In July of this year, staff from the Vermont Service Center (VSC) met with officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (VSC) for a TN collaboration session to share information about their TN adjudication operations. (The VSC is responsible for adjudicating I-129 TN visa petitions, and CBP adjudicates TN applications filed by Canadians at the border.)

According to the VSC’s newsletter, this sharing of information enabled participants to gain “a different and better perspective of various issues related to TN eligibility and border entry processes.” The VSC stated that the “topics discussed and relationships established will lead to more consistent application of TN standards by DHS at the time of adjudication and/or entry by the beneficiary into the United States. See VSC Stakeholders Newsletter (Summer 2014), AILA InfoNet Doc. No. 14092646 (posted 9/26/14).

Our office had previously heard informally from some CBP officers that CBP was now contacting the VSC to discuss issues it had with particular TN applications filed at the U.S. port-of-entry. This formal announcement from VSC suggests that CBP will be reaching out to the VSC for guidance on TN applications more often in the future.