I am going to start my job in California in about a month as a software engineer. I will fly there from Canada a few days before. Do you have any tips on crossing the border? a bit stressed out here. Any suggestions on which border to cross? I have heard BC is better than others since they get more applicants in tech. My company hired Fragomen and they sent a package on my behalf. Do you have any experience with this company?
It’s quite simple for Canadian citizens. Fragomen did mine. No issue
Did you have a degree in Computer Science or Engineering?
MS Computer Science.
Curious to see how it goes for you. I wouldn’t expect problems but I have heard to get the visa before making too many plans
I can update you here. I did not even book a hotel yet. Don't know if I should before the visa
General question. How does TN Visa compare to H1B in terms of renewal success rate? (assume i am not interested in US green card and only want to continuously work in US) Does renewing TN Visa ever 3 years have a bette success rate/safer?
As far as I know, for TN visa you must be Canadian or Mexican. H1B is for other countries
Yes it does 100% for me and my friends
Try to have a backup plan in case they deny you.
I have no plans! I have reapply again
If it is rejected you can as easy as come back again next day or few hours after and reapply (showing documents/contacts to support the rejection was not fare). You can also text fragomen from there as they made you wait long time, you have plenty time for texting (not call) ... be sure you have fragomen contact cell/text number
No issues at all, just be sure you memorize your job title and duties in your Fragomen letter (not the actual one from the offer). They will ask you to write it down by hand and it has to be the same as the letter from your company (provided by Fragomen)
Thanks, I will. What other questions do they ask?
They will check your original documents (diplomas, grades, passports, etc). Easy questions about your residence, citizenships and places where have lived. Also they will ask the same questions 2-3 times in different ways to be sure you are not lying... so be sure to be consistent and never lie. Regarding documents, bring the entire package Fragonem gave you and do follow the instructions letter. The Feds will not ask for anything else. In peace arch the entire process took for me 4 hours when I went with my family and 2 hours when I renewed it myself... so be patient and expect to wait long time there. If you have kids they will confirm your info is true with them as well. Also do not use nexus line or they get mad (Nexus line is not for TN or any visa application). I have done it 3 times, 2 were perfect really nice people, the last one the Fed was very strict, rude, and disrespectful....as far you don’t argue with them, they will approve it anyway. (since hello he told me it will not be approved... hours after they did). Go during business hours of your new job and bring phone numbers of new manager and fragomen contact. The delays I had was them not having a way to confirm my data/offer. Once you are here in California you will find that BC is not expensive at all :)
Do they ask if you ever filed I140/I485 before?
They could, but technically having had immigrant intent in the past shouldn’t imply you still have immigrant intent.
What is I140? I only have I-129
Hey I’m reading this just now, curious to know how it all worked out for you. On the same boat as you
I don't want to stress you out, but I was rejected my first time. It was actually a misunderstanding between the employer and the law firm they were using. Basically this was at the onset of COVID so lots of things were still unstable and I ended up having to push my travel dates and start dates I think 2 weeks off. When I handed the border officer my paperwork, the offer letter was "too old" they said (it was dated a month and a half I think) and they rejected me asking for new paperwork. So just make sure all your paperwork is in order, including the dates, the titles and all that.
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Is it a big company? Startup?
yeah it's a big one
If it’s a big company. I pretty much guarantee you will have no problems. The agents will have 100% have seen stuff like this before. If you want to ease your nerves just look up some stuff on google. But I legit wouldn’t worry. Enjoy California :)