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Clearly, the POE application process puts Canadian citizens at a tremendous advantage, again, because they don't have to wait in the processing queue at INS service centers. In addition, the process provides the rare opportunity for lawyers to be present at the POE adjudication interview and to marshall the documents and explain the case to the Inspector instead of having to rely on the decision-making process of a remote and faceless service center adjudicator.

 

  Suddenly, border-town practitioners realized the bonanza that free trade offered - I was amongst them. Our practice blossomed and I began to develop an expertise in the area. I published articles, spoke at conferences, and began to build a following among lawyers who would ask our firm to assist them in preparing or rehabilitating an application on behalf of their client.

 

  In 1993, CFTA was expanded to NAFTA to include Mexico into the free trade mix. The immigration provisions for Canadians, which are set forth in Chapter 16, went largely untouched with a few notable exceptions.  However, I am sorry to say that Mexican citizens did not realize parity under NAFTA. While the main purpose of this article is to provide a fundamental explanation of the ways in which Canadians are affected by NAFTA's favorable immigration provisions, it would be remiss to altogether ignore the relevant differences between Canada and Mexico.

 

 II. CFTA vs. NAFTA

 

  The CFTA, a comprehensive trade agreement executed between the United States and Canada, took effect on January 1, 1989. The CFTA  produced the largest free trade arena in the entire world. Chapter 15 of the agreement provided favorable temporary immigration provisions for Canadians seeking to enter the U.S. for business purposes. Five years later, along came NAFTA.

 

  Faced with the political implications of job demographics and the historical fears surrounding cheap Mexican labor and trans-border migration concerns, the U.S. delegation introduced certain restrictive immigration provisions in NAFTA. While including Mexico in the preferential trading relationship established by the previous Free Trade Agreement, Chapter 16 of NAFTA does not permit Mexican citizens to take advantage of the same streamlined POE application process, which was first offered under CFTA and which has survived for Canadians under the superseding NAFTA. In addition, since NAFTA contains an accession clause which will allow other countries to join the agreement, the U.S. negotiating team was careful to narrow the provisions under NAFTA so future nations who joined would not be able to claim greater benefits and create an impact on our indigenous workforce.

 

  The following sections list some of the more significant changes that were introduced in NAFTA.

 

 A. Numerical limitation for Trade Nafta (TN) Professionals.

 

  Under CFTA, TC (Trade Canada) Professionals were not subject to numerical caps. Fearing the impact of unlimited Mexican applications, NAFTA set an annual limit for Mexican TN (Trade NAFTA) Professionals of 5,500 for a transition period of ten years.  The United States and Mexico may mutually agree to limit or eliminate the numerical limits prior to the end of the ten year period.

 

  A far more significant limitation is the requirement that citizens of Mexico who seek to be classified as TNs, must have their prospective  employer file a petition with the INS Service Center,  which must also meet certain labor attestation requirements.  In addition to the service center filing, upon INS approval of the petition, a Mexican citizen must apply for an actual visa from the State Department at the appropriate U.S. Consulate. As noted earlier, this necessity for advanced INS filing and visa processing may delay the Mexican TN application process by several months and it also imposes certain restrictive labor attestation requirements from which Canadian citizens are exempt.  

     

 

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