This is exactly what my husband did. He had a Canadian job offer and because the PR process was taking longer than anticipated, he went the NAFTA route and his work visa was issued the same day. We lived in Buffalo so being near the border really helped. We had a lawyer who is dual certified (Ontario and NY) who did all the paperwork and guided us. Oddly enough, since we got the NAFTA work visa, our PR application seems to be moving at a exponential rate. It's probably a coincidence but before the NAFTA, background check hadn't even started. Since NAFTA (barely 3 weeks ago), background check done and decision made.