Will a TN visa make it harder for my Canadian girlfriend if we decide to marry?

[qwerty99 0]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster to visajourney.com. I am a US Citizen living in America. My girlfriend is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Given her skillset, she is eligible for a TN visa. Despite this miserable miserable economy, she is lucky enough to have a company in the US willing to sponsor her TN as part of their offer.

My questions are these:

• We plan to marry one day and live in the US. Is it very risky for her to come down on a TN visa and live with me?
• When we marry, will it be difficult to adjust her status from a TN visa?
• Ultimately, would it just be best for her to decline the US job offer so that we can go through the standard K-1 fiancee visa in the future?

Of course the US job is a great opportunity for her, both professionally and personally. I really don't want to stop her from coming here. However, I want to be sure it doesn't cause trouble for us down the road.

Thank you for any advice!

[canadian_wife 1,829]

You need to make sure you guys aren't using the TN visa to get around formal immigration laws. If your fiance truly wants to go to the US to work (and keep in mind a TN is not a guarentee) then by all means she should apply. If you are using it in order not to be separated during this time, then you should apply for the K1 since misuse of a non-immigrant visa is fraud and can result in deportation and a ban

If you go for the TN route, have a work visa should not affect her adjustment of status.

Good luck.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

I don't see a problem with it. If she wants to come live and work in the US and that involves living with you and getting to know you better then so be it. I can't imagine it causing you any troubles down the road if you decided to apply for a K-1, as long as she abides by the rules and regulations of her TN.

[Carlawarla 1]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster to visajourney.com. I am a US Citizen living in America. My girlfriend is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Given her skillset, she is eligible for a TN visa. Despite this miserable miserable economy, she is lucky enough to have a company in the US willing to sponsor her TN as part of their offer.

My questions are these:

• We plan to marry one day and live in the US. Is it very risky for her to come down on a TN visa and live with me?
• When we marry, will it be difficult to adjust her status from a TN visa?
• Ultimately, would it just be best for her to decline the US job offer so that we can go through the standard K-1 fiancee visa in the future?

Of course the US job is a great opportunity for her, both professionally and personally. I really don't want to stop her from coming here. However, I want to be sure it doesn't cause trouble for us down the road.

Thank you for any advice!

I don't know much about TN visas. We have a poster from Canada that did this, was on a TN visa, and married. I've PM'd him to drop by and post if there is something further you should know. I'm not sure, but when you get married might be an issue. Let me see if he will drop by and advise.

[bluenoser77 0]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster to visajourney.com. I am a US Citizen living in America. My girlfriend is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Given her skillset, she is eligible for a TN visa. Despite this miserable miserable economy, she is lucky enough to have a company in the US willing to sponsor her TN as part of their offer.

My questions are these:

• We plan to marry one day and live in the US. Is it very risky for her to come down on a TN visa and live with me?
• When we marry, will it be difficult to adjust her status from a TN visa?
• Ultimately, would it just be best for her to decline the US job offer so that we can go through the standard K-1 fiancee visa in the future?

Of course the US job is a great opportunity for her, both professionally and personally. I really don't want to stop her from coming here. However, I want to be sure it doesn't cause trouble for us down the road.

Thank you for any advice!

I was in a similar situation with my fiance. Actually, I'm Canadian and as an educator was eligible for the TN. After looking into it, and knowing that some day (in the near future) we were going to become engaged and get married, we opted out. What it came down to was that we thought it might be too difficult to prove 'intentions'. Since we were together for about 5 years before we planned to move to the states, this would be difficult to prove (that I didn't enter the states with the intention of marrying). And actually, we simply wanted to be together until we got married, so in our case I guess it might have been wrong, or at least very difficult to prove that it wasn't.

I understand the balance between career and relationships, but the visa process is not very accommodating for this. I might consult a lawyer on this one. It might be ok, but you wouldn't want to cause yourself any problems in the future when you do decide to get engaged and get married. It's already complicated enough.

Good luck!

[warlord 73]

Hi Everyone,

First time poster to visajourney.com. I am a US Citizen living in America. My girlfriend is a Canadian citizen living in Canada. Given her skillset, she is eligible for a TN visa. Despite this miserable miserable economy, she is lucky enough to have a company in the US willing to sponsor her TN as part of their offer.

My questions are these:

• We plan to marry one day and live in the US. Is it very risky for her to come down on a TN visa and live with me?
• When we marry, will it be difficult to adjust her status from a TN visa?
• Ultimately, would it just be best for her to decline the US job offer so that we can go through the standard K-1 fiancee visa in the future?

Of course the US job is a great opportunity for her, both professionally and personally. I really don't want to stop her from coming here. However, I want to be sure it doesn't cause trouble for us down the road.

Thank you for any advice!

I don't know much about TN visas. We have a poster from Canada that did this, was on a TN visa, and married. I've PM'd him to drop by and post if there is something further you should know. I'm not sure, but when you get married might be an issue. Let me see if he will drop by and advise.

And I'm that guy. I'm the one that came over to work on a TN status and then met my wife to be, filed all the paper work, got my AOS to Citizenship and so forth.

Point is as I think was mentioned, if she wants to get a TN status to work then that's fine. If you are wanting to marry and are using that, then no it's not fine. If you guys are unsure yet if you'll get married or not, then that's fine as well.

Basically if she oomes here on a TN status, she'll work and live from that status. If say a year or two (since the new TN's are 3 years now) you two want to get married, then just go get married and file for AOS since she will be able to continue to work on that TN until it expires. Once it expires, and you have filed for AOS, the only way she can continue working is with the EAD card in hand. So it's always good to give at least a couple of months before the TN expires.

I wouldn't suggest her getting the TN status, comming over then getting married right away though as that could lead to some red flags, so definatly give it sometime before doing it.

Since the 3 year TN status's, it's made this transition a lot easier. I did it when they were all 1 year durations and you had to apply for a new TN each year. This made timing and planning essential. Now you have a lot more leeway in applying for AOS...

[Carlawarla 1]

Thanks for dropping by warlord!

[qwerty99 0]

Thanks, everyone, for your posts. I will encourage my girlfriend to make the decision strictly on the basis of the job offer and her career.

However, I'm still not clear about 1 point: Does it just look bad if she ends up living with me? Would it be better if she lived at another address?

Thanks again!