Married in Canada...now in U.S...next steps...

[trablus 0]

Hello everyone:

I would appreciate any assistance I could obtain you could provide. I married my husband in May 2008 in Canada. After marrying him, I traveled back with him by first entering the border near Seattle and we flew back to where we currently live in California.

I then recently left to go back to Canada to visit my parents and came back after a week via the border, and then flew out of Seattle to California.

Here are my questions:

(1) As a Canadian, do I not have the privilege of entering the U.S. and staying for up to six months without a visa?

(2) I did make a return back to Canada, before my six months were up, and then returned back to the States, was this alright?

(3) Now that I am in the U.S. may my husband go ahead and apply for the I-130 simultaneously with the I-485, I-131, and I-765?

(4) If we should not apply is my only option to return back to Canada, have my husband apply for the I-130, and then once approved apply for the I-129F (K3) visa?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[Reba 2]

(1) As a Canadian, do I not have the privilege of entering the U.S. and staying for up to six months without a visa? Yes

(2) I did make a return back to Canada, before my six months were up, and then returned back to the States, was this alright? Not entirely

(3) Now that I am in the U.S. may my husband go ahead and apply for the I-130 simultaneously with the I-485, I-131, and I-765? no, you were married in Canada, you will have to return to Canada and petition and apply for CR1 visa. If you wanted to stay and adjust status based on marriage, you should have had your ceremony in the US instead. At this point, you now are a visitor with immigrant intent, which is grounds for denial of AOS and deportation. If your AOS is denied, you have NO basis for appeal. None, nada zip zilch.

(4) If we should not apply is my only option to return back to Canada, have my husband apply for the I-130, and then once approved apply for the I-129F (K3) visa? I wouldn't bother with the K3 these days. CR1 is taking about the same amount of time, and is the cheaper superior visa when all said and done

[Carlawarla 1]

(1) As a Canadian, do I not have the privilege of entering the U.S. and staying for up to six months without a visa? Yes

(2) I did make a return back to Canada, before my six months were up, and then returned back to the States, was this alright? Not entirely

(3) Now that I am in the U.S. may my husband go ahead and apply for the I-130 simultaneously with the I-485, I-131, and I-765? no, you were married in Canada, you will have to return to Canada and petition and apply for CR1 visa. If you wanted to stay and adjust status based on marriage, you should have had your ceremony in the US instead. At this point, you now are a visitor with immigrant intent, which is grounds for denial of AOS and deportation. If your AOS is denied, you have NO basis for appeal. None, nada zip zilch.

(4) If we should not apply is my only option to return back to Canada, have my husband apply for the I-130, and then once approved apply for the I-129F (K3) visa? I wouldn't bother with the K3 these days. CR1 is taking about the same amount of time, and is the cheaper superior visa when all said and done

Reba has offered you excellent and concise information! I have nothing to add other than to welcome you to VJ, and specifically the Canada forum. Read the Guides, and don't be afraid to post other questions and/or get acquainted! Congratulations on your marriage, and hope you have a speedy journey!

[trablus 0]

Thank you very much!

I have a followup question:

Why does visajourney.com post the following info:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...page=i130guide2

If you are already married, and your spouse came to the US on a tourist visa with the intent of immigration and marriage, then he/she should return to his/her home abroad, and the I-130 (or along with an I-129f for a K-3 Visa) should be filed with the relative outside of the U.S. to avoid denial, deportation, or even being banned from re-entry to the US.

This is quite contrary to what USCIS states, see below.

(5) According to the USCIS:

According to the PDF from the government located at:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A1eng.pdf

Can my relative wait in the United States until becoming

a permanent resident?

No. If your relative is outside the United States, filing an I-130 does

not allow your relative to live or work in the United States. An I-130

petition only establishes your relationship with your relative. Your

relative should wait outside the United States to immigrate legally.

If your husband or wife, unmarried child under 21 years, or parent

is already in the United States after having entered legally, they can

apply to adjust their status to permanent resident at the same time

you file their I-130 petition.gov.

