One should carefully check the rules on self-employment in advance of an application as there are a number of restrictions on such activities. Also, persons who change positions in the United States must file an I-129 nonimmigrant visa application with the INS (though a Canadian is not precluded from simply reapplying at the border without INS pre-approval). Unlike the H-1B visa, persons transferred to a different location in the US by the same employer are not required to take any action. Mexican nationals should be aware that there is a 5,500 annual limit on the number of TN visas issued to Mexicans. Finally, like the H and L visas, dependents of TN visa holders may enter the US. The TD visa is available to spouses and minor children and work is not permitted for TD visaholders (though attending school is allowed).

While NAFTA permits Mexicans for the first time to apply for status as an E-1 Treaty Trader and E-2 Treaty Investor, procedures for obtaining the E visa under NAFTA are basically the same as E applicants from other countries. One key difference, however, is that Canadian and Mexican E applicants may be denied entry when the Department of Labor certifies the occurrence of a strike and the applicant's entry would negatively affect settlement of the strike or the employment of a striking worker.

L-1 visa options are also largely unchanged for Mexican and Canadian intracompany transferees. There is a strike provision similar to the one described above for E visa applicants. One new key benefit for Canadians, however, is the ability to apply at a port of entry or pre-flight station without prior approval of the INS and a US consulate. That same benefit does not apply to Mexicans.