Expats & Nomads · US Visas
Key Facts
—The trend. Statistics Canada has documented what it calls “second-step migration”: immigrants who first settle in one country increasingly use it as a launch pad to another, most often the United States.
—Its scale. In the flow of permanent residents leaving Canada for the US, roughly a third were not born in Canada — people treating the country as a stepping stone rather than a final home.
—The regional lesson. The same calculation faces skilled Mexicans, Brazilians, Colombians and others eyeing a US move, but the visa that fits depends heavily on which passport they hold.
—The TN visa. Under the USMCA trade pact, citizens of Mexico and Canada can work in the US in 63 listed professions on a TN visa — fast and renewable, but tied to a job offer. No other Latin Americans qualify.
—The self-petition green cards. For everyone else, the main doors are the EB-2 National Interest Waiver and the EB-1A, which let a qualified person seek a green card with no employer sponsoring them.
—The catch. These routes have grown harder to win — the waiver’s approval rate sat near 43% in early fiscal 2026 — so lawyers urge professionals to build an evidence trail of awards, papers and promotions years ahead.
A pattern that Canada’s statistics agency calls “second-step migration” — treating one country as a stepping stone to the next — is a useful way to read a quieter trend: skilled Latin Americans weighing a move to the United States. Which visa actually fits, this guide explains, depends less on ambition than on the passport in the drawer.
What “second-step migration” means
Statistics Canada has a name for a pattern it keeps finding in its data. It calls it “second-step migration” — when people who first settle in one country later move on to another, most often the United States.
The agency notes that foreign-born residents of Canada are more likely than the Canadian-born to make that second move. In the flow of permanent residents heading from Canada to the US, about 30% were born somewhere else entirely.
The driver is practical rather than dramatic. Longer processing times and shifting rules in one country push ambitious professionals to keep a second option open, instead of betting everything on a single destination.
Read from Latin America, the lesson is less about Canada than about strategy. A growing number of skilled workers now plan migration in stages, and the first question is not where they want to go but which door their nationality actually opens.
The TN visa: a fast lane for Mexicans, and no one else in the region
The TN visa was created under the old NAFTA trade deal and carried into its successor, the USMCA — the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. It is a work permit built into a trade pact rather than a general immigration visa.
It lets citizens of Mexico and Canada work in the US in one of 63 listed professions, from engineers and scientists to accountants and management consultants. Most require a bachelor’s degree and a job offer from a US employer.
The catch for the region is the word “citizens.” A Brazilian, Colombian or Argentine cannot use a TN visa, however qualified — a common and costly misunderstanding. Mexican citizens apply for it directly at a US consulate.
The TN is quick and, in principle, renewable indefinitely. But it is temporary and tied to the specific job, and it is not a green card — a distinction that matters for anyone thinking long term.
For everyone else: the self-petition green cards
Latin Americans who are not Mexican citizens usually look at two employment-based green cards that do not need an employer to sponsor them. Both let a person file the petition on their own behalf.
The EB-2 National Interest Waiver is for people with an advanced degree, or a bachelor’s plus five years of rising experience, whose work is judged to have “substantial merit and national importance.” A three-part standard known as the Dhanasar test decides it.
It has become tougher. After a policy tightening in January 2025, the waiver’s approval rate was about 43% in the first quarter of fiscal 2026, well below where it once sat.
The EB-1A, for people of “extraordinary ability,” sets a higher bar of sustained national or international recognition. It also allows self-petition, and it carries one quiet advantage for the region: the long green-card backlogs that hit applicants born in India or China do not, in practice, weigh on those born in most of Latin America.
The O-1A: a quicker, temporary option
For those not yet ready to chase a green card, the O-1A visa covers people of extraordinary ability for temporary US work. It needs a US sponsor or agent, but it is usually decided in months and can be rushed with premium processing.
Its approval rate has stayed above 90%, far higher than the green-card routes. That is why many professionals use it as a first step and convert to an EB-1A later, once their record is stronger.
The trade-offs are real. A spouse and children can join, but they cannot work on the dependent status, and the visa itself must be renewed rather than granted for good.
The practical takeaway: build the file before you need it
Across every route that rewards merit, the same advice recurs: gather the evidence early. Promotions, leadership roles, published research, awards, patents and conference talks are the raw material of a strong petition.
“The biggest mistake is to organize this evidence only when the decision to move arises,” says Murtaz Navsariwala, a US immigration attorney whose firm flagged the second-step trend. The documentation built quietly over a career, he argues, is often the backbone of a solid case.
That squares with how the US government actually weighs these petitions, which turn on a documented track record rather than promise. None of it is a guarantee — rules shift, approval rates move, and every case turns on its own facts, which is why the agencies themselves urge applicants to read the current criteria or consult a licensed attorney.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Brazilians get a TN visa?
No. The TN visa is open only to citizens of Mexico and Canada under the USMCA. Brazilians and other Latin Americans who are not Mexican citizens must look at employment-based routes such as the EB-2 National Interest Waiver, the EB-1A or the O-1A.
What is the EB-2 National Interest Waiver?
It is a green-card route that lets a qualified professional — someone with an advanced degree, or a bachelor’s plus five years of progressive experience — petition without a job offer, if their work is judged to have substantial merit and national importance under the Dhanasar test.
Do I need a US employer to apply?
It depends on the route. The TN visa and the O-1A require a job offer or a sponsor; the EB-2 NIW and the EB-1A let you self-petition, with no employer involved.
Are these US visas getting harder to obtain?
Some are. The National Interest Waiver’s approval rate fell to around 43% in early fiscal 2026 after a January 2025 policy tightening, so lawyers advise documenting achievements well in advance. The O-1A, by contrast, still approves above 90%.
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