Engagement and Pregnancy US to Canadian

[Golfiscool 0]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and this is my first post. Ok here's my story. My name is Brian and I am a United States citizen. I met a beautiful young woman from Newfoundland, Canada on the internet and fell in love with her. I booked a flight to Newfie earlier this year and stayed with her for 10 days. When I returned home from the trip we waited a few weeks and it hurt too much being apart, so we booked her a flight to the US. The plan was to have her stay with me the maximum time she's allowed to be here, 6 months. I did propose to her about a month into her stay so we are now engaged. And to our complete surprise we have since found out that we are pregnant as well. Now in accordance with the law she is only allowed to be here until March. I really don't want her to leave then and if we can't figure out a way for her to stay, I'm going to go with her. I need to be with her throughout the pregnancy and there's nothing in the world that would stop me from witnessing the delivery of my first child Is there any way of extending her amount of time she's allowed to be here? Should we just get married quickly and would that give her residency in the US? Are there any advantages or disadvantages for the baby to be born in the US vs Canada? My understanding, from what I've read on the internet, is that our baby will have dual citizenship. Is this correct? We are still kind of unsure about where we'd want to live. If we got married in the US or Canada would that matter pertaining to where we'd want to live? Would a marriage in the US be the same as a marriage in Canada? Is a Canadian marriage recognized in the US? Could we live as a married couple in the US if we were married in Canada? I have MANY questions and am very confused about everything. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[lost_at_sea 995]

You probably need to take a lookie at the visa comparison sheet: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare

Marrying a US citizen does not automatically bestow resident rights to the spouse - you'll have to get the appropriate visa for her (you're looking at the K1 or the CR-1, depending on when you'd like to get married and some other pros/cons, covered by the link above). Same'll be true the other way around, too (you'll be wanting to look at Canadian immigration processes if you decide you want to stay there).

For the baby: http://travel.state.gov/travel/living/living_5497.html

Edited December 9, 2013 by lost_at_sea

[Ontarkie 14,368]

~~Moved to What Visa Do I Need - Family Based Immigration, from K-1 Fiance(e) Visa Process & Procedures - As the OP is trying to look into his options. ~~

As the things have changed since entering the US this option is also available. http://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/130-adjustment-of-status-from-work-student-tourist-visas/ check out that forum to see if this is something you two would like to do.

[lost_at_sea 995]

Ah, yes. I totally missed that you're still both in the USA *right now*. In which case, you do have an option not covered by the link above comparing visas, but explained in this guide: http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

It would involve you getting married in the USA and filing an adjustment of status for her, before her stay expires. She won't be able to leave the USA until that process is complete, however (could be a few months), which may be a problem if she wants/needs to be in Canada before then.

[Boiler 45,897]

Stay and Adjust seems the obvious option.

[notusinganymore 31]

You can marry her now and file for adjustment of status. She can't go out of the US until her AOS is done and needs to stay away from any US borders to avoid deportation. Hope that helps

[christeen 966]

Marry... Stay and adjust... Make sure if you decide to have the baby in the USA that you have thought about insurance for the prenatal and birth costs (as these can run tens of thousands of dollars (versus Canadian medical system)...

[NikLR 13,231]

Agree Stay and adjust. Put her on your insurance ASAP as your girlfriend cannot use medicaid or medicare to give birth to the baby. Some states allow it because they consider it medicare for the unborn child, but I'm not sure if your is one of those. It's best to just get insurance.

Once she starts the AOS process she cannot leave for Canada until she has her advance parole. At that time she would no longer be eligible for Canadian health benefits either because all the provinces would consider her a non-resident.