Bringing my Canadian spouse to USA

[makp715 0]

Hi, my husband and I have been married for 15 years this summer. We are wanting to move to the USA. I am American and grew up in the midwest, he is Canadian. We have lived in Canada for the whole time of our marriage.

I want to file from Canada, because when we move we would like to do it as a family, we have one child who has dual citizenship already taken care of.

My parents are willing to do the afidavit of support. Will we need this?

Because we have been married so long, is there anything different we should be doing? Or just the same I-130 as newlyweds?

How long does it take if filing from out of country? Will we still be able to travel to the US for vacation or anything, or do we have to wait until the whole thing is done and over? Will we need to attend and interview? Will our daughter need to be there as well?

Once everything is approved, how long do we have to move? We will still need to sell our house, and I also don't want to move without employment, which we have to wait for his papers to try and find.

Thanks for your help!

[NikLR 13,227]

The process is the same if you have been married for less than a year or for 20 years. The difference is the visa and green card status in the end. He will get an IR1 visa which is good for 10 years vs a CR1 which is conditional and only valid for 2. In 3 years he can apply for citizenship based off of your marriage or he can wait for 5 years where he can apply based off of being a green card holder for that period of time.

You will file the I-130 with all the fees and photocopies of documents and proof of an ongoing genuine relationship like everyone else. This will be sent to the Chicago lockbox as you are both in Canada. You can send it by courier or by Canada post which will turn into USPS when it reaches the USA. I suggest sending a copy of your daughter's birth certificate and her bio data page of her US passport, any leases or mortgage's you've had together, proof of joint bank accounts or credit cards, joint insurance, a photocopy of both of your driver's licences showing the same address. You could also send a few photos printed on paper to show the length of your relationship. Montreal is a pretty easy consulate as Canada is a low fraud country.

You can still visit the USA, during the process. Most people generally do not have any issues. I only suggest bringing his NOA1 and proof of ties to Canada which likely will not be asked for but is good to bring.

The filing time is the same in country and out of country (it is not like Canada in this regard.) About 8-12 months for the first stage and another 4ish for the second stage. As Canadians he has the ability to use something called Electronic Processing where you make a PDF of all the documents needed for the second stage and email it, vs sending your important documents to the USA. He will interview in Montreal; it is the only consulate in Canada that does immigration interviews. You bring your original documents to the interview. He will also need a medical after the interview date is assigned (but before it takes place) at one of the panel physicians. The Embassy Info page for Montreal on VJ has a list of the panel physicians.

After the visa is obtained he will have 6 months to activate it. After it's activated he can move at any time but be aware that he needs to spend more time in the USA than out of it. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get an SSN and depending on where you are moving and what type of job he wants, depends on how easy or hard it is to obtain employment. Just be aware that when he becomes a resident of the USA, he is no longer a resident of Canada and is not entitled to any Canadian benefits besides EI. (That means no CCTB, no GST cheques, and no health care.)

YOU will also need to establish domicile in the USA. Montreal is very strict about this and in the Canadian forum there is an extensive thread on how to show you've reestablished domicile. That may mean that you may have to move ahead of time, even if it's with your family in the USA.