I am half Cree Indian, and fall under what is known in Canada as Non-Status. I wish to work in the United States as a police officer after I graduate university (as my fiancee lives there). How exactly would I go about this? I will be moving there anyway as I am engaged to be married, but we have not had the opportunity to look into that yet. I am required, under California law to have permanent residency, and have applied for citizenship, to be eligible for employment. I am not exactly sure how this will be achieved in my case. I'm just curious to find out what I have to do, and at least how long it will take.

The burden of proof remains with the applicant to establish eligibility. This is usually accomplished by presenting ordinary identification and a "tribal card" or certification from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Ottawa, specifying the applicant's tribal affiliation and blood per centum. Once the claim of being an American Indian born in Canada is established, the alien can enter the U.S. regardless of period of time or purpose. However, the lawful admission for permanent residence of an American Indian born in Canada is recorded on Form I-181.

Of course, if you cannot establish that you qualify under INA §289, you can be petitioned as a fiance and then apply for a change of status to permanent residence once you are married. The process could take over a year. You can read about fiance visas here.

With regard to citizenship, the general rule is that you require five years of continuous permanent residence and two and a half years of actual physical presence in the United States before you are eligible for citizenship. You can read my article on naturalization for more information on acquiring citizenship.

My wife, kids and myself are Canadian citizens. I have been working for a U.S. company under TN status. It expires in May, 1997. My wife and kids are in the USA with valid TD status. We will all be going to the border to renew our visas with the same U.S. company. I know that I will change employers a month later and get a new TN for the new job.

1. Can I get status for both companies at the same time? In other words, can I get a TN for company A valid for the first month and another TN for company B for the remainder of the year?

2. Could I legally get two TNs by going one day for company A and the next day for company B? Could I do it at the same border location or should I go to two different locations?

3. If I cannot get TNs for each of the two companies in the same trip to Canada, could my wife and kids stay in the U.S. for 12 months using their TDs with company A even after I move to company B?

While you cannot have more than one classification at a time (e.g. a TN and an H-1B), you are permitted to have more than one TN at the same time. For example, if you were working part time for two different companies concurrently, you could get a TN for each company. However, you are asking for two TNs to be issued for consecutive jobs. This is very unusual and it certainly will raise some eyebrows. However, some reasonable ports of entry have been known to issue a TN up to a month in advance of your start date to allow you to get settled in before the employment starts. If you are starting the second job within a month of the TN application, they may issue you two TNs concurrently. In other words, you will get a one month TN and a twelve month TN both commencing as of the date of your application. For the first month, you will have two concurrent work authorizations. However, this would be discretionary and not everyone will do it. Choose your port of entry wisely.

Going to the port of entry the first day for company A and the next day for company B looks very suspicious. Although you may not be guilty of anything, you will certainly look guilty of something. Going to two different locations will look even more guilty. Your best option is to apply for both TNs at the same port of entry at the same time and explain the situation honestly.

With regard to your dependents, there really will be no material change with regard to them. You will still be in TN status and they will still be related to you in the same manner. They may want to request TD status again once you have changed employers, but I don't think anyone will complain if they just use their old TD status. In any event, if the INS grants you concurrent TNs, your dependents can be TDs under your 12 month TN rather than the one month TN.

I am currently working on a TN in the U.S. I would now like to take a second contracting job working with a different employer while maintaining my day-time permanent job.

1. Can I obtain a second TN for the second job while maintaining my first TN?

2. Can I start a company for the purposes of this contracting?

As I mentioned above, you may have more than one TN at the same time. Therefore you could obtain a second TN while maintaining your first TN as long as you could show that you were willing and able to continue work for both employers at the same time.

The fact that you may be using a personal holding company for your contract work should not matter. What matters is that fact that you are performing TN level services for a U.S. entity. However, you still will need a new TN for every entity with which you contract for services, regardless of whether you contract through your personal holding company or directly as an individual. You cannot argue that your personal holding company is the U.S. entity for TN purposes and then work for its "clients" as an employee. This amounts to self-employment, which is prohibited.

I am an F-1 student in my Master's degree and am on Curricular Practical Training ("CPT") right now. My F-1 visa expires in May, 1997. However I plan to graduate in Dec., 1996 [sic] because I only have my thesis to do for the fall semester of 1997. I have a permanent job offer. My question is, can I apply for an Optional Practical Training ("OPT") now? Since my CPT authorizes me to work full-time, and it will take at least 6 weeks to process the OPT, can I use the CPT to work for this company while waiting for OPT?

It depends. It is true that eligible students are not limited in the amount of CPT in which they may participate. However, according to INS Central Office cable File No. CO 243.69-C (Jan. 22, 1992), students who have engaged in one year or more of full-time CPT are ineligible to participate in post-completion OPT. If you are coming close to this limit for your CPT, you are better off taking time off until your OPT is approved. Readers who would more information on F-1 status, CPT and OPT should refer to my article on F-1 and M-1 student status, discussed elsewhere at this web site.

I am a Canadian citizen who is a graduate student in Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin under an F-1. As I am approaching graduation, I have become aware that many companies interviewing on campus require that I be able to accept full-time employment in the U.S. Would a TN allow me to accept a full-time employment with a U.S. firm? If so, what steps would I have to take to get a green card after working in TN status?

Your proposed employer may impose additional requirements such as a work authorization valid for a minimum period of time. However, as a general rule eligible for TN status means that you will be allowed to accept full-time employment in the U.S. with very little difficulty or processing time. As long as the proposed employer can live with the one year terms, you're okay. With regard to a green card, the TN neither helps nor hurts you. You will have to qualify independently of the TN under one of the existing permanent residence categories. Permanent residence categories are discussed here.