Visa Granted

View from work in Soho, Manhattan

Despite the lawyers warnings to me over the holidays that I had  "less than 25% chance" of approval for the TN visa, I decided to try my luck anyways.
Luck turned out to be on my side.

I flew with the amazing Porter Airlines from the tiny Toronto island airport into Newark, New Jersey.

I had been told that this would be a wise route to increase my chances of getting a visa - my sources were other Canadian's successfully on visas in New York.
Since the tiny island airport doesn't have US customs, I entered customs for the first time when I arrived at Newark. 

I was so nervous (because the visa is discretionary), my hands were super sweaty by the time it was my turn to go forward. I was behind a line-up of about a million Indian tourists (give or take) and finally it was my turn. I walked forward confidentially, placed the massive document the lawyer had prepared for me on the counter top and proudly announced it was my first time applying for a TN visa.

The US customs official looked at my documents for a moment, seemed overwhelmed by it's size, then stamped my passport for approval. 

I was so ecstatic about being accepted, I completely forgot I needed to pay $50 and receive an I-94 paper.

It wasn't until later in the evening when some Canadian girlfriends asked me about it over drinks in Brooklyn that I realized, the guy had no idea what he was doing!

I called Newark Airport as soon as their lines opened the next morning and was told I had to come back to the airport so they could 'do it properly.' 

Two hours of traveling and another two hours of waiting and I was all set.
Hooray!