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Working In and Around the US of A?
jackda asks: "Like many out there I (an Engineer from Canada now in Massachusetts) am working in the US on the TN-1 visa. It has and continues to be a frustrating process both obtaining the visa, as well as obtaining information on working as a visa holder, in the US. I have received a very mixed bag of info from the US/CDN Consolate down to the border cross/INS people. I am just wondering if the collective minds of Slashdot could offer any tips, sources or info on anything from SSNs, to taxes, to resident/employment status, to any useful knowledge about living for a TN visa holder."
I used to work as a customs officer on the Canadian side and often helped my colleagues in Immigration with US personnel coming north. As such I can't really offer you concrete advice but here are some tips -- I live in Europe now (dual citizenship: get it if you can), so feel free to take all of this with a big hunk of salt.
The consulates never talk to customs/immigration people except at higher levels, and as a result bureaucracy will always win out in the end. Moreover the Cdn consulate in the US is in no position to offer you any real information or help on what you will find with the US customs/INS people on the front line, despite what they will say.
Your best bet is to go to your firm -- it is supposed to have legal staff (after all, they got you down there in the first place, right?) who are supposed to know about this. Use the legal staff, it's their job. Also, go to the USINS website and rummage around for TN visa information. The latter is not really a solution, it's more of a palliative; however, more information doesn't hurt.
When I used to work for a dotbomb in 2000 (in Vancouver) I ended up looking at immig. issues for a group of tech staff from Mexico who needed to go to the US. I could not have done it without our immigration lawyer, and I was more familiar with the subject than just about everyone else in the firm. They may not be able to surmount the actual issues, but they should be able to tell you -- in clear language -- what paperwork you need, what the employer has to provide, and what the immigration people expect to see.
Good luck to you.
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Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
The questions you have seem to be more along the lines of "what sort of paperwork do I have to do" and ordinary living questions. Usually much of the necessary tax paperwork is handled by your employer, but how much hand-holding they give you varies a lot. I assume from your questions that they are giving you very little. The processes in the US (with the notable exception of health insurance) of taxes/banking/etc. really aren't all that different than in Canada, so I'm guessing that you're a recent college graduate and this is your first job ever anywhere. In which case the issues aren't awfully related to you being from out of the country.
Most of the paperwork questions, you'll find decent answers for on the web. Both Canada and the US have really good websites for federal tax forms and instructions. Disentangling all the details isn't that easy, but there are newsgroups (like misc.immigration.usa and misc.immigration.canada) where common cases seem to be fairly well treated. State and local taxes aren't necessarily quite so easy but generally your employer knows how to sort things out there (although if you're the only Canadian employee they may not get things right, so double check on them!)
I speak as one who recently used a TN-1.
TN policy is not concrete. It varies from officer to officer, based on the phase of the moon, side-of-bed wavelength, and officer perception of the cut of your jib. The background documentation requirements in particular seem to vary immensely from applicant to applicant, and require an average of about 1.8 visits to INS per applicant.
My recommendation to grease the application is to pick a way-early non-critical time for your first trip across, and assume that you will be turned back for incorrect supporting documents. For that reason, if you're coming from a city with a Canadian airport with on-site INS services, you are well advised to make your first attempt there. You will almost certainly be returning home the first time.
A friend attempted to go to the airport the day before his flight, simply in order to process all of the paperwork. He was hassled to no end for "assuming his application would fail."
My interpretation is that their job is to give you a good hassling, simply to see if you crack under the stress and let something slip. If that psychology is correct, then your task is to:
a) demonstrate that you are in fact feeling the stress, while
b) maintaining consistent facts.
Once you have the visa, it simplifies your life immensely. Not quite at the point of waving it out the window as you drive through, but pretty close.
I too work in the United States as a Candian citizen under TN Status. The best source of information about the process for me was the Grasmick message boards: http://grasmick.com/board/?topic=topic1 This site also offers an entire 500 page book on the subject, although I haven't personally looked at it: http://www.grasmick.com/handbook.htm (Grasmick's TN Handbook for Canadians)
I've had 6 TNs since 1999; 5 with the same company. My wife is on her 5th TN with the same company. Here are some random thoughts.
Renewals
First of all, how well does your job and qualifications mesh with the official NAFTA guidelines. For me, I have a CS degree and my job is as a systems analyst, so it's a 100% match. Having a 100% match makes things much easier. My wife has an economics degree, but her job is not strictly as an economist, so the match isn't as good.
For me, when I need to renew, I just drive to the border (I live in Seattle), tool around in Canada for 20 minutes, then drive back and ask to renew. They process it there and I'm done.
My wife gets her petition and paperwork done by an immigration lawyer and has it sent to the Nebraska INS processing center. It can take up to 3 months for this to happen, but as long as they're processing the renewal, she has an automatic extension to her visa. The application must be physically received by Nebraska before the current TN expires, but you don't need to send the extension application in 3 months in advance. From the time they get the application to the time they finish processing it, you can't leave the country, because you would have been deemed to have abandoned your application. So don't do that.
Like I say, if your job is a good match with the NAFTA descriptions, it's usually easier to renew by re-entering the country.
Travel
One you have your I-94 (the paper they stapled into your passport), you can leave and re-enter the country whenever you want. You shouldn't need anything else. One thing to keep in mind is that if you leave on an international flight, clueless airline personnel may try to remove your I-94 (even though it's plainly stamped "Multiple Entry"). You can try to argue with them on this, but it may come down to not boarding the flight unless you give up the I-94. It's a good idea to make a copy of the I-94 and put it in your luggage so that if this happens, you can show customs the copy when you re-enter. They'll just give you a new I-94.
Taxation
If you're planning to live in the US for 2 years or longer, you do not have to file a Canadian tax return. The exception to this is the first year you move, since you presumably were resident and earning income in Canada for part of that year.
You also need to apply to Revenue Canada to be treated as a non-resident. To do this, you have to show them that it is your intention not to return for at least 2 years (short visits are still allowed). This means cutting ties with Canada -- you can't keep your house, you can't put your stuff into storage, etc.; you have to demonstrate that you have very few ties left with Canada. There is a form on Revenue Canada's web site that you have to fill out. For me, the only ties I had were a bank account, an RRSP loan, RRSPs and a Canadian credit card, and Revenue Canada accepted the application. I don't recall if I filled out that form the day after I moved, or if I submitted it with my tax return, so you should find that out now.
In the first year that you move, you will have to fill out two tax returns. This is complicated, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to find an accountant who understands the nuances of dual-return situations.
If I recall correctly, for your Canadian return, you declare the income you earned up until the day you left, and they calculate your tax liability using a pro-rated tax rate.
For your US return, it depends on when you arrived. If you arrived with less than 3 months left in the year, then your situation is different than if you arrived earlier. You need to do your research on the IRS site with respect to dual returns.
Family
Immediately family (spouse, children) are allowed to live in the US but not work. They will need TD visas, which they can get by showing INS your TN, their marriage certificate and for the kids, the birth certificate.
Miscellaneous