Your company just signed a lucrative contract to start a project in Canada next week. Your company, however, does not have operations in Canada. Moreover, the only employees qualified to perform the work are U.S. citizen employees currently working in the U.S. What do you do?

Most employers do not contemplate the immigration issues surrounding a scenario like the one listed above until after the contract is signed and the work is imminent. The North America Free Trade Agreement (“NAFTA”) provides a solution for swiftly tapping U.S. citizen employees to work in Canada.

Under NAFTA, a U.S. citizen employee can present an Application for Canadian Work Permit at the port of entry into Canada if the following requirements are met....