Difficult Situation, need some advice

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Hi! Looking for some advice on my specific and confusing situation. I lived in Vancouver, BC from 2003-2009 with my husband on a student visa/post graduate work permit. I moved back to the US at the end of 2009 because I was currently in a dead-end job and was offered a good job with room for advancement. I left under the assumption my husband would eventually immigrate to the USA. At that time he was an unemployed recent college graduate. Fast-forward to now, he is still unemployed but has a few hopeful offers in the works.

We have been doing this back and forth thing for over a year, maintaining separate residences, bills and travel expenses, and it's all getting very expensive, and neither one of us can afford it. Our I-130 took over 7 months to leave USCIS and we are now at the NVC stage and I am not sure what to do. He has some leads for jobs that are panning out in his home town. The problem with where i live is that there isn't a whole lot of industry available to him, and the unemployment rate is the highest in the country. I am starting to believe that he would have a better chance for advancing his career if he were to stay in his hometown. I don't really like the city I live in, but I LOVE my job and would be sad to ever leave it. I also know that the opportunities for me in his city are not very good. I still have until August 2011 on my post-graduate work permit in Canada. But I have a lot of debt built up and I need to make a certain amount of money every month to stay afloat.

Theoretically if I were to move back to canada on my post-graduate work permit, would I be able to adjust my status? If anyone has any advice on what my options are, or what they would do if they were in my situation I would love to hear it. My husband and I are at our wit's end and this whole situation is making the both of us very sad. We are pushing 30 and just want to be settled. Thank you!

[Ontarkie 14,435]

Definitely a tough call, I would let the petition run its course since you waited this long already. Your husband may not get the job and you would have to start all over again. If you really don't like the city you live in now, I would start looking for other places that the both of you would be able to find work. By the looks of it you had just as much trouble with work in Canada too so it may just be the same again.

As for adjusting status in Canada I have no clue how to go about doing it so I will let someone else help you there.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

you don't really adjust status in Canada the way you do in the US. Your husband would sponsor you to become a permanent resident. You would either be outside of Canada and the information would be filed with the Canadian Consulate in Buffalo. Once you were approved, you would then cross the border into Canada and become a permanent resident. Or if you were in Canada on a legal visa - such as the student visa or a temporary resident visa (as a visitor), he would again apply to sponsor you and the whole application package would be processed within Canada. You would maintain your legal status in Canada and when the application was approved, you would leave the country and officially 're-enter' thus activating your permanent resident status. It is relatively straight forward for a spouse of a Canadian citizen to become a permanent resident so really, it is up to you to see how the job situations pan out and what works for both of your best interests. It may turn out that if he gets a good job, there will be an obvious opportunity for you also to get a good job in the same Canadian city. So, study your options but hold your course for now until you have more information about what the future holds.

Good luck.

Edited February 28, 2011 by Kathryn41

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Thank you both for your very good advice. It is true, we have waited a VERY long time for the US visa petition and should just let it run its course. We have been together for a very long time and this traveling back and forth is very hard on us. I'm hoping my outlook on the situation improves this week.

Thanks again!