and since the purpose of a Tn is not to enter the USA and get married, there would be the risk of visa fraud.

[HeatDeath 430]

For the I-485 question: "Were you inspected by a U.S. Immigration Officer?", shouldn't the answer be "Yes"?

[milimelo 4,479]

Moving to AOS from tourist, student, work visa.

[la2011 5]

This is an amazing thread...SO VERY helpful. I am new to VJ and will update my timeline as things move along. Adjusting from TN through marrriage. It's a complicated process but thanks to this amazing board and specialized advice for Canadians on TN from people like Phil, this makes it so much better!

I dont know a lot about the adjustment process but if any Canadians have questions about work visas, that I am pretty well versed in, so feel free to post or msge me with questions. I'm no lawyer but I do know quite a bit from thorough research

[crowcaller 0]

This thread is great! Thanks to the author, Phil80 and all those how offered additional help- im just starting the docs now and im sure I will have alot of questions

wish me luck!