Marriage to a Canadian Here on a B-1/B-2 Visa

[xrockadio 0]

I am a U.S. citizen. My fiancée is a Canadian citizen who is here in the States as an intern at our church. We met in late August of last year through mutual friends (who just recently got married themselves - although they had it a lot easier since they're both U.S. citizens) and fell head over heels in love immediately. I just recently decided to ask her to marry me, although some people might say it's too soon, but when you know you've found the one - you just know.

At the time that I met her, she wasn't here on a visa - she was just here for 6 months. She had to go home in December as her stay was coming to an end and she was applying for a B-1/B-2 visa in order to stay for longer as her internship doesn't end until this upcoming July. We wanted to spend Christmas together so I booked a flight to fly in to Canada on Christmas Eve. We couldn't stand being apart even just for a few weeks, so I opted to buy another $200 plane ticket to fly in three days after she got there. I ended up meeting her entire immediate and extended family.

She received her B-1/B-2 visa and discovered that it's valid for 10 years. We flew back together just before New Year's and after spending all that time with her and her family, I had confirmed that I want to spend the rest of my life with her. We were thinking about having two separate ceremonies - a private and public one. We would have the private (civil) ceremony sometime in February in order to get our marriage license and start the process of submitting any applications that are needed. The public (religious) ceremony would be preferably in July so our families could be there for it.

We're just having a struggle now. Marriage wasn't her intention for coming back in to the country, however, I'm sure it would look like that to immigration. I am unfortunately still living with my parents at the moment. The reason why we're trying to get legally married so soon is due to the processing times for the paperwork and so she can start working as soon as possible and we can move out and get a place of our own.

Does anyone have any advice as to what we should do? Or can anyone assist with a guide on the paperwork that we'll need to submit? Don't we need to submit both an I-130 and I-485 form along with another for a work permit?

[Pitaya 2,577]

Welcome to the forum.

It doesn't sound like you have yet married, yet it does sound like you are contemplating using a visitor visa for your fiancee to come to the US and then get married, that could cause you serious immigration problems as that is could be construed as immigration fraud by the immigration officials. I would advise you to avoid that course of action.

You have a couple of choices, the K1 fiancee visa or the CR1 Spouse visa. Keep in mind that if you use the K1 visa you have to get married in the US. There are other nuances that you can read about here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare . In the Guides section, easily accessible at the top of the forum page, you can review each of visa processes.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

[xrockadio 0]

Welcome to the forum.

It doesn't sound like you have yet married, yet it does sound like you are contemplating using a visitor visa for your fiancee to come to the US and then get married, that could cause you serious immigration problems as that is could be construed as immigration fraud by the immigration officials. I would advise you to avoid that course of action.

You have a couple of choices, the K1 fiancee visa or the CR1 Spouse visa. Keep in mind that if you use the K1 visa you have to get married in the US. There are other nuances that you can read about here: http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare . In the Guides section, easily accessible at the top of the forum page, you can review each of visa processes.

Good luck on your immigration journey.

The only thing is that we just got engaged. It wasn't like we got engaged, then she left to go back to Canada and went to her visa interview, and then lied about her intentions were about coming back to the country. Marriage wasn't even a discussion until we came home from visiting her family for Christmas and I decided to ask her to marry me. Her main focus is her internship at our church and that was her reason for coming back to the country.

Edited January 5, 2016 by xrockadio

[logicbloke 0]

Isn't it illegal to work on a tourist visa? What is she telling them at the borders?

[Darnell 8,478]

which church is this, handling the unpaid internship ?

[NikLR 13,227]

It doesn't matter if you just got engaged. If she told the CBP that she was going to the USA to marry and live with her spouse they'd ask to see her visa. She doesn't have a visa that supports that and they will deny her entry. To lie to them is illegal. So that gives you the K1 path, where you marry in the USA after the visa is granted and takes 6-10 months. Or the CR1 path which allows you to marry whenever you want and then go the spousal visa route which takes about a year.

She can still visit, but she cannot just go live in the USA without a proper visa.

Yeah it sucks. I spent my 1st anniversary alone. But it is what it is.