Which Visa Route the best - Work or Spouse?

[canadianplum 20]

Hello all!

I am a Canadian citizen who is marrying an American. I am also working for a Canadian company that is owned by an American company. We will be getting married in December. My options I guess are to apply for a spouse visa in December and then wait however many months to finally be able to move to CA and live with my then husband. However, I also will soon be asking my company I work with to transfer to our US office. Since I mainly travel in the US for my company they will most likely be up for this in the cost savings it will bring.

My question is does anyone have advice on which route I should take? Can I get a work visa and then eventually apply for a spouse visa? Or should I just forget it and go straight for the spouse visa? We do not plan to live in CA forever, our goal is to move back to BC, but we will probably be in CA for at least 5 years.

Any help is so appreciated, I'm just beginning as he was going to move her, but we've since decided to change our plans and wow I'm finding it a lot to take in.

Thank you SO MUCH!

[Boiler 45,527]

Work transfer, quicker and they pay, then adjust status to PR in the US after you get married.

[Owen_London 65]

Hello all!

I am a Canadian citizen who is marrying an American. I am also working for a Canadian company that is owned by an American company. We will be getting married in December. My options I guess are to apply for a spouse visa in December and then wait however many months to finally be able to move to CA and live with my then husband. However, I also will soon be asking my company I work with to transfer to our US office. Since I mainly travel in the US for my company they will most likely be up for this in the cost savings it will bring.

My question is does anyone have advice on which route I should take? Can I get a work visa and then eventually apply for a spouse visa? Or should I just forget it and go straight for the spouse visa? We do not plan to live in CA forever, our goal is to move back to BC, but we will probably be in CA for at least 5 years.

Any help is so appreciated, I'm just beginning as he was going to move her, but we've since decided to change our plans and wow I'm finding it a lot to take in.

Thank you SO MUCH!

I'm currently in a similar situation, but I'm further through the process, and you need to substitute the UK for Canada.

You don't say what work you do, so it's not clear what your actual work visa options might be, if any.

I am currently in the middle of my company organising an L1-B visa for me. L1 is the visa for intra-company transfers. For your employer to be able to petition for this, you need to have worked for them for at least 12 months in the last three years, and you need to either be an executive or manager (L1-A) or an employee with "specialized knowledge" (L1-B), meaning you need at least four years of degree-level study, plus skills that would be difficult for the company to replicate in the US.

Alternatively, H1-B visas don't require you to have worked for the same company for so long, but still require specialized knowledge, and there is a yearly quota for them.

As a Canadian, you can also apply for a TN visa, and checking the US State Dept. website, here: (click), it sounds like it's quick to apply for, providing you qualify. You do need to be doing a job that appears on the NAFTA free-trade agreement list to qualify, though. There's probably more info in the Canadian regional forum. There are other work visas too, but they're either also specialist or for seasonal workers.

If you choose to enter through marriage, you either apply for K-1 visa, if you want to marry after applying or a CR-1 visa, if you want to marry after applying.

Bear in mind a few possible issues with work visas, too:

- You need to meet the visa requirements

- Work visas can still take months, even if usually quicker than family visas. It's possible TN visas are really quick though, ask in the Canada forum.

- Your boss might immediately want you to come, but my experience has been of several months of bureaucratic delays. Some of this was waiting for approval from senior management for the costs of the visa and relocation, but most of it was from delays from our HR department, both during the initial offer of employment (you will likely need a new contract, in USD, with US benefits) and then during the visa petition process (since the visa petition comes from the company, not you).

That said, the work visa is generally the best option if you can get it. Your company may be be willing to pay your relocation expenses too.

[canadianplum 20]

Thank you both very much for your reply! I work in Marketing for a Software company and have been with them full time for 13 years. I'm going to google all the visas mentioned above as I am really very new at this. The entire time we researched my fiance moving here, and just switched the idea to me moving to the US for a bit. IT seems like there are so many options and the idea of work helping me means I get our corporate lawyer walking me through the process.

[Gypsyangel 11]

You also might want to ask this question in the Canadian forum. Lots of people with Canadian-specific knowledge there. It seems to me that someone (who has experience in this, which I don't) said that getting married affects a work visa. It might just be a timing thing, but something you would want to understand.