Canadian Executives Transferring to U.S. Face Losing Visa Perk
- Pilot project tests elimination of on-the-spot adjudication
- ‘USCIS has been drowning employers in paperwork’: lawyer
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Blaine, Washington boasts the motto “Where America Begins!” For Canadian executives transferring with their companies to the U.S., the tiny border town may not be the beginning they were hoping for.
For the next several months at Blaine, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is temporarily ending a perk that Canadians have enjoyed for decades under Nafta. Canadians with "specialized knowledge," managers and executives seeking intracompany transfers to the U.S., will no longer be able to have their L-1 visas processed on-the-spot. Employees must now send their documentation to be scrutinized ahead of time at a U.S. service center.