TN then HB-1? Permenant residency question

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Hey everyone. I have a few questions regarding possibly immigrating to the US from Canada. I have about 4 years RN experience,mostly mental health, and am planning on moving to the US (likely Florida) in the next few months. I am a dual UK.Canadian citizen, and have lived in the US when I was younger for 4 years. My plan is to apply for licensing in Florida, write my NCLEX, get a TN visa, then apply for jobs. If I liked it there, I was going to see if I could get my employer to sponsor an HB-1 visa and live there for a very long time.

I was wondering if this process is possible, or if I need to wait for my TN visa to expire? I was also wondering if my TN visa would count for me establashing residency? I am seriously considering going back to school in the next five years, and I chose Florida because it has tons of options in the fields that I am looking (Nurse Practitioner or Clinical Psychologist) and relatively affordable tuition once your state residency has been established.

Have any Canadians done this on here? I am also curious as to how taxes work, such as do I stop paying Canadian taxes (in addition to US) after I have an HB-1 visa? Thanks in advanced for any info!

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

You cannot get TN until you have a employer and usual time for TN is 3 years. Regarding taxes I am sure if you google it you should find answers on their website

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Before the economy tanked in 2008, Canadian nurses were recruited by American hospitals via career fairs that were held annually or sometimes every six months. If there is still a need for American hospitals to recruit Canadian nurses, than hospital representatives will be present at job fairs. Check the marskell group health career interactions to see if there is a job fair planned to take place near you, attending a job fair can be a good way to find out information about relocating to the US.

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You cannot get TN until you have a employer and usual time for TN is 3 years. Regarding taxes I am sure if you google it you should find answers on their website

I know that they are valid for up to 3 years, but could I apply for a HB-1 with my current employer at the time with the rationale that I am going with a TN to see if I like living in the US first, and if I do then I would appply for a HB-1?

My understanding is that you get a TN visa without finding an employer first, while the HB-1 requires an employer? I figured it would be 100x easier getting hired if they don't need to do a bunch of extra paperwork for me.

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Thanks for the info, I'll start looking.

Before the economy tanked in 2008, Canadian nurses were recruited by American hospitals via career fairs that were held annually or sometimes every six months. If there is still a need for American hospitals to recruit Canadian nurses, than hospital representatives will be present at job fairs. Check the marskell group health career interactions to see if there is a job fair planned to take place near you, attending a job fair can be a good way to find out information about relocating to the US.
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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

Why not just renew TN? Neither H1B nor TN visa are immigration visas. H1B requires employer to bear all costs and fees so employers are more reluctant to sponsor in the US. Until you have PR status (or citizenship) you will not meet residency requirements for in state tuition as a student in a state school you will be considered an international student as you are still a Canadian citizen with TN or H1B specialty visa.

TN visa requires a visa screen cert plus a bona fide job offer. No major cost to employer if you are qualified for job as an RN. H1B is a specialty visa that requires employer to pay all costs and fees.

EB3 is employment based visa that progresses to immigration status

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Wow, I must have all my information wrong then? I thouht that the TN visa was pretty easy to get as a Canadian RN, and then you would go down there, get your license, and then apply for jobs WITH the TN visa? I thought that the HB-1 visa is the one that leads to a green card, and allows you to establish residency.

I should add a bit more to my story. It would be VERY important for me to establish my residency and eventually obtain citizenship as I am just about done with living in Canada. I grew up in both Canada, the US, and the UK, so I don't really have any allegiance to one coutry per se. I want to likely move to the US permenantly, and then become a canadian EX-pat so I am no longer a Canadian resident so I no longer have to pay taxes in Canada (I believe if I work in the US as a Canadian Citizen, I pay US taxes and then they evaluate my taxes in Canada and the Canadian government charges me the difference). I can get by with 45% taxes when I'm making 100k a year in Canada, but I can't get ahead in Florida making 50-60k/year with 45% taxes!

I also am really considering going back to school to either do my Psych Nurse Practitioner or Clinical Psychology within the next 5 years. From my research into Florida specifically, it seems that you need to have an immigration visa (I believe HB-1 is on the list, but not TN) to establish your residency for tuition purposes. Having Florida residency makes admissions easier, as well as much lower tuition, so it would be a shame if i lived there for 5 years then had to pay out of state/country tuition.

Why not just renew TN? Neither H1B nor TN visa are immigration visas. H1B requires employer to bear all costs and fees so employers are more reluctant to sponsor in the US. Until you have PR status (or citizenship) you will not meet residency requirements for in state tuition as a student in a state school you will be considered an international student as you are still a Canadian citizen with TN or H1B specialty visa.

TN visa requires a visa screen cert plus a bona fide job offer. No major cost to employer if you are qualified for job as an RN. H1B is a specialty visa that requires employer to pay all costs and fees.

EB3 is employment based visa that progresses to immigration status

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.
I know that they are valid for up to 3 years, but could I apply for a HB-1 with my current employer at the time with the rationale that I am going with a TN to see if I like living in the US first, and if I do then I would appply for a HB-1?

