K1 vs CR1 Opinions and advice

[Klam 24]

My apologies, I'm aware there are pages of topics on this very question but it does seem to be the whole point of this sub-forum.  I'm looking for some opinions, suggestions, tips, etc given my situation.  I'm a US citizen living in NYC planning to sponsor my partner who is a Canadian citizen living in Toronto.  We both work in financial services and while we don't make the absurd money that some of our peers do, we are quite financially comfortable.  We've been in a relationship roughly a year and half at this point and we see each other almost every weekend.  I fly to Toronto every other weekend and she flies to New York every other weekend.  In addition, we've taken some longer vacations to other countries (yes, a particular airline has been making good money off of us).  We were originally going to go with CP in order to avoid the employment gap but we've been taking a more serious look at K1 as she really wants to live with me sooner and there are some mitigating circumstances that would make a K1 palatable.  Note that we plan on doing a city hall legal marriage first with a big ceremony after immigration is fully settled.  My current understanding is as follows:

 

CP gives us the full green card in a 12-14 month timeline.  This is reliable and doesn't require any employment gap or weird limbo period.  However, it takes longer for us to be together.

 

K1 + AoS is about 8-10 months for her to move here followed by 3-6 months for AP/EAD and then another 6 months or so for the green card.  The 3-6 month limbo period isn't great, but it's not as bad as it could be.  We'd be living in Manhattan so lack of a driver's license is practically irrelevant.  We have sufficient savings to cover several years of unemployment if necessary so a 6 month unemployment by a single member of the household isn't material in the long run.  The additional expense of a K1 over CP is immaterial (in fact, we'd be saving money since we wouldn't be flying back and forth all the time).  Furthermore, she is a native English speaker accustomed to living in a northeastern metropolis so there isn't much of a culture shock and she has friends and a professional network in NYC.  She can use some of the time to have face-to-face meetings with headhunters and prospective employers.

 

There's several potential issues I'm hearing though, that aren't as widely discussed.  How often do employers respect the EAD?  3-6 months out of work is ok; over a year is not.  Do people normally face discrimination from an EAD vs the full green card?  I'm also hearing that the employment gap might be problematic for applying for a mortgage later?  This could be an issue since we'd like to buy a place in a few years.  Are there others things that I'm missing that should be taken into consideration?  Anything tips or issues that people have run into in a similar situation?  I really appreciate any help.  The breadth of knowledge in this community is incredible.

[Californiansunset 336]

17 minutes ago, Klam said:

My apologies, I'm aware there are pages of topics on this very question but it does seem to be the whole point of this sub-forum.  I'm looking for some opinions, