Canadian wanting to move in/marry American...advice

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Hi There,

I am american and have been with my canadian partner for over 10 years. I went to school in canada for 6 years, so we lived together during that time. I got a great job offer back in the US, so I decided to accept, move back and we would figure it out later. We foolishly assumed that it would be easy to figure out how to get him here, boy were we wrong. We spoke with an immigration lawyer and neglected to take notes...I thought he was absorbing everything, turns out he didn't. It seemed like the fastest way to get him here would be on a K-3 visa WITHOUT the intent to marry, but that seems a bit dicey, plus he has to live here and cannot work or visit Canada until his visa is approved. We do eventually want to get married, maybe the end of 2010. I thought that maybe we could just get married at the courthouse and then return to our respective countries and file our paperwork that way, i think it's the CR-1. Or is it better/faster to get a fiance visa? So many options and they are all so confusing. And once I decide on which to choose, does it help to go with a lawyer? Thanks!

Jenny

[Luke and Deanna 0]

K3 is a visa for married people. So if you were married you could come on a K3. If your not married K1 is the usual route. Thats what we did. Does take a while but things have sped up quite a lot recently.

Start here:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...amp;page=guides

Good Luck

Luke and Deanna

P.S. Lawyers can be helpful for some but it is cheaper and sometimes easier to do it yourself. A lawyer won't really speed things up. We did it ourselves.

Edited December 4, 2009 by Luke and Deanna

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The CR1 gives him the green card and ability to work after entering the US.

With either K visa you would have to apply for work authorization while he is waiting for adjustment of status.

It's often a straight forward process that can be done with guidance from VJ and it's members. Do some reading here in the Guides and forums and make your decision regarding the complexity of your situation and an attorney's help.

[trailmix 77]

Hi and welcome to VJ,

First I think you should probably forget everything you thought you heard the lawyer say, it will just confuse you as what you have stated above is really not how it works at all

You have 3 options at this point:

Apply for a K1 (fiance) visa - once approved he moves to the U.S. and you must be married within 90 days >>> then adjust status. There is no big upside to this visa - it's a good option if you don't want to live apart while married, that's about it. He cannot work or travel until he files for adjustment of status

Apply for a K3 visa - You must be married to apply for this visa. I'm not even going to explain about this one - it is a visa not worth persuing really - UNLESS he lives in Western Canada - it might get him to the U.S. a bit faster as he can interview in Vancouver - downside is that he cannot work or travel until he files for adjustment of status (this is basically the K1 equivalent for married people)

Apply for a CR1 visa - You must be married to apply for this visa. He will be issued a green card a few weeks after he crosses the border. The interview will take place in Montreal (there is a big backlog at Montreal so figure it will take about a year to process this visa)

As for the lawyer, well you can get plenty of help here on VJ - it's really up to you - a lawyer in most cases, in this situation, is really a high priced proof reader, you still have to give him ALL the information and gather all the documents.

Edited December 5, 2009 by trailmix