TN Visa Letter: What the Employer Support Letter Must Cover Under the New Online-Presence Review

Your TN support letter is the core of the case, and since October 1, 2026 it gets read next to your public online profile. Here is what it has to cover.

A TN visa letter (the employer support letter) is the document that proves your US job fits one of the professions listed in the USMCA. It must state the profession and the duties, the purpose of your entry, how long you will stay (up to three years), your degree or credentials, and how you will be paid. Since October 1, 2026, TN and TD visa applicants also go through the State Department's online-presence review, with social media profiles set to public. In practice, your letter now gets read alongside the professional history anyone can see on your public profiles.

If you are a Canadian or Mexican professional with a US offer, this letter is the core of your case.

Status as of October 14, 2026. In effect: online-presence review for I, TN and TD visa applicants (effective 2026-10-01, announced 2026-09-18). Unchanged: the land-border I-94 fee stays at $30 under the FY2027 inflation notice that takes effect 2026-10-16. Proposed only: eliminating the 60-day worker grace period, which covers TN workers and dependents (RIN 1615-AD22, comments close 2026-11-10), and removing deference to prior approvals (RIN 1615-AD26, published 2026-10-14, comments due 2026-11-13). Today's 60-day grace period and deference rule still apply.

Who reads your TN support letter

The same letter travels through very different hands depending on your citizenship.

TN eligibility depends on citizenship, not residence. A permanent resident of Canada who is not a Canadian citizen does not qualify for TN on that basis. For the full eligibility picture, see our complete TN visa guide for Canadians and Mexicans.

What a TN visa letter must cover

For Canadians applying at the border, the regulation at 8 CFR 214.6 says the employer letter should describe the professional activity, the purpose of entry, the anticipated length of stay, your educational qualifications or credentials, and the arrangements for pay. USCIS describes the same contents on its TN USMCA professionals page, and consulates look for the same things. In practice, as of October 2026, a complete tn visa employer letter covers these elements:

The profession match is where cases succeed or fail

Each USMCA profession has a minimum requirement, usually a bachelor's or licenciatura degree, sometimes a state or provincial license, and for a few categories an alternative such as a post-secondary diploma plus years of experience. The letter has to show that your credentials meet that profession's minimum, and that the duties are the work of that profession. Check the exact category names in our TN occupation list covering all 63 professions.

The classic mismatch is technology. "Software Engineer" is not a listed profession, so employers usually look at "Engineer" or "Computer Systems Analyst". Each comes with its own credential questions, which we walk through in is software engineer a TN profession. Pick the category by looking at what you will actually do every day, not the other way around.

Foreign degrees and licenses

If your degree is from outside the US, many employers attach a credential evaluation showing US equivalency. Where the profession requires a license (for example, some health and engineering categories), the letter should say whether you already hold it or what the role requires. Attach copies of your diploma, transcripts and licenses. The letter makes the claim and the documents prove it.

How the October 2026 online-presence review changes TN prep

On September 18, 2026 the State Department announced that, effective October 1, 2026, its online-presence review now covers I, TN and TD visa applicants, who must set their social media profiles to public. F, M and J applicants were already covered (June 2025), as were H-1B and H-4 applicants (December 15, 2025).

Who this affects most: because Canadian citizens are generally visa-exempt and apply to CBP rather than a consulate, the State Department rule bears most directly on Mexican TN visa applicants and on non-Canadian TD dependents who need visas. CBP officers at the border work under their own inspection authority. If you are Canadian, don't assume the State Department rule is the only review you will face, and don't assume it applies to you either. Ask an immigration attorney.

In practice, a consular officer can compare the letter's description of you with the work history and titles you have posted publicly. That is a consistency check, not a new legal standard.

Old rule versus new rule, as of October 2026:

One line we will not cross: this is not a reason to rewrite or scrub your online history so it matches a letter. The fix runs the other way. The letter should describe the job and your background accurately. If your public profile and the real job don't line up, take that to an immigration attorney before you apply.

TN visa letter sample: a fill-in outline

No agency publishes an official TN letter template. The outline below shows the structure most support letters follow. It is not wording to copy, and your employer or its counsel should draft the substance from the real job.