My understanding is that you get a TN visa without finding an employer first, while the HB-1 requires an employer? I figured it would be 100x easier getting hired if they don't need to do a bunch of extra paperwork for me.

You need a employer for the TN as they have to supply a letter of employment and you show this at the border along with VSC and they issue TN, As a Canadian citizen TN will be a lot easier than H1b.

As per the US government website on NAFTA

  • A contract or letter of employment in the United States - To show that you have a job offer, provide a contract or employment letter from your employer in the United States confirming your upcoming employment in one of the professional occupations listed in Appendix 1306.d.1 of NAFTA Chapter 16. The letter should also include:
    • Your purpose of entry;
    • A detailed description of your anticipated business activities or job responsibilities;
    • Your anticipated length of stay in the United States;
    • Your educational qualifications or appropriate credentials demonstrating professional status;
    • Evidence of your compliance with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations and/or state laws; and
    • Arrangements for your pay.

    Visas for Canadian and Mexican NAFTA Professional Workers

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Specializes in Medical and general practice now LTC.

A few years ago we had a couple of Canadian nurses working in the US using TN and they both applied for greencard and maintained TN until greencard application was processed and approved

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

You are likely better to apply for license, get a job offer, then obtain VSC & TN visa. Then see if employer will sponsor for green card down the road. Neither TN nor H1B are direct paths to residency/citizenship

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Specializes in CTICU.

FYI - it's H1B, not HB1.

A few things to your comments - generally it's only publicly-funded universities that have international student fees. You'd have to ask private institutions what their rules are for establishing residency/instate status - the public university I went to for my MSN charged out of state tuition for anyone who didn't have a greencard. ie. Even if you had a H1B, you'd be on out of state fees.

Florida is one of the most restrictive states in terms of NP scope of practice and prescribing.

It would be very foolish to relinquish your Canadian citizenship in order to avoid taxation. Many people regret losing citizenship and are unable to get it back. I'm unsure if you'd be eligible to get it again in the future if you wanted, for example, to retire somewhere that has good universal healthcare such as Canada.

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Thanks for all of the helpful information everyone! It really answered a lot of questions. So it seems that you can apply for your greencard ANYTIME during either a H1B or TN visa? And from my research on Florida Uni's, they generally require 1 year residency (and if you are not a citizen, they need 1 year of you working towards your citizenship, which I believe would be 1 year of greencard?). I know that it is only state Universities that do this, but it does help in the big picture.

Regarding the taxation status, I should elaborate more on my life plan. Canada has a TON of great benefits, such as socialized health care, but at the end of the day we all pay for it. I do a lot of investing in real estate/stocks, and continuing on my current trajectory, in a couple of years my investment income will exceed my wage (its already about 50%). Taxes in Canada are much higher than the US, but we get things like healthcare and a good canadian pension plan. My rationale is that even at my current income level, the long term costs of health insurance would be less than the differences in Canadian to US taxes. Furthermore, the differences between US and Canadian taxes are MUCH more pronounced in the higher tax brackets, furthering my beleif that long term for financial reasons living in the US makes more sense. Also, when I am ready to retire I would probably rather be in a place like Florida than Calgary as the biggest perks for me living in Canada right now are snowboarding and ice-hockey- two things that I wont likely be doing in my 70s :). I hope that the last paragraph somewhat explains my rationale!

So starting from where I am right now, here is my anticipated timeline. Let me know if I am way off.

-Spend at least a month living in Florida, job shadowing nurses, and talking to managers regarding job oppertunities (planning on driving down in a week)

-Apply for licensing with board of Florida, send transcripts, fingerprints, and criminal record checks. I guess in like 2-3 months after this, I would get a NCLEX writing date (please let me know if it is less than this time, as I was planning on using the waiting period to do some much needed studying).

-Pass NCLEX, get license in the mail (maybe 1-2 weeks later?)

-go down to Florida and start renting, no visa needed at first due to just tourism for now. Then apply for jobs in area. Hopefully get interviews and a job offer within a month.

-apply to US for TN visa, send license and job offer. Apply for social insurance number? (I used to live in the US when I was aged 10-14, not sure if i would have had a SSN) I am also not sure if I apply for visa first, or SSN first?

-Get VISA/SSN, start working, earn an awesome reputation as a good nurse the employer wants t sponsor.

-Beg manager to sponsor greencard, ~3-6 months after starting working hopefully get green card.

-Work with greencard for at least a year or two, then consider going back to school (maybe) with current Florida Residency.

Is this realistic?

FYI - it's H1B, not HB1.

A few things to your comments - generally it's only publicly-funded universities that have international student fees. You'd have to ask private institutions what their rules are for establishing residency/instate status - the public university I went to for my MSN charged out of state tuition for anyone who didn't have a greencard. ie. Even if you had a H1B, you'd be on out of state fees.

Florida is one of the most restrictive states in terms of NP scope of practice and prescribing.

It would be very foolish to relinquish your Canadian citizenship in order to avoid taxation. Many people regret losing citizenship and are unable to get it back. I'm unsure if you'd be eligible to get it again in the future if you wanted, for example, to retire somewhere that has good universal healthcare such as Canada.

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