DOS ANNUAL REPORT - TN VISA ISSUANCE HITS 4K AGAIN

The U.S. Department of State ("DOS") has issued its annual report for 2009 showing the number of non-immigrant visas issued from 2005 - 2009. After gradual increases in 2005 and 2006, TN visas (generally issued only to citizens of Mexico; Canadians are exempt from the visa stamp requirement), remained steady at 4,124 in 2009. The DOS has now issued over 4,000 TN visas in the past 3 years.

This steady demand may be partly attributed to the unavailability of H-1B visas during this period. Despite the less cumbersome requirements for the TN visa, over 100,000 more H-1B visas were issued by the DOS in 2009. This disparity may be more due to the availabilty of the H-1B visa classification  to more individuals, whereas the TN visa classification is generally limited to citizens of Mexico.