[Employer letterhead]
[Date]

To: U.S. Customs and Border Protection / U.S. Consular Officer / USCIS

Re: TN classification for [Full name], citizen of [Canada/Mexico]

1. Employer: [Legal name, address, nature of business, size]
2. Position and USMCA profession: [Internal title], offered in the
   USMCA profession of [exact category name]
3. Duties: [4-8 specific professional duties, with approximate
   percentage of time]
4. Purpose and temporary nature: [Temporary professional engagement]
5. Start date and anticipated length of stay: [Date; up to 3 years]
6. Qualifications: [Degree, field, institution, year; license;
   experience if the category requires it]
7. Remuneration: [Annual salary; payroll arrangement]
8. Worksite and supervision: [Address or remote arrangement; manager]

[Signature, name, title of authorized signatory, contact details]

Step-by-step: preparing the letter and the case

1. Confirm the profession first. You and the hiring manager agree on what the job actually is, then the employer's counsel picks the USMCA category that matches it.
2. Gather your credentials. Diplomas, transcripts, licenses, an evaluation of any foreign degree, and experience letters if the category needs them.
3. Draft role-specific duties. The hiring manager writes them and counsel reviews them. Generic HR language is the most common weakness.
4. Cross-check for accuracy. Read the letter next to your resume and public profiles. Any differences should come from the truth, such as a new role, and not from inflated wording.
5. Choose the route. Canadians: the border, preclearance, or an employer-filed Form I-129. Mexicans: a consular visa application, and check current interview waits on the travel.state.gov wait-times page instead of relying on old figures.
6. Assemble the packet. Letter, passport, credential copies, and the fee your route requires. At land ports the I-94 fee stays at $30 from October 16, 2026, per the FY2027 inflation notice published October 1, 2026.
7. Keep copies. An extension or a new TN application usually needs a fresh letter, and the next one should be consistent with this one.

Other October 2026 rules TN professionals should track

• Grace period (PROPOSED). DHS's proposal to eliminate the discretionary 60-day worker grace period (RIN 1615-AD22, published 2026-09-11) covers TN workers and dependents. Comments close 2026-11-10. Today the 60-day grace period still applies. Our breakdown of the TN and E-3 grace-period proposal explains what would change.
• Deference to prior approvals (PROPOSED). A separate DHS proposal (RIN 1615-AD26, published in the Federal Register on 2026-10-14, comments due 2026-11-13) would remove the rule telling USCIS to defer to an earlier I-129 approval with the same parties and facts. TN extensions are within its scope. For now the current deference rule still applies, but it is one more reason to write each extension letter as if it will be read fresh.
• Not a dual-intent category. TN stays a temporary category, unlike the visas compared in our dual-intent visa guide. If a green card is on your horizon, talk to an immigration attorney about timing before your employer starts that process.

Common mistakes

• Copying a template's duties. Boilerplate reads as boilerplate. Duties should describe this particular job.
• Naming a profession that the duties don't support. Choosing "Engineer" when the work is mostly project coordination, for example, invites a refusal.
• Missing the credential link. The letter mentions a degree but never explains how it meets the category's minimum.
• Inconsistent titles. The letter, the offer letter, your resume and your public profile describe the role in four different ways.
• No anticipated end date. Leaving the length of stay open-ended undercuts the temporary purpose.
• Unsigned or wrong signer. The letter should come from someone with authority to bind the employer.
• Treating a proposal as law. The grace-period and deference changes are proposals, not final rules.

Frequently asked questions

What should a TN visa letter include?

It should name the USMCA profession exactly as it appears on the official list, describe the duties at a professional level, and state the purpose of entry and anticipated length of stay. It should also lay out your educational qualifications or credentials and the arrangements for your pay, on employer letterhead signed by someone with authority.

Does the online-presence review apply to Canadians crossing at the border?

The State Department expansion effective October 1, 2026 covers TN and TD visa applicants, which mostly means Mexican nationals and third-country TD dependents applying at a consulate. Canadian citizens are generally visa-exempt and apply to CBP, which has its own inspection authority. Confirm how this applies to you with an immigration attorney.

Can my TN letter use a job title that is not on the USMCA list?

Your internal title can differ, but the letter has to connect the role to one listed profession and show the duties fit it. Officers look at duties and qualifications, not the title alone, so have employer counsel review the match.

Is there an official TN visa letter sample?

No. No agency publishes a mandatory template. The regulation lists what the letter must contain, and employers or their counsel draft it to fit the job. The outline above shows the structure only.

How long a stay can a TN support letter request?

Up to three years at a time. TN status can be extended, but it stays a temporary category, so the letter should describe a temporary assignment.

Sources

• USCIS, TN USMCA professionals
• USCIS, Form I-129, Petition for a Nonimmigrant Worker
• U.S. Department of State, visa appointment wait times
• MIT International Students Office, TN and TD online-presence screening from October 1, 2026
• Federal Register, proposed elimination of the 60-day grace period (2026-09-11)
• Federal Register, removing deference to prior USCIS determinations (2026-10-14)
• Federal Register, FY2027 HR-1 inflation fee adjustments (2026-10-01)

This post explains how the TN process works. It is not legal advice. Your own I-94, approval notice or visa governs over anything published here, and decisions about which category to use or when to apply belong with a licensed immigration attorney.

If you are a Canadian or Mexican professional working out which US employers will support a TN or another work-visa path, talk to F1Jobs about building a targeted search around your status.