The government charges are the port-of-entry application fee and the I-94 fee listed on the USCIS fee schedule, plus any credential evaluation and professional fees. Filing Form I-129 in advance carries the petition fee instead.
Budget the fee schedule, not a guess
Hypothetical example: Government charges for TN are modest compared with other categories, but they change, so Priya should read the current USCIS fee schedule rather than rely on a number from a colleague's application two years ago. For a Canadian citizen applying at the port of entry, the charges are the application fee and the I-94 issuance fee, payable at the port. If the employer prefers to file Form I-129 with USCIS first, the petition fee applies and premium processing is an optional extra. Beyond government fees, budget for a credential evaluation if any degree is foreign, official transcripts from the university, translations of any non-English document, and professional review of the employer letter. Employers sometimes pay these; nothing in the TN rule requires it, so the offer letter should say who covers what. Household moving, state licensing and vehicle import are separate and often larger.
Hypothetical example: A Canadian horticulturist receives a short-season placement with a U.S. nursery. The employer should decide in writing whether it will pay for the professional letter, transcript retrieval, translations, and any filing route it chooses. The fee schedule settles government charges on the filing or admission date; receipts settle what was actually paid. Mixing immigration costs with business start-up costs makes it harder for the applicant to compare offers accurately.