Read the general professional work overview
An occupational therapist post raises a question specific to that profession, not a general one. The regulation sets a credential requirement for each listed TN profession, and the requirement attached to one profession does not carry over to another. Read the entry that applies, then confirm with the person reviewing the file which documents that entry actually calls for.
Read the profession entry before ordering documents
Locate the entry and read its credential wording as issued. Some entries in the TN appendix are satisfied by a licence, some by a degree, and some set out alternatives; do not reuse the requirement a colleague in a different profession remembers. Note the exact phrasing, the documents you already hold, and the gaps between them. Where the wording seems ambiguous to you, ask the reviewer to confirm it against the regulation and the Foreign Affairs Manual rather than adopting a paraphrase found somewhere else. The occupational-therapist entry permits a baccalaureate or licenciatura degree, or a state/provincial licence. TN also requires Canadian or Mexican citizenship, prearranged qualifying professional employment and temporary entry.
A membership card and a diploma answer different questions
Hypothetical example: a person living in Saint-Eustache holds a membership card from a professional order, a diploma, and a written offer from a U.S. clinic, and assumes the membership settles the credential question. That does not follow. Ask whether the membership record actually evidences a qualifying licence under the relevant authority; a membership label alone does not establish that. The degree and its awarding institution must also be identified accurately. Neither automatically satisfies the regulation's credential requirement. If the degree was issued by an institution outside Canada, Mexico or the United States, a reliable foreign credential evaluation is required, not optional.
Keep practice permission on its own track
Admission in the TN classification and permission to practise a regulated profession in a particular state are decided by different authorities on different timelines. Ask the employer which state body governs the role, what stage any application has reached, and whether the offer assumes supervised or independent practice. Record those dates beside the immigration dates. If French-language records go to USCIS, plan for a complete certified English translation with the translator's statement of accuracy, completeness and competence.
Order the requests so the slowest one starts first
Two of these steps are slow and neither is hurried by attending to it later. A credential evaluation, where one is needed because the degree came from an institution outside Canada, Mexico or the United States, depends on a third party receiving records from an institution that answers on its own schedule. A licence application to a state body runs on its own timetable and belongs to a different authority altogether. Both should be started before the parts you control. Hypothetical example: a medical laboratory technologist reads the profession entry in March, orders transcripts in May, and finds the evaluation cannot begin until the awarding institution replies. Meanwhile keep the reversible work moving: the profession entry can be re-read, the offer letter can be redrafted, and a translation can be commissioned once the final version of each source document exists. Paying for a translation of a document that is about to change is the one clearly avoidable expense here.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.