IN THIS GUIDE · Organizing current travel identity and historical status records when two passports exist and one is near expiry
Start with the TN eligibility and application overview
Decide which citizenship the request rests on
TN classification requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship. A passport from a third country does not establish it, and Canadian permanent residence is not citizenship however long it has been held. The route also differs: Canadian citizens are generally visa exempt for TN admission, while Mexican citizens generally need a visa. Where someone holds more than one citizenship, confirm with counsel which document the application will use.
Keep the expiring passport as a historical record
Prior admission stamps, earlier visas and evidence of previous periods in the United States sit in the old book and do not carry forward on renewal. Ask the issuing authority whether the cancelled passport is returned, and keep it. Scan every page that shows a stamp, visa or endorsement before sending anything away, so the history survives even if the physical document does not.
Do not assume one document's validity sets another's
The period a person is authorized to remain is what the admission record shows, not what the offer letter, the passport or an approval notice suggests. Passport validity can bear on the period granted, so a short-dated document should not be treated as neutral. After any entry, retrieve the admission record, read the classification and dates, and raise any discrepancy promptly rather than working past it. The misreading also runs the other way: a passport valid well into the future gets taken as proof of an equally long admission. Validity of the book and the period of authorized stay are separate facts, and only the admission record states the second. Note that end date in a calendar the week of entry, before a schedule is built on the wrong one.
Line up dependents' documents on the same schedule
A spouse and unmarried children under twenty-one may qualify for TD, and each needs a valid travel document of their own. Steps vary by nationality, so a family whose members hold different citizenships may follow different routes. Check every expiry date at once and renew the shortest-dated first, since a dependent's document problem can delay a departure the principal has already committed to.
The contradiction a reviewer finds first
Files rarely fail for an absent document; they fail because two present documents cannot both be true. An employer letter describes a role performed across several earlier United States assignments, the passport offered was issued weeks ago, and nothing on the file connects the two. No one has done anything wrong, and the evidence was simply retired with the old book. Because the package is read as a single statement, silence about the replacement reads as a discrepancy rather than as a renewal. Put the two books together, write a short dated note saying which document covers which period, and attach the scans that note refers to. A contradiction explained on the file stops being a contradiction someone has to discover.
Sources reviewed 2026-09-07. This guide covers a preparation focus; it is not an individual eligibility assessment.