IN THIS GUIDE · Distinguishing an onboarding or training period in an offer from authorization to begin working
Start with the TN eligibility and application overview
Find out what the training period actually contains
Ask for the schedule or curriculum, not just the sentence in the offer letter. Orientation on the employer's systems, internal procedures, safety rules or client accounts is ordinary and sits alongside professional work. A structured programme that teaches the profession itself, or that leads to a qualification the applicant does not yet hold, describes something different and should be read carefully before anything else is planned.
Confirm the credential is met before entry, not after
The listed profession's credential has to be satisfied and documented at the time entry is sought. An applicant whose degree is still pending, or who expects to obtain a certificate during the training weeks, is in a materially different position from one who already holds the qualification. Credential requirements vary by profession, so check the exact listing and raise any borderline case with counsel.
Keep authorization separate from the start date
Approval, visa issuance, admission and work authorization are distinct steps, and no general rule permits work simply because an application has been filed. The employer's preferred start date does not create authorization. Where an applicant is asked to complete onboarding modules, reading or setup before that point, confirm with counsel what may lawfully be done and from where, rather than assuming preparation is not work.
Ask the employer to describe the first weeks as duties
If the professional work genuinely begins at the outset with orientation running alongside it, ask that the letter say so in duty terms: the analyses, designs, reports or assessments the person will produce. If the honest answer is that no professional duties occur for several weeks, that is a substantive point about the role rather than a wording problem, and it deserves review before anyone relies on the offer.
Start from the executed agreement, not the recruiter's summary
The record that settles a training question is the executed employment agreement with every schedule attached to it. On its face that agreement should name the position, carry a duties annex, set out a compensation schedule showing any reduced training rate and the date it ends, and state what the commencement clause is actually conditional on. Training weeks tend to live in the schedules, which is also where they are described most loosely. Request the signed copy including appendices incorporated by reference. Where an appendix is named but nobody can produce it, that absence is itself the finding: a first month cannot be described accurately from a contract whose training annex has never been read.
When the contract and the onboarding record disagree
Two employer records routinely contradict each other here. The agreement may place professional duties at day one while the onboarding plan generated by the employer's own systems schedules six weeks of instruction before any client work. Neither document is automatically the true one, and an applicant cannot settle the point by picking whichever reads better. Put both in front of the employer at once, ask which describes the real month, and seek the correction from whoever owns that record rather than a reassuring reply from a recruiter who does not. A reissued and dated onboarding plan carries weight; an assurance that the plan is only a template leaves the contradiction exactly where it was.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.