US-Bound from Canada, Without the Guesswork
Toronto's US-visa conversation is full of confident wrong answers. Here is who needs what, what changed in 2025, who may lawfully help you — and what a licensed Canadian firm honestly can and cannot do on the US side.
The GTA lives with one foot on each side of the border — US job offers, winters in Florida, weddings in both countries, parents with a US green card and children with Canadian PR. The rules are different in each direction, they diverge sharply between Canadian citizens and permanent residents, and 2025 rewrote more of them than any year in recent memory.
This hub and its guides give you the verified picture. And one thing up front, because our whole practice is built on licensing honesty: we are Canadian-licensed consultants. US filings belong to US-licensed attorneys — where your case needs one, we say so and refer you. What we sell is the map, and the Canadian half of the move.
Book a free 15-minute callCitizen or PR? The answer changes everything
Most US-visa content writes for "Canadians" as if that were one group. It is two groups with different rulebooks — and most of our clients are in the second one. Verified October 2026 against US government sources; rules change, so confirm at application time.
| Going to the US to… | Canadian citizens | Canadian permanent residents |
|---|---|---|
| Visiting (tourism or business meetings) | No visa and no ESTA — Canadian citizens are visa-exempt for visitor travel, typically admitted up to six months per entry. | Your passport decides, not your PR card: nationals of visa-waiver countries use ESTA; everyone else — including Chinese, Indian, Jamaican, Filipino and most Caribbean passports — needs a B1/B2 visa. |
| Working — TN (USMCA professional) | Canadian citizens only. Applied for directly with US officers at the border or at Pearson preclearance — no consulate visit. | Not available to permanent residents, full stop. A US job usually means an employer-sponsored US status — US-attorney territory. |
| Investing — E-2 treaty investor | Canada is an E-2 treaty country, so Canadian citizens can qualify. This is one of the few categories where Canadians do need an actual visa from a consulate. | Runs on passport nationality. Mainland China and India are not E-2 treaty countries; some other countries are — check your own passport against the official US treaty list. |
| Studying — F-1 | No visa stamp needed: Canadian citizens apply for F-1 status at the border with the school's I-20 and the SEVIS fee receipt. | The full consular route — I-20, online application, and an in-person interview. Student appointments in Canada have been far faster than visitor ones. |
| Permanent residence — the green card | Same rules for everyone: family- or employment-based petitions filed with US authorities. This is US-attorney work — see below for who may lawfully help. | Same — and one more honest wrinkle: US backlogs run on country of birth, so an India- or China-born applicant carries those queues regardless of Canadian status. |
What changed in 2025–26 — the short version
Interviews are back for nearly everyone. The broad interview waivers ended in late 2025 — even children and seniors now generally attend, with a narrow survivor for some recent visitor-visa renewals. As of October 2026, visitor-visa interview waits at Canadian posts have stretched well past a year, while student appointments have stayed dramatically shorter. Check the current wait for your post on the US State Department's site before planning anything around a date.
A registration rule most Canadians haven't heard of. Since April 2025, visitors who weren't issued an I-94 — typically Canadians who drive across — must register online with US immigration authorities if they stay 30 days or longer. Fly-in visitors get an I-94 and are already registered, and a NEXUS entry counts too, but a drive-down snowbird can be caught out: failure to register carries real penalties. If winter in the US is your routine, this one is worth a conversation.
Fees moved, and keep moving. 2025 US legislation raised several border and application fees and created a new visa fee whose rollout has been uneven. We deliberately publish no dollar figures here — check the official US fee pages at application time, and treat any site quoting fixed totals as already out of date.
TN continues unchanged. The USMCA trade agreement that underpins TN status remains fully in force following its 2026 joint review, with annual reviews ahead. As of October 2026 nothing about TN eligibility has changed — we monitor it so you don't have to.
Who may lawfully help you with a US application
US federal law restricts paid US-immigration advice and representation to two groups: US-licensed attorneys and representatives accredited by the US Department of Justice. There is no "US immigration consultant" licence — US authorities run active campaigns against unlicensed "notarios" and visa consultants, and the consequences of a botched or misrepresented application land on the applicant, never the agent. If that warning sounds familiar, it should: it is the same problem we fight on the Canadian side.
Two more things US authorities want applicants to know, and most paid websites won't tell you: you never need a representative to file US immigration forms, and the official forms are free.
Where we fit, honestly: we are licensed for Canadian immigration. For US matters we provide information and planning, handle every Canadian-side piece of a cross-border move, and refer filings that need US representation to a US-licensed immigration attorney.
What we actually do on US-bound files
Tell you which door you're actually at
Half of US-bound confusion is category confusion — a PR asking about TN, a citizen booking a visa appointment they don't need, a couple planning a K-1 when CR-1 fits better. One honest conversation sorts it before money gets spent.
The Canadian side of a US move — our licensed work
Taking a US job doesn't have to cost your Canadian status. PR residency-obligation planning, citizenship timing before a long absence, keeping a spouse's Canadian application moving, and the paperwork of coming back — this is exactly what an RCIC is licensed for.
Refer the US filing to US-licensed counsel
Where your case needs US representation — green cards, employer petitions, complex refusals — we say so plainly and refer you to a US-licensed immigration attorney rather than pretend a Canadian licence covers it.
The reverse direction, entirely in-house
Americans moving to Canada — CUSMA work permits, Express Entry, sponsoring a US spouse into Canada — is core McBean work, handled start to finish under our own licence.
Licensed — and clear about for what
McBean Immigration Consulting Inc is led by Minerva McCoon McBean, RCIC R712766, regulated by the College of Immigration and Citizenship Consultants for Canadian immigration matters. We do not provide US immigration legal advice or representation; US filings are referred to US-licensed attorneys. Verify any consultant — including us — on the CICC Public Register.
Common questions
Tell us where you're trying to go — and from which passport
Fifteen minutes, free. We'll tell you which category actually fits, what the Canadian side of the move needs, and — honestly — whether your case belongs with a US-licensed attorney.
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