US Girl Marrying Canadian Guy

[CocoCoco 1]

I'm new to this forum, and have just barely started all my research.

I'm American, and my Canadian boyfriend and I have been dating long distance for almost 3 years. Recently, he came to the US to visit for a period of time to determine if we should indeed get married. We're very close to getting engaged, and I honestly hadn't investigated any of the visa information beyond the visitor visa, mainly so I wouldn't put a cart before the horse in case things didn't work out.

Buuuut...here we are!

From what I'm reading it would appear that the K1 is the fastest and best way to go if he wants to move to the US. Is this correct? If we were to just get married here in the US, we could honestly say that was not planned when he first visited, but would that just cause complications down the road? Or should we go to Canada and get married instead?

Can someone who has married a Canadian/US Citizen help me with a timeline of how long things will take and guidance of what would be the best course of action for us before we make some major decisions?

Whoosh...who knew it was so complicated? I thought Canada was just a country to the north that talked funny. ;o)

Thanks for any help you can offer.

[Krikit 1,165]

K-1 visas aren't that much quicker than a CR-1, and have quite a few cons to them which are pretty crazy. Especially for Canadians. Read The Guides at the top of the page for more detailed information. If I knew then what I know now I would never have gone that route.

However..... this could all be a moot point if you marry while he is in the US and he adjusts status. See the Adjustment of Status From Work, Student, and Tourist Visas forum for more information on going that route. Sounds like that's the best option in your case.

Welcome to VJ.

[slider100 8]

Hey there, I hope things are good with you!

There's a couple of ways to go about this.

a) K-1 visa: This is one of the fastest means to get your to-be fiance to the US. However, before you apply for this visa, you need to be engaged.

The process takes about 8 months from the application date, and depending under which consulate jurisdiction he falls in. Montreal is slower than Vancouver. So yeah, I would say about 8-10 months.

Once you get your K-1, you guys have 90 days to get married (Once he enters the US) and the visa is valid for 6 months from the date of issuance.

Once married, you can apply for his permanent residency, which takes about 4-5 months as well.

b)IR/CR-1: You get married and then apply for this visa. It is an "Immigrant" visa so once approved, he can enter the US and he will get his residency card within a few weeks. However, the processing time for this visa is a bit longer than K-1.

You mentioned something about him entering as a "tourist" and then getting married. After saying that, you can't say that your intentions are not to get married once he enters and that will be perceived as visa fraud, which might lead to a bar as well. I would advise you to follow either of the two processes mentioned above.

I hope this helps!

KnR aka slider100

[SF2007 48]

Hi there and welcome to VJ!

I personally chose the K-1 because my fiance and I thought it was less distasteful to be apart during our engagement than during our first married year. It is a little quicker than the spouse visa but it's still a close to 10 months process. Your file sits for 5-6 months in USCIS, then 2-3 weeks through NVC and then 3-4 months to interview in Montreal. Downside is that you can't really plan your wedding and you will need to get married in the US within 90 days of his activated visa.

Keep in mind that if you choose the fiance or spouse visa route, it might be hard for your fiance to visit during the process as he can be denied entry any time. And he can't overstay as this would hurt his application. As soon as customs officers ask if you are engaged/married they are less inclined to let Canadians visit and often tell them to go back home and wait for their visa.

I can't comment on AOS as it didn't fit our case and I didn't look into it.

Best of luck!

[Krikit 1,165]

You mentioned something about him entering as a "tourist" and then getting married. After saying that, you can't say that your intentions are not to get married once he enters and that will be perceived as visa fraud, which might lead to a bar as well. I would advise you to follow either of the two processes mentioned above.

The OP says he is already here visiting.

[CocoCoco 1]

Yes, he's here currently, and has been for a few months. He's gone home a few times already, so the visitor visa has technically reset, and truly we haven't decided anything at this point, so I feel like I could honestly say that he entered the country without any intentions to move here. He owns a house and holds a job in Canada (he telecommutes and his company is aware of the fact that he's in the USA), so there is nothing shady about what we're doing up to this point.

His sister lives in my town (that's how we originally met), and he is staying with her.

I DON'T like the 8-9 months thing, but I guess I need to get used to that, huh? I had no idea it was this complicated!!

[Kathryn41 3,205]

The one thing to keep in mind if you choose to get married while your boyfriend/fiance is visiting you right now is that once you are married and you decide to file for the AOS (permission for him to remain in the US as a permanent resident) from within the US, he cannot leave the US until he receives either his Permanent Residence status (green card) or special travel permission called Advance Parole - that he files for at the same time as he files for the green card. This is generally between 2 to 4 months after the AOS application is submitted. That means he will be 'stuck' in the US for a number of months without being able to collect his belongings, to go back to work/school, or to go to work here in the US (until he receives special work permission that he also applies for at the same time as the AOS). If he does leave the US while waiting for a decision on the AOS, he is deemed to have abandoned that application and you two would have to start the whole immigration process all over again from the beginning, this time pursuing a CR-1R-1 visa with the processing to be done through the US Consulate in Montreal.

If your circumstances allow for the two of you to marry on this visit and for him to remain in the US until he gets his green card that is the fastest, the easiest and the cheapest option. If he leaves the US he gives up that option as any future visits would contain the implied intent to marry since you would be engaged and it is considered visa fraud to enter the US on one type of visa with the intention of treating it like a different type of visa rather than following the correct process.

Your other two options, as pointed out, are the K-1 Fiancee visa - in which case he will return back to Canada after this visit and finish the processing of the Visa through the US Consulate in either Montreal or Vancouver - or you can choose to get married and he can still return back to Canada and the two of you would pursue a CR-1/IR-1 Spousal visa - which would be processed in Montreal.

Yeah, who knew that getting involved with a Canadian would be such a big immigration hassle !

[warlord 73]

And if you do decide to get married while he's still here in the US, there isn't much that will complicate things down the road anyways since it wasn't planned when he first entered the US. You will be asked how you met and how you ended up getting married and how he was able to get here etc for the Green Card interview, but you would just have to explain the same thing to us, that he came to visit and then you both decided it might be a good idea a few months of his visit to get married.

Usually they have an amnesty thing during the GC interview where things will get dismissed for people in similar situations. In fact, when I was doing it, they would still allow the GC to pass even if the person did enter illegally (not sure if that's changed since 2003). Not that it would be advisable to do that as other complications can arise, but since yours isn't in that category, I don't see any negative issues of you getting married now based on what you have said...