TN Approved for Engineer in Telecommunications Industry Despite Degree from a Shipbuilding Engineering Institute.

On April 18, 2006, our office obtained TN professional status under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the category of Engineer for our client as a Senior Field Support Engineer where he will provide engineering support for advanced telecommunication systems including its Voice over Internet Protocol (“VoIP”) networks, TCP/IP networking, and associated telephony technologies.

Our client had initially presented his application for TN status at a local POE without attorney representation. He was refused on the basis that his Bachelor’s of Engineering degree from a Shipbuilding Engineering Institute was not suitable for the telecommunication systems engineering position offered.

After retaining our firm, we revised and re-presented his TN application based on the argument that our client qualified for this telecommunication systems engineering position and TN status under the category of Engineer based on his possession of a Bachelor’s of Engineering degree and his over ten years experience in telecommunication systems and network engineering.

We argued that as an engineer with a Bachelor’s degree, our client met the stated requirements under NAFTA. According to the OOH, engineers trained in one branch may work in related branches. The formal education possessed by an engineer allows an engineer to function in many different engineering capacities. Thus, we contended that our client’s degree from a Shipbuilding Engineering Institute was well suited for this telecommunication engineering job. Moreover, industry standards clearly pointed out that a degree in Engineering was well suited for a position involving telecommunication systems and VoIP and TCP/IP networks.

After reviewing our new submission, the Free Trade Officer approved our client for TN professional status under NAFTA in the category of Engineer.