December 18 , 2008

Period of Admission for Canadian and Mexican TN Nonimmigrants extended

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has amended its regulations to allow an increased period of admission and extension of stay for Canadian and Mexican citizens who seek temporary entry to the United States as professionals pursuant to the TN classification, as established by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA or Agreement). This final rule increases the maximum allowable period of admission for TN nonimmigrants from one year to three years, and allows otherwise eligible TN nonimmigrants to be granted an extension of stay in increments of up to three years instead of the current maximum of one year. In addition, this rule grants the same periods of admission or extension to TD nonimmigrants, the spouses and unmarried minor children of TN nonimmigrants to run concurrent. The rule also removes the mention of specific petition filing locations from the TN regulations and replaces the outdated term “TC” (the previous term given to Canadian workers under the 1989 Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement) with “TN.” This rule will reduce the administrative burden of the TN classification on USCIS, and will ease the entry of eligible professionals to the United States.

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