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THE
FUNDAMENTALS OF CANADIAN IMMIGRATION UNDER THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE
AGREEMENT Copyright
?span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 2002 Ohio Northern
University Law Review; William Z. Reich, Jill A.
Apa I.
Introduction
Despite any real or
perceived flaws in our modern social, political or economic conditions,
America continues to be, by far, the most preferred destination among
foreign nationals from all over the world. Canadians are no exception. I
have been counseling Canadian clients since 1979 when our office first
opened a Toronto location. As a young immigration lawyer building a
practice, my clients back then were mostly individuals, entrepreneurs
and small businesses wanting to explore employment and business
opportunities in the United States. Frequently, I found myself
struggling to fit them into a limited immigration structure.
Ten years later, in 1989,
when the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) was ratified,
I quickly realized the power of the immigration component and how
beneficial and advantageous CFTA was to Canadian citizens seeking entry
to the United States to engage in employment, investments, and other
business activities.
Most significantly, CFTA
introduced a new approach to the application process by providing
qualified applicants the opportunity to have their applications
processed at a U.S.-Canada Port of Entry (POE) without the need to
submit the applications to INS processing centers in advance. By
way of background, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS)
operates four regional service centers located in Vermont, Texas,
Nebraska and California. The service center processing times tend to be
sluggish, to say the least. Depending upon the type of application
submitted, an applicant may be forced to wait for several weeks, if not
several months, for a decision. Additionally, the service offered by
these large bureaucratic centers can be frustratingly inconsistent or,
at times, just plain wrong. The POE procedure is designed to be a simple, straight-forward and seamless process (although in practice it doesn't always work out that way) completed right at the border. You present the application and all supporting documentation, pay a nominal filing fee, and if approved, the Canadian client is issued a record of entry - Form I-94 - on the spot. Your client can then immediately proceed to a U.S. social security office, apply for a social security number and begin the intended business activity.
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