Read the general eligibility basics overview
When an employer's name appears differently across an offer letter, payroll records and corporate filings, it creates a documentation problem that is separate from, but can be confused with, the applicant's own citizenship or permanent residence status. Resolving entity naming and confirming the applicant's status are two different tasks that both need to be finished before a filing can rely on either. It is worth stating the citizenship point in its own words, because it is the one that ends cases. TN is available to citizens of Canada or Mexico only, and Canadian permanent residence does not satisfy that requirement no matter how settled the applicant is. The L categories turn on the employment relationship rather than nationality, and E-2 turns on treaty nationality, so a person barred from one may still qualify under another.
Trace the entity name to a single legal identity
Obtain the employer's registered legal name from a corporate registry or official filing, then compare it against every version used in the offer, any support letter and payroll documentation. Minor variations such as abbreviations or a trade name used interchangeably with a legal name can still create doubt about whether all documents describe the same employer. Ask the employer to confirm the correct legal name in writing before relying on any of the existing documents. Ask specifically for a registry search result rather than a document the employer produces itself, since the register is the source everyone else copies from. Where the business operates under a trading name, request the filing that connects that name to the registered entity, because such a filing exists precisely to record the link. Note the date of each extract: registers lag corporate events by weeks in many jurisdictions, and an extract obtained before a change simply describes the position before it.
Do not let entity confusion stand in for a status check
Inconsistent naming is a documentation issue about the employer, not evidence about the applicant's own nationality or residence status. Confirm separately whether the applicant holds Canadian or Mexican citizenship, since that determines eligibility for TN regardless of how cleanly the employer's records are organized. Permanent residence does not meet that citizenship requirement even once the employer's paperwork is corrected. Establish citizenship from the passport itself and record what was seen, rather than relying on how a person describes their own status. Long residence, a permanent resident card and a Canadian driving licence are all consistent with not holding citizenship, and applicants frequently use the word loosely in conversation. Where an applicant holds citizenship of a country other than Canada or Mexico alongside Canadian permanent residence, that combination should be identified early, since it changes which categories are open before any employer paperwork matters.
Rebuild the file around the confirmed legal name
Once the employer's legal name is confirmed, request that any outstanding letters or offers be reissued consistently under that name before submission. Keep a record of which version of each document is current, since older drafts with the earlier naming should not circulate alongside the corrected set. Hypothetical example: a seafood importer issues an offer letter on the letterhead of its trading brand, pays through a numbered company, and is described in its own marketing by a third name. A first review would obtain the registry record, ask which entity holds the right to control the work, and have the letter reissued under that entity's registered name with the trading name noted as such. It would treat the applicant's citizenship as a separate enquiry answered from the passport, not from the corrected paperwork.
What else is on your mind?
Does Canadian permanent residence give me access to TN?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?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.