Start with the TN eligibility and application overview
Explain the actual pay and professional work
Identify employer, duties, remuneration and intended duration. TN requires temporary activity in a listed USMCA profession by a Canadian or Mexican citizen with that profession’s specific qualifications. Canadian permanent residence alone is insufficient, and experience is not a universal replacement for prescribed education. A compensation estimate cannot resolve a mismatch between the real work and the claimed profession. Begin by separating tasks performed every week from occasional coordination. Match the core tasks to the profession description and match each required credential to a diploma, licence, experience record, or evaluation that actually addresses it. The first review should also identify the person authorized to sign, the worksite, and the proposed start date. If a job description uses a broad business label, ask whether the underlying work is professional activity in the claimed category; a generous salary cannot cure a duty mismatch.
Use genuine qualifications and ownership facts
Degrees from outside Canada, Mexico and the United States need reliable foreign-credential evaluation, with any US practice licence assessed separately. Services to a US enterprise solely owned or controlled by the applicant raise prohibited TN self-employment; ownership of a foreign business alone is not a blanket exclusion. Canadians generally may seek visa-exempt TN admission, while Mexicans generally need the visa process, with applicable petition procedures reviewed on the facts. For a Canadian, the direct classification request is normally made to CBP on arrival or through preclearance when the facts support it; the US employer may instead pursue the USCIS petition process. A Mexican applicant generally needs the appropriate visa before seeking admission. Review the ownership chain before selecting either process, because a person cannot use TN to perform services for a US business the person solely owns or controls. Keep the offer, credential evidence, and ownership explanation consistent so that a later question does not expose a different arrangement.
Match the credential route to the listing
Every Appendix 2 profession carries its own qualification rule, and Graphic Designer offers two: a baccalaureate, or a post-secondary diploma together with three years of experience. Whether the proposed duties fall within a listed profession, whether the applicant's credentials match that profession's accepted alternatives, which route applies given citizenship and current location, and whether an ownership interest raises the self-employment problem are legal questions. Ask whether an evaluation is needed after the profession and the institution’s authentic award records have been identified. Several health professions on that list require a state or provincial licence in addition to a degree, and the U.S. employer's willingness to hire does not replace the licence. Field experience, published surveys and professional-society membership help explain the role but do not replace the degree, because the biologist entry has no experience-based alternative. A credential evaluation may become relevant only after the profession and degree requirement are settled; ordering it first can create an expense that does not answer the actual issue. Order the transcript, diploma and licence records in the form the listing calls for, and translate only what an officer will need to read.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.