Tn visa holder marrying a us citizen...in Canada?

[Beeterbot 0]

I have been on a tn for 4.5 years now. I recently got engaged to a us citizen. I am due to apply for a new tn this spring. Once I obtain my new tn we planned on getting married. I would like to marry in Canada then come back to the USA and work as I have been. Is this going to be a problem? Will they deny me coming back to the USA? Help! (if answers to my question are on this site somewhere please direct me).

Thanks for any help!

[TBoneTX 45,966]

*** Thread transferred to the Canadian regional subforum (for now) for best concentration of answers; topic may eventually belong in Work Visas forum. ***

[warlord 73]

Yes this is going to be a big problem. Once you get married your TN status is invalid as it's only designated to be a temporary thing. Getting married is a permanent thing which goes against the TN. You would most likely be denied entry into the US and your US spouse would need to file for you to come back over which from my understanding can take a long time.

The only way to safely do this on a TN status, is to get married in the US and file all the proper documents. Once that happens you cannot leave the country until you get your AP. Doing it this way, allows you to continue to work on your current TN until it expires. You, however, cannot get another one after you have been married. So make sure you have ample time left on your TN before you get married as the entire AP/EAD etc process can take some time depending on many factors.

You will need the EAD as well, because once the TN is done, the EAD will be the only thing that will allow you to continue to work until you get your Green Card.

Hope that helps. Many people in the same situation as you, get married in Canada after they have all the other documents processed. So that means having the US wedding (could be in a court house, Vegas etc) and then once it's official and you get your AP, then you can go to Canada and have the Canadian wedding (even though you're already married). Or better yet, a lot of people will just hold the reception in Canada at a later date instead...

[Beeterbot 0]

Okay, this helps. So if we were to get married here then I cannot leave the country until I get my ap right? At that time I could go back to Canada and have the big wedding and come back and work like normal? We weren't planning on getting married until feb 2014. Do you think I would have enough time if we were to get married in feb 2013?

Thanks so much!

[warlord 73]

Okay, this helps. So if we were to get married here then I cannot leave the country until I get my ap right? At that time I could go back to Canada and have the big wedding and come back and work like normal? We weren't planning on getting married until feb 2014. Do you think I would have enough time if we were to get married in feb 2013?

Thanks so much!

Yes you got it. AP usually doesn't take too long to get after one files for AOS. I think mine only took a month and a half or something to get (think it's still on my timeline). Usually the AP comes in around the same time as the EAD. That's the one you'll need to have to actually work, while the AP is strictly for travel. However, remember, your TN status is still technically active until it's expiration so you can just work on that in the meantime.

Now that TN status' are no long just a year in length (like mine was) you don't need to be under as much stress as I believe they are now 2 or 3 years in duration.

So yeah make sure you have over a year on the TN just to be safe, get married (Feb 2013, tomorrow, next month, next summer etc) in the US. File for AOS. You should have the AP/EAD within 2 months hopefully or before. If you got married in Feb 2013 in the US and wanted the Canadian wedding in Feb of 2014 (which is what I think you asked), then by then you actually would probably already have gotten your Green Card so yes that is tons of time between the two...