Read the general life across the border overview
Hypothetical example: Chidi is a Canadian citizen employed as a computer systems analyst by a software contractor in Essa and has a TN offer from a U.S. firm. His wife Amara is a Canadian permanent resident and a Nigerian citizen who works as a bookkeeper. Their daughter Ngozi is nineteen and finishing college in Ontario. The family plans to move together, and each of them is tested separately: Chidi on his profession and citizenship, Amara on her own citizenship and what TD allows, and Ngozi on her age and her own plans. This guide walks through what each person's facts mean and why the family should not assume that Chidi's approval settles everything.
Chidi: the principal, and the only one whose Canadian citizenship is tested
Computer Systems Analyst is a USMCA-listed profession requiring a baccalaureate degree or a post-secondary diploma or certificate plus three years of experience, and Chidi, as a Canadian citizen, can apply at a port of entry with his employer's letter and credentials or have the employer file Form I-129. His approval is the foundation of the family's move, and it is his facts alone that the TN rules examine. His employment must be prearranged and professional, he may not be self-employed in the United States, and his status lasts for the period granted and is renewable. Everything the family plans depends on his TN continuing; if his employment ends, the dependants' status ends with it.
Amara: TD is available to her, but it bars work regardless of her own skills
Amara's Canadian permanent residence is irrelevant to TD, which is available to the spouse of a TN professional of any nationality, so her Nigerian citizenship does not exclude her. What it does change is procedure: as a non-Canadian she needs a TD visa from a U.S. consulate before travel, whereas a Canadian citizen spouse would not. The larger issue is that TD status does not permit employment. Amara could not continue bookkeeping for her Essa employer remotely from the United States, take a U.S. job or freelance, though she could study. If her income or career matters, the family should compare TD with what she could obtain in her own right, which for a bookkeeper without a listed profession or Canadian citizenship is limited, or ask whether Chidi's employer could instead sponsor an L-1 if it had a qualifying Canadian affiliate, since an L-2 spouse is employment-authorized.
Ngozi: nineteen now, and twenty-one before Chidi's first TN period ends
Ngozi qualifies as a TD dependant today because she is unmarried and under 21, and her own citizenship — Canadian if she was born in Canada, otherwise as her documents show — determines whether she needs a visa stamp. TD would let her study in the United States but not work, and it ends on her twenty-first birthday, which falls inside Chidi's first three-year period. The family should plan her own status before then: a student visa if she enrols at a U.S. institution, or, if she is a Canadian citizen and completes a qualifying degree, a TN in her own right later. Leaving the question to the birthday risks a gap. Each member's route is decided by that person's own citizenship, age and activity, and the family calendar should be built around the earliest of those deadlines rather than around Chidi's renewal date.
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.