Hello everyone:

I would appreciate any assistance I could obtain you could provide. I married my husband in May 2008 in Canada. After marrying him, I traveled back with him by first entering the border near Seattle and we flew back to where we currently live in California.

I then recently left to go back to Canada to visit my parents and came back after a week via the border, and then flew out of Seattle to California.

Here are my questions:

(1) As a Canadian, do I not have the privilege of entering the U.S. and staying for up to six months without a visa?

(2) I did make a return back to Canada, before my six months were up, and then returned back to the States, was this alright?

(3) Now that I am in the U.S. may my husband go ahead and apply for the I-130 simultaneously with the I-485, I-131, and I-765?

(4) If we should not apply is my only option to return back to Canada, have my husband apply for the I-130, and then once approved apply for the I-129F (K3) visa?

Thank you in advance for your help.

[trablus 0]

Thank you Carlawala! I appreciate your kind words.

What is your advice on the following:

Why does visajourney.com post the following info:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...page=i130guide2

If you are already married, and your spouse came to the US on a tourist visa with the intent of immigration and marriage, then he/she should return to his/her home abroad, and the I-130 (or along with an I-129f for a K-3 Visa) should be filed with the relative outside of the U.S. to avoid denial, deportation, or even being banned from re-entry to the US.

This is quite contrary to what USCIS states, see below.

(5) According to the USCIS:

According to the PDF from the government located at:

http://www.uscis.gov/files/article/A1eng.pdf

Can my relative wait in the United States until becoming

a permanent resident?

No. If your relative is outside the United States, filing an I-130 does

not allow your relative to live or work in the United States. An I-130

petition only establishes your relationship with your relative. Your

relative should wait outside the United States to immigrate legally.

If your husband or wife, unmarried child under 21 years, or parent

is already in the United States after having entered legally, they can

apply to adjust their status to permanent resident at the same time

you file their I-130 petition.gov.

(1) As a Canadian, do I not have the privilege of entering the U.S. and staying for up to six months without a visa? Yes

(2) I did make a return back to Canada, before my six months were up, and then returned back to the States, was this alright? Not entirely

(3) Now that I am in the U.S. may my husband go ahead and apply for the I-130 simultaneously with the I-485, I-131, and I-765? no, you were married in Canada, you will have to return to Canada and petition and apply for CR1 visa. If you wanted to stay and adjust status based on marriage, you should have had your ceremony in the US instead. At this point, you now are a visitor with immigrant intent, which is grounds for denial of AOS and deportation. If your AOS is denied, you have NO basis for appeal. None, nada zip zilch.

(4) If we should not apply is my only option to return back to Canada, have my husband apply for the I-130, and then once approved apply for the I-129F (K3) visa? I wouldn't bother with the K3 these days. CR1 is taking about the same amount of time, and is the cheaper superior visa when all said and done

[warlord 73]

The whole thing resides on the "entering legally". You cannot enter the US without any pre-visa process with the intent to marry a USC. This means when you entered the US you didn't tell the IO at the border your true purpose of comming to the US. That would be classified as fraud and doesn't qualify as entering legally.

Now during the interview stage for the Green Card way after AOS is approved, they many times will have pardons for those that entered the US illegally and filed for AOS. Many times is was set up for illegal immigrants from Mexico or people who over stayed their visas in the US etc. Not sure how it would work in your case. Right now though you have 6 months (should have got a B2 visa at the border even for Canadians) and then after that you would be incuring illegal presence.

So your two examples are stating the same thing. Legally entering the US which does not apply in your case, you would have had to have the K3 (or K1?) to enter legally in order to marry and remain in the US to file for AOS...

Edited December 2, 2008 by warlord

[trailmix 77]

The whole thing resides on the "entering legally". You cannot enter the US without any pre-visa process with the intent to marry a USC. This means when you entered the US you didn't tell the IO at the border your true purpose of comming to the US. That would be classified as fraud and doesn't qualify as entering legally.

