In the middle of negotiations on potential alterations to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the level of difficulty for Canadians wanting to cross the border and work in the US is growing, according to an immigration lawyer.
Over 1.1 million Canadian immigrants were given temporary US visas to work in the US in 2016, which amounted to a third of all applicants. NAFTA has given Canadians the chance to apply for special work visas not available to people from other nations. But, many Canadians who have applied for such US visas are now experiencing longer waiting times and stricter guidelines, as President Donald Trump considers ending the agreement amid reforms of the US immigration system.
In an interview with Your Morning, on CTV, the immigration lawyer, Nan Berezowski, claimed that border officials who have to adjudicate such cases are being pressured to obey new policy guidelines by the federal government, calling the new guidelines ‘restrictive’ and much narrower than before. The changes can mean extra questions, an increased scrutiny of forms, and more requests for documentation, according to Berezowski.
The immigration lawyer says that Canadians could lose the special advantages they currently enjoy with NAFTA if Trump scraps the arrangement, but that those advantages are already being eroded due to the law and a more restrictive interpretation of the treaty. The stricter guidelines could also make it less likely for Canadian businesses to want to send employees to the US for work or conferences, etc.