Read the general professional work overview
Hypothetical example: Nkechi is a Canadian citizen and a registered occupational therapist in Petrolia who assesses injured plant workers and designs return-to-work programmes. A refinery contractor in Louisiana wants her to build the same programme for its sites. Occupational Therapist appears in USMCA Appendix 2, and the entry turns on a licence, which means the decisive document is issued by a regulator rather than by the company hiring her.
Find out which document the entry actually requires before collecting anything else
Appendix 2 entries are not uniform. Some are satisfied by a baccalaureate degree, some by a licence, some by either, and a few by experience. The Occupational Therapist entry is one of those where state or provincial licensure does the work, alongside the degree route where the entry provides for it. That single fact reorders the whole file, because the item with the longest lead time is not the transcript but the regulator's response. A letter of good standing from the Ontario college, and where the destination state licenses the profession, evidence of the American licence or of the application in progress, should be requested at the very beginning. Everything else can be gathered while those requests sit in a queue.
A state licence that has not issued is a scheduling problem, not a paperwork problem
Where the destination state requires a licence to practise, the position may be unlawful to perform without it regardless of immigration status, and no admission document cures that. Applicants sometimes assume the state process can run in parallel with the move, and occasionally it can, but licensing boards work to their own calendars and may require verification directly from the Canadian regulator, jurisprudence examinations or fingerprint clearance. The practical approach is to ask the board, in writing, what it requires and how long each step takes, then build the start date backwards from the answer. Where a temporary or provisional permit exists, its scope should be read carefully, because a permit allowing supervised practice may not support the duties the offer describes.
Contracting to several sites is where this arrangement most often goes wrong
Nkechi's work would take her to more than one refinery, which raises a structural question rather than a documentary one. Self-employment in the United States is not permitted in this category, so an arrangement in which she incorporates there, invoices multiple American clients and directs her own practice is outside it. A contract between her Canadian practice and a single American client, under which she delivers prearranged professional services and the client controls the deliverable, is a different structure. The supporting letter should name that client, describe the professional work, state the period requested up to three years, and list the sites. Any ownership interest offered in the client must be disclosed, and a change in the arrangement calls for fresh advice before the next crossing.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.