Yes in principle, because the two questions belong to different authorities. The Appendix 2 Land Surveyor entry is satisfied by a baccalaureate degree or by a state, provincial or federal licence, and Priya's Ontario registration answers it. Whether she may sign and seal survey plans in that state is decided by the state board, and TN status confers no such authority.
Two authorities, two decisions, one file
The immigration question and the practice question are frequently collapsed into one, usually by an employer who assumes that a work classification carries professional privileges with it. It does not. An officer looks for Canadian or Mexican citizenship, a profession that appears on the USMCA Appendix 2 list, satisfaction of that profession's own qualification rule, and a prearranged position with a U.S.
employer or under contract to a U.S. entity that consists of the listed professional work. A state board looks at academic credentials, licensure history and knowledge of local law before it will let anyone determine boundaries within its borders.
Priya can therefore be admissible while still being unable to seal a single plan. The practical consequence is that the offered position must be described as it will actually be performed in the interval, most often as professional survey work carried out under the responsibility of a licensed surveyor. A letter implying independent authority she does not hold creates a contradiction that surfaces at the worst possible moment.
- USCIS: TN NAFTA Professionals
- U.S. Department of State: USMCA professional workers
- Department of State: 9 FAM 402.17, TN and TD guidance
- eCFR: 8 CFR 214.6, Citizens of Canada or Mexico seeking temporary entry as business persons
- USTR: Agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada
- USCIS: Form G-1055, Fee Schedule