need advice about TN visa

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Hi,

I am a new grad RN-- licensed and graduated from a school in California. I am a Canadian citizen. I have recently received a verbal offer for a new grad program from a big hospital in Southern California. When the recruiter called to congratulate me with the offer, I let her know about needing an offer letter that includes job title, job description, salary, benefits and duration of employment on company letterhead so I can take that information with me to the boarder and apply to TN visa. The recruiter said she will contact their immigration specialist and get back to me since she is unfamiliar with the law-- so she did. She let me know that the immigration specialist at the hospital told her that they don't normally do this for an easy-to-fill position as it requires the hospital to fill out paperwork and pay about a thousand dollars. I told her that TN visa is based off of the NAFTA Treaty that allows Canadian citizens to work in the US without sponsorship and all that paperwork. It seems like their immigration specialist might not fully understand TN Visa?? I'm afraid that they might rescind the job offer to save the hassle of hiring me ..... (but there is essentially nothing they have to do for me to apply to TN...so honestly don't know)

I have an upcoming interview with an HCA facility up here in the Bay in August, and I was wondering if I should just wait until I get the actual offer letter-- and just go apply to TN on my own without letting the hospital know first? I'm afraid that they'll just take away this opportunity from me when TN visa really doesn't require the employer to do anything besides giving me the offer letter, which is a pretty standard one... But I also don't want to seem like I am hiding something from them.

Does anything have any experience with TN visas and how to go about letting employers understand that it does NOT require sponsorship?

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.

Hello. Were you able to sort this out?

Some US hospitals are not familiar with the TN visa and thus do not hire Canadian RNs who are still needing TN visa to work. I did inquire to some hospitals and got the No response.

So you may be need to inquire which hospitals do hire Canadian RNs and help with TN visa requirement.

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Thank you.

The hospital told me that they are required to hire an attorney for all employees needing visa to help with the TN application because they don't want their employees to get stuck at the boarder. However, they are not willing to pay for the fees to hire the lawyer for me because I am a new grad - and new grads residencies aren't hard to fill. So if i was willing to pay the $1000 + lawyer fee I could still go, but I declined.

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.

Yes. The hospital I applied to has a lawyer who would be drafting the “employment letter” I needed to present at the border.

But it is sad to hear that the hospital do not have a lawyer.

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your best bet would to print out the guidelines of a TN visa and carry it to your interview or send it to who ever and just let them no all you need is the letter and thats it you will do everything else no lawyer needs to be involved as long as you have a good detailed letter from the company and all your credentials you shouldn't have any problems i started off with a TN in 2015 and now i on the verge of getting my green card just try and get the hospital to get you the letter which wont cost them anything for someone to do

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.

Hello. Any update on your paperworks?

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1 hour ago, hypnotizer90 said:

Hello. Any update on your paperworks?

Hi, I finally got my visa screen after 3 months of waiting (more so because BRN took 2 months to process the verification). Recently got another offer at a Bay Area hospital. But this hospital only hires new grads as per diem (or so I’ve heard). And again, as HR contacted me with all the onboarding stuff I let them know about needing an employment letter. My offer was rescinded lol. HR lady told me that as it is not a hard to fill position, they have a bunch of candidates, they can’t justify why they would hire a foreigner. ?‍♀️ It kinda just makes me feel very disposable they don’t see the value in hiring me. And she said they don’t usually send out official “offer letters” for per diem positions anyway and that TN letter is not in their practice so they won’t be able to proceed. Told them I could draft the letter myself and just have them sign it. And she said Nope as this is a temporary position and they can’t guarantee the time frame of the assignment (because I told them the letter needs to include duration of employment). So that was that. Super disappointed that I’ve worked so hard to get to where I am today and are having so much trouble starting out as a new grad.

I’m starting to look at clinic jobs (aesthetics or fertility) seems like they may be more flexible because are privately owned and are smaller companies with less rigid policies? I’m hoping

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.

WoW. So much unhelpful on their parts.

- My employment letter states my hire date, no specific end date. But in the Terms of Employment section mentions I'm here temporarily for 3 years and my employer and me will abide by the terms and conditions of TN nonimmigrant status.

The end date really is the TN status expiration written on my Passport (Oct 6, 2022). My employer & me would follow this and hopefully I would have renewed before expiration date if still wanting to work here.

- I had a question last time here regarding changing hospital unit/ward with same employer & I believe the answer was OK without needing another TN status.

- The HR Business Partner signed my employment letter that was drafted by their Lawyer. But some people have been drafting their employment letter though.

Have you contacted most hospitals there and they do not provide employment letter? I am reading on other Canadian's postings that they were hired. But again specific to which city/town/hospital.

- May be it is time to look into another ?State, relocating, driving whichever. I understand Cali has its pros & cons.

- I am looking into another State actually once I get my multistate license status since I am in a compact State. However, employer ABC needs TN status each and you must declare which compact State is your permanent residence. Just adding some options for you.

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Hey @anny90099, I also graduated in the summer and am still in the process of getting my visascreen. I took my prerequisites from a community college and the school has been having a hard time sending the transcript to CGFNS. Unfortunately, the school doesn't offer the transcripts to be sent on a trackable mail. I was wondering if CGFNS was able to waive the previous schools you attended (where you took your prerequisites from). The official transcript from the nursing school I attended doesn't seem to include the prerequisites. I just wanted to ask how you were able to get everything approved. Thanks in advance for your help!

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hi @essie.ys , I also took my prerequisites from a community college and at an University extension and did not have to send those transcripts in! I think as long as your nursing school is accredited they'd assume that you have all the prerequisites needed already. The transcript request form from CGFNS is a very detailed form though (so my nursing school person did say on the form that i had completed like 45 hrs of nutrition or 45 hrs of pharm, which are the prerequisites). Hope this helps. It took about 4-5 weeks after the transcript was sent to reflect on my CGFNS account. The BRN took 2 months to process my transcript verification and thats why it took a total of 3 months-ish to get my visa screen. ?

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Hey @anny90099, thanks for the prompt reply! I just called CGFNS again and they said that they do need the transcript from my community college :( I am not sure why they would require it when they could confirm it from my nursing school. Each time I call, they seem to say something different. I have been trying to get hold of my visascreen for about 4-5 months now! I am glad you were able to get yours. Thanks again for your reply! I appreciate it much:)

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Specializes in Surgical/Trauma/Neuroscience/Cardiac ICU.
29 minutes ago, essie.ys said:

Hey @anny90099, I also graduated in the summer and am still in the process of getting my visascreen. I took my prerequisites from a community college and the school has been having a hard time sending the transcript to CGFNS. Unfortunately, the school doesn't offer the transcripts to be sent on a trackable mail. I was wondering if CGFNS was able to waive the previous schools you attended (where you took your prerequisites from). The official transcript from the nursing school I attended doesn't seem to include the prerequisites. I just wanted to ask how you were able to get everything approved. Thanks in advance for your help!

Hi. If you think that you included a school that does not really support your RN education then send message to CGFNS for them to waive that school.

But it looks like the pre-requisite school was needed for you to get into nursing?

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