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Canadians exempt from new U.S. visa rules, immigration lawyers’ group says

Jun 24, 2020 | 6:46 PM

OTTAWA — A group representing thousands of American immigration lawyers says the U.S. government has told it that new restrictions on work visas there don’t apply to Canadians.

A “practice alert” for the 15,000-member American Immigration Lawyers Association, issued late Wednesday, says a liaison committee it has with U.S. Customs and Border Protection has confirmed that exemption.

President Donald Trump this week ordered a suspension on several types of visas allowing foreign citizens to work in the United States, on the grounds that his country’s pandemic-rattled economy doesn’t have enough jobs for Americans as it is.

But Canadians who want to work in the U.S. without immigrating permanently don’t necessarily need those work visas.