Now during the interview stage for the Green Card way after AOS is approved, they many times will have pardons for those that entered the US illegally and filed for AOS. Many times is was set up for illegal immigrants from Mexico or people who over stayed their visas in the US etc. Not sure how it would work in your case. Right now though you have 6 months (should have got a B2 visa at the border even for Canadians) and then after that you would be incuring illegal presence.

So your two examples are stating the same thing. Legally entering the US which does not apply in your case, you would have had to have the K3 (or K1?) to enter legally in order to marry and remain in the US to file for AOS...

Yes, the two examples are saying the same thing, so i'm not sure what the question is with those.

Just to clarify - there is nothing wrong with entering the U.S., without a pre-visa process, with intent to marry a U.S. citizen.

What is not allowed is entering the U.S. with the intent to go and live there, while telling the border officer you are only going for a visit or to just get married then return to your own country.

[Reba 2]

And because you're already married, and the wedding took place in Canada, you have no legal basis to stay and adjust status. Had you gone to the US for a visit, and then decided spontaneously to get married, and then stay to adjust status, that is legal. However, already being married, entering the country as a visitor with intent to immigrate is Not legal. You will have to return to Canada and wait out the process, or risk being deported and banned from the country.

[warlord 73]

And because you're already married, and the wedding took place in Canada, you have no legal basis to stay and adjust status. Had you gone to the US for a visit, and then decided spontaneously to get married, and then stay to adjust status, that is legal. However, already being married, entering the country as a visitor with intent to immigrate is Not legal. You will have to return to Canada and wait out the process, or risk being deported and banned from the country.

Ohhhh totally missed that point, yeah if you were married in Canada, you can't use your Canadian marriage licence to file. I missed that big point. Even further puts a huge red flag up here...

[Sprailenes 47]

That sucks.

Thats really all I have to say.

Bye now.

[thetreble 19]

That sucks.

Thats really all I have to say.

Bye now.

BWAHAHHAHA Have I ever told you that you're the best?

[trailmix 77]

And because you're already married, and the wedding took place in Canada, you have no legal basis to stay and adjust status. Had you gone to the US for a visit, and then decided spontaneously to get married, and then stay to adjust status, that is legal. However, already being married, entering the country as a visitor with intent to immigrate is Not legal. You will have to return to Canada and wait out the process, or risk being deported and banned from the country.

Ohhhh totally missed that point, yeah if you were married in Canada, you can't use your Canadian marriage licence to file. I missed that big point. Even further puts a huge red flag up here...

Can we say this? Another VJ member Delicia is doing that right now - and she and her Husband were married in Canada.

I'm not trying to be annoying about this, just want to be sure we are giving the correct information.

There is no law that says you cannot use your Canadian marriage license to file, that I am aware of, does anyone have a link or anything to information that states this?

If a couple are married and say the Husband is living in Canada and the wife in the U.S. and the Husband visits the U.S. and 'spontaneously' decides to stay (immigrate) - I don't see where they would not be able to just adjust status - the 'marriage' part of it has nothing to do with the AOS.

The only issue is the intent when entering the U.S. (I am not saying you wouldn't have a heck of a time proving that though!)

Edited December 3, 2008 by trailmix

[thetreble 19]

It shouldn't matter where the marriage took place, imo.

[Brian and Jenn 0]

Trailmix,

If it were after a decent amount of time that the Canadian then decided to AOS after being married (even in Canada) everything will be fine, correct.

Now if you were to go 2 weeks after being married in Canada and file for AOS in the USA that would be very very suspicious.

I am sure everything will work out fine though.

Goodluck!

[thetreble 19]

Now if you were to go 2 weeks after being married in Canada and file for AOS in the USA that would be very very suspicious.

She would have a hard time doing this because of the intent. If I am already married and I go to the US, I'm more than certain the PO is going to think I'm intending to BE with my husband.