Can Canadians work in the US legally?

Question

My friend who is Canadian is asking me if he can work in the US. Does he need to apply for something? Is it difficult to apply for, thanks

Answer 1

Of course they can. Why would we discriminate against canadians? I mean every other country has people "working" here illegally.

Answer 2

if you have all the papers you can... it takes months though.

Answer 3

No, they are not American citizens.

Answer 4

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/m...

Answer 5

Wow so many answers and all of them 10000% incorrect :)

Canadians can work in US legally on a temporary basis if they are skilled and have a degree, just like anyone from anywhere else in the world can. There are basically 2 categories of work visa that you can qualify for as a Canadian citizen:

1) NAFTA TN-1, this visa is pursuant to the free trade agreement between the two countries and allows you to work in the US for periods of 1 year at a time (can be renewed indefinitely). It is only for certain skilled categories though. You can get this visa immediately at the port of entry when you come to US, you just need the job offer, your degree, certifications, transcripts, etc. and pay $50. So I am sorry to shoot you down a-rod, do your homework before misleading people with false information.

2) H-1B visa. This is similar to TN, however this one really does take months becuase your employer has to petition you on April 1. You will sit in a lottery where you only have a 30% chance of getting one (due to the seemingly endless amount of Indian guys petitioning for them and eating up all of the cap). Once selected and approved, you will be able to start work on October 1st. This visa is good for 6 years and is dual-intent, meaning your company has the option of pursuing your permanent residency (aka Green Card) while you are working on H-1B. You should also note that this one will run your company's legal department around $5000 with the filing and legal fees, so you need to be valueable enough to a company for them to be willing to spend that kind of money to bring you in the door.

And just a few comments in response to the above posters, who clearly have not done their homework before shooting off their mouthes with false information:

a-rod: TN-1 does not take months, it can be obtained immediately once you get a job offer.

wihntr: Did you see the word "legally" in the question? This has nothing to do with illegal immigration, so stop making yourself sound like you have some kind of brain deficiency.

rickv835: He is not asking if he can vacation here or immigrate, he is asking whether or not he can work here legally. Read the question properly next time.

Answer 6

canadians can enter the u.s. without a visa for up to 90 days, but they cannot work in the u.s. legally unless they are sponsored by an employer, but they first have to apply for labor certification on form ETA-750, the sponsoring employer would have to basically prove that there are not sufficient or qualified americans or permanent residents to fill the position, if approved then the employer would file the I-140, this for permanent residence status, and then there has to be a visa number available for their preference category. had this question asked yesterday, but the canadian did not believe me and went to the immigration service which informed them that by considering employment while in the u.s. as visitor that they were violating the terms of the visa waiver program, since they are supposed to be here just for a visit.