In a November 20, 2017 policy Memorandum, US Citizenship and Immigration Services has changed its interpretation of the “Economist” category – one of the jobs listed as specifically acceptable for purposes of the NAFTA-based TN visas available for Canadian and Mexican nationals. This visa category, requires that the job offered be on a specific acceptable list of occupations, and for each occupation has specific educational or experience requirements.
Historically, a range of occupations has been deemed acceptable for classification under the TN Economist category – Financial Analysts, Market Research Analysts and occasionally Marketing Specialists have been deemed acceptable under the category given the common duties concerning research and analysis of economic data using economic principals.
The new memorandum, while acknowledging these other positions as “Related Occupations” to an Economist position, explicitly disallows the use of the Economist TN category for these roles. USCIS distinguishes Financial Analysts as performing only quantitative analysis for investment programs, and relies on the Department of Labor’s separate position descriptions for each job to justify a distinction despite the common skill set and often common educational requirements among these jobs.
While in theory this is US Citizenship and Immigration Services guidance and so one would think it would impact directly only adjudications for petitions filed with USCIS here, the expectation is that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) which adjudicates these applications at the border, and the US State Department, which in the case of Mexican nationals adjudicates TN applications at consulates will soon adopt the same interpretation.
This change could therefor immediately impact even individuals already admitted as a TN under the Economist category in Financial Analyst, Market Research Analyst and Marketing Specialist roles even as they seek reentry under previously granted TN visas.