Married a Canadian but we will be living overseas

[jlundeen 0]

Hi all,

I recently married a Canadian citizen, and we were originally intending to go the K-3 visa route. However, we will be moving overseas as missionaries in about a year. Staying overseas more than 2 years voids permanent residency as I understand it.

Will she be allowed in the US as a visitor though she is married to a US citizen? Our impression is the border is suspicious of such things. To sum up, we can't do the K-3 visa (unless we want to do it again every 3 years or so as we come back) and would like to come into the US temporarily with her as a visitor. We wonder what the gotchas (complications) would be.

Thanks!

James

Edited August 2, 2014 by jlundeen

[Ketsuban 1,034]

The K-3 visa is rarely issued anymore, you'd be pursuing the CR-1 eventually. Well, IR-1 given it will be some years later when she gets her residency.

She can visit as a tourist to the US even if she is married to a USC. I'm planning on doing just that on Friday. It is up to the immigration officer you see when you arrive at the border, but if they get suspicious and send you to secondary, that's when she'll have the chance to show her ties to wherever she is living, whether its Canada or where she lives as a missionary.

If it helps, I will follow this thread and then come back on either Friday or Saturday next week and let you know how it went for me crossing the border.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Ketsuban

[NikLR 13,232]

~~moved to Canada forum for regionally specific answers from What Visa Do I Need as OP has stated they are not planning on activity pursuing a visa at this time~~

Visiting is rarely an issue with Canadians. As long as she has some proof of her ties to her home country or place of residence, she shouldn't have a problem. Some Canadians visit every weekend. Others, like me, went every few months for a visit. If you want, you can start the process with an I-130, which never expires, and when you're ready you can do the rest of the process.

[Ryan H 3,821]

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[jlundeen 0]

Hi all, thanks for responding. It's been a busy couple weeks. Ketsuban, I'm curious as to your your border crossing went the other weekend.

I do realize that it's easy for Canadians to come as visitors, and even if they are married - if they have proof of their Canadian residency so the border will be satisfied they won't be trying to stay in the US. However, we will be doing support raising in the US for several months before going overseas, during which time my wife will not have proof of living in Canada, nor will we have proof yet of living overseas. It's that limbo time we're concerned about. Perhaps our missions organization can furnish a document that states our future assignment overseas. In any case, it sounds like we gather what documents we have and hope for the best when trying to cross the border into the US.

If you have any other suggestions about what might be good to have on hand to show the border people, I'd be appreciative! Thanks again for responding!

[Ketsuban 1,034]

OMG I'm so sorry, I totally forgot to come back here!

I had a really easy time coming through the border. The officer I spoke to gave the impression she wanted me to stay and adjust status, but those aren't my plans

I think I just got really lucky to meet such a pleasant woman.