In summer 2023 I completed an internship at Tesla at their Fremont office. Here are is a summary of the things I did in the bay area during the summer.

Vancouver - TN visa

As a Canadian citizen seeking work authorization in the US, Tesla opted for me to apply for a TN visa for the internship. From my experience this is pretty unusual, as most companies sponsor a J1 visa instead for internships. The main difference is that for a TN visa, you must complete an interview with a CBP officer at the port of entry (e.g. the immigration area of an airport), and you must pay a $50 USD processing fee if the application is successful. For a J1 visa, the fees are paid by the company, and at immigration you hand the CBP officer a form (DS-2019) and simply head along your way. The TN application is adjudicated by the CBP officer on the spot, and there's a very real risk of being denied.

Immigration lawyers said that YVR has the highest rate of success for applying for a TN visa, so instead of taking a direct flight from Toronto to SFO, I flew from Toronto to Vancouver, with a ~5 hour layover then to SFO.

Since I had a couple hours layover in YVR, I decided to exit the airport and walk around a bit. I took the Skytrain to the harbor front (Canada Place).

The TN interview was simple - the officer simply asked my major and where I would be staying in the US and approved my application. However I had to wait ~1 hour, so I would definitely recommend arriving early or else you risk missing your flight.

Milpitas

Will continue when I have more time ...