IN THIS GUIDE · Map several project duties to the actual professional proposal
Separate tasks by what the applicant does
Hypothetical example: the proposal includes analysis, client coordination and routine implementation support. Describe each duty accurately and identify its role in the assignment. Do not omit work to make the position resemble a chosen profession or assume every technical task belongs to the same listed category. Add a percentage-of-time estimate and name the record that supports each category. This makes it easier to see when the proposed professional role is being diluted by routine delivery work.
Apply the precise qualification requirements
Identify the actual TN profession and its credential rules, including permitted alternatives where relevant. Link the applicant’s records to that requirement. Canadian permanent residence is not eligible citizenship for TN, and experience does not universally replace a specified degree. Check the diploma, transcript, evaluation where needed, and any licence against the selected profession before relying on an employer’s shorthand title. The record should explain a real connection, not merely a similar subject area.
Explain the employment and customer roles
Identify who employs, directs and pays the applicant and how customer work is arranged. Disclose relevant ownership interests for individual assessment. TN does not offer general authorization for U.S. self-employment; the actual arrangement needs more than a professional-sounding service description. Ask whether the applicant is taking ordinary entrepreneurial risk, setting price, or controlling the receiving entity. Those facts may show a structure TN cannot support even where the service is professional.
Keep scope changes visible
Mark optional projects and later phases separately from agreed duties. If material work changes, have the new facts assessed rather than assuming the original analysis applies automatically. A statement of work or customer request does not itself create permission to begin U.S. employment. Keep a change log for new customers, new job sites, revised deliverables, and added phases. Review the change before it becomes daily work rather than trying to characterize it after entry.
Apply the temporary-work and credential boundaries
TN concerns qualifying temporary professional activity for Canadian or Mexican citizens. Providing services to a U.S. entity solely owned or controlled by the applicant falls outside the permitted arrangement; a foreign business interest alone is not a blanket disqualification. Degrees from institutions outside Canada, Mexico and the United States require a reliable foreign-credential evaluation. Any licence needed to practise the profession in the United States is a separate question from the listed TN qualification. A Canadian citizen may apply at a port of entry or through Form I-129 and generally does not need a TN visa stamp. TD dependants may study but may not work. For a Canadian citizen, entry processing and an employer-filed I-129 route are different procedural options; neither removes the citizenship, profession, qualification, or temporary-work requirements.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.