IN THIS GUIDE · Sorting each child's own visa steps and evidence when a TN household includes children of different citizenships
Start with the TN eligibility and application overview
The citizenship rule applies to the principal only
TN classification requires the principal applicant to be a citizen of Canada or Mexico. Dependents are not held to that rule. A spouse or unmarried child under 21 may qualify for TD regardless of their own nationality, but the steps each of them follows before travel do depend on the passport they hold. Treating the household as a single case is where preparation usually goes wrong. The employer's role stops at the principal. A support letter describes the professional position and the qualifying occupation; it says nothing about a child's passport, and no officer will read it as covering one. Whoever assembles the household file, usually a parent rather than the company, carries that half of the work.
Sort each child by the passport they will travel on
List each child’s citizenships, passport validity, age and marital status before deciding the route. Canadian citizens are generally visa exempt for TD admission; many other non-US citizens need a TD visa, subject to applicable exceptions. A US citizen child does not need TD. Confirm each person’s position rather than assuming all non-Canadian children follow the same procedure. Assign one adult to confirm each child's position against current official guidance rather than against a sibling's experience. Where a child holds two citizenships, the choice of travel passport belongs to the family: make it once, record it, and apply it consistently across every later form.
Build relationship evidence child by child
Each child needs documentation of the qualifying relationship to the principal, typically a birth certificate naming the parent, alongside their own valid passport. Where a document is not in English, arrange a translation; that is a different thing from a credential evaluation and serves a different purpose. Adoption records, name changes between documents, or a differently spelled surname should be reconciled with supporting paperwork rather than explained verbally. Ask who actually holds each record: a civil registry issues the birth certificate, a school holds nothing that substitutes for it, and a parent's recollection of a spelling is not a record at all. Hypothetical example: the household of a wholesale nursery operator finds that the certificate naming him was issued under a maiden surname, so the marriage record that reconciles the two must be ordered before any travel is booked.
Check ages, marital status, and what TD does not permit
TD eligibility for a child depends on being unmarried and under 21, assessed for each person individually, so a household with an older teenager needs a plan for what happens when that threshold is reached. TD allows study. It does not authorize employment, which matters for an older child expecting a part-time job as much as for a spouse. The threshold belongs to the calendar and not to anyone's discretion, so name the person who will watch it. A parent should diarise the date a child turns 21 and raise it with counsel well before it arrives, because officers apply the age and marital-status conditions as they find them on the day of the request.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.