IN THIS GUIDE · Clarify the identified professional position in a multi-party assignment
Start with the TN eligibility and application overview
Distinguish a confirmed assignment from a possibility
Hypothetical example: an applicant has an agency offer mentioning several prospective U.S. customers. Identify the specific position being proposed now, the duties and the agreement supporting it. Keep future possibilities separate. The file should not describe an unspecified placement as confirmed work merely because the applicant expects an assignment soon. For an agency assignment, the same initial gate applies: Canadian or Mexican citizenship, qualifying temporary professional activity and the credentials prescribed for the actual listed profession. Canadian permanent residence does not replace citizenship.
Explain who controls the work
Identify the employing, paying and directing parties and how the client participates. Provide actual contracts and disclose ownership interests. Have the arrangement reviewed for TN employment and U.S. self-employment limits. The existence of a foreign company or a U.S. client is a fact to analyze, not an automatic answer in either direction. A degree from an institution outside Canada, Mexico or the United States requires evaluation by a reliable service specializing in foreign credentials. An agency’s acceptance of experience does not create a degree alternative absent from the profession’s rules.
Assess the profession from the duties
Obtain the work description and compare it with the listed profession and its credential rules. Keep degree, licence and any permitted alternative evidence distinct. An agency’s occupational label should not replace the actual responsibilities. If the duty descriptions conflict, ask the parties to resolve the facts before preparing the support letter. Identify the actual U.S. recipient as well as the agency. TN prohibits providing services to a U.S. entity solely owned or controlled by the applicant; foreign business ownership by itself does not trigger that prohibition.
Review changes before relying on the file
A new client, different duties or changed employer can affect the arrangement. Preserve revised documents and obtain the appropriate assessment before assuming the first TN plan covers them. Confirm the process applicable to the applicant’s citizenship and circumstances. A customer deadline does not authorize work or establish that a changed role still fits the original profession. Canadian citizens generally seek TN admission without a TN visa; Mexican citizens generally require the visa before seeking admission. The intended route and activities must be assessed before work begins.
Check the profession and credential together
A school’s new name neither supplies a missing qualification nor invalidates an otherwise relevant award; experience cannot universally replace the required education. A technologist admitted to support engineering work who is then assigned to supervise a sheet-metal line has left the profession claimed, and any later extension or re-entry will be measured against what actually happened. Keep the transcript, the degree parchment and the evaluation together, and check whether the degree title on the parchment matches the wording of the entry, because a variant title is the point most often queried.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.