Canadian citizen looking to get married in the US questions

[TheBlueEagles 1]

Hey Visa Journey,

to start off I am an American citizen and my fiancé is a Canadian citizen. We typically visit each other every 2-3 months or so, switching off who visits who. Lately, we've decided that we wanted to get married when she comes and visits me in August and we're not sure how to go about it. What we are planning is to get married, and then at the end of her trip she will go back home to Canada where we will continue to visit each other. We have no set date of when she would actually move to America, from what we've been looking at, we don't think we would need a fiancé visa because she doesn't actually plan on staying there for longer than the 6 months that is legally allowed. We plan on filling out the form for permanent residency while she still resides in Canada. Does getting married while she's in America mess with our plans of visiting each other every 2-3 months?

The two main things we are worried about is not being able to see each other after getting married and making the application process more difficult for her to become a permanent resident in the future.

Edit: Also, would it be easier for us to get married in Canada as opposed to the US since she's planning on moving our to the US as opposed to me moving out to Canada?

Edited July 16, 2013 by TheBlueEagles

[Ryan H 3,833]

Moving from Bringing Family Members of US Citizens to America forum to IR-1/CR-1 Process & Procedures as the spousal visa process is what the OP will ultimately embark on.

**Organizer hat off**

Does getting married while she's in America mess with our plans of visiting each other every 2-3 months?

No

Edit: Also, would it be easier for us to get married in Canada as opposed to the US since she's planning on moving our to the US as opposed to me moving out to Canada?

Where you get married is up to you; the location of wedding has no bearing on visa process itself.

[TheBlueEagles 1]

So we're free to marry, and then continue to visit each other, would we start directly on a form I-485?

[Ryan H 3,833]

would we start directly on a form I-485?

No, for the spousal visa process, this is a form you will never use.

[NikLR 13,232]

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide1

This should help you

And this http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/EZGuideSpouse

[Lisa Anderson 0]

Hey Visa Journey,

to start off I am an American citizen and my fiancé is a Canadian citizen. We typically visit each other every 2-3 months or so, switching off who visits who. Lately, we've decided that we wanted to get married when she comes and visits me in August and we're not sure how to go about it. What we are planning is to get married, and then at the end of her trip she will go back home to Canada where we will continue to visit each other. We have no set date of when she would actually move to America, from what we've been looking at, we don't think we would need a fiancé visa because she doesn't actually plan on staying there for longer than the 6 months that is legally allowed. We plan on filling out the form for permanent residency while she still resides in Canada. Does getting married while she's in America mess with our plans of visiting each other every 2-3 months?

The two main things we are worried about is not being able to see each other after getting married and making the application process more difficult for her to become a permanent resident in the future.

Edit: Also, would it be easier for us to get married in Canada as opposed to the US since she's planning on moving our to the US as opposed to me moving out to Canada?

I’m sure you have a good reason as to why you want to get married soon but don’t want to live together right now. While it won’t make the application process any harder, it’s going to be hard to convince of a border officer of that fact, though, when she comes to visit. Once she is married, she will need to show that she doesn’t have immigrant intent when she’s coming in. If an officer asks if she‘s married and where is her husband, her answers will most likely result in her not being allowed to enter the U.S. If they believe that she really doesn’t have any intent on becoming a perm resident at the time of entry, they may let her in, but it’s a ####### shoot. This is regardless of the fact of where she gets married. I’m sure the same will be for you when going up to Canada (not sure though).

[The Mean Lady 604]

I’m sure you have a good reason as to why you want to get married soon but don’t want to live together right now. While it won’t make the application process any harder, it’s going to be hard to convince of a border officer of that fact, though, when she comes to visit. Once she is married, she will need to show that she doesn’t have immigrant intent when she’s coming in. If an officer asks if she‘s married and where is her husband, her answers will most likely result in her not being allowed to enter the U.S. If they believe that she really doesn’t have any intent on becoming a perm resident at the time of entry, they may let her in, but it’s a ####### shoot. This is regardless of the fact of where she gets married. I’m sure the same will be for you when going up to Canada (not sure though).

Not true at all.

Every time we cross the border (and many other couples here) we all say we're visiting our spouses.

My husband has had trouble since the very first visit (pre-marriage) so we've encountered issues along the way, however the issues have actually LESSENED now that we're married.

And others have never had a single issue at all.

As long as the person visiting brings proof of ties to their country (good ones like a lease, letter from employer, etc) then there's really no issues.

Visiting into Canada is the easiest.

Also, always bring a copy of your NOA (or whatever paperwork you have when you're in future steps of the process)

[NikLR 13,232]

Never had a problem visiting my husband. I always said who I was visiting and made my trips about 10 days max. I was never asked for my proof of ties but I brought them all the same. My husband never had any trouble visiting me before marriage, for the wedding or when he came to move me down either.