A port-of-entry refusal leaves the applicant with no job on either side of the border. Apply while still employed, with a start date written as conditional on admission.
The refusal you can recover from is the one you have not resigned for
Port-of-entry TN applications are adjudicated during inspection, and some deficiencies can be corrected, such as a letter that describes management, a missing good-standing confirmation or an unclear term. A Torbay accountant who has already given notice to a provincial agency, sold a vehicle and signed a U.S. lease turns a potentially correctable refusal into a crisis. The sensible order is to finalize the employer letter and credentials first, ask the employer to treat the start date as conditional on admission, arrange unpaid leave rather than resignation if the current employer will grant it, present the application, and only after admission in TN status give notice and complete the move. If the U.S. employer refuses to make the date conditional, that is useful information about the employer. Where the employer files Form I-129 instead, the accountant waits for the approval notice before travelling, and premium processing can shorten that wait; the same rule about not resigning first applies.
Hypothetical example: a Torbay accountant at a community credit union receives an offer with a fixed start date but an incomplete duty letter. The sensible decision is to negotiate a conditional start date and obtain the finished letter before giving notice. A first review produces a list of gaps—often the term, duties, credential or employer identity—and tells the household whether travel can proceed. A rushed crossing cannot repair a description that makes the role appear to be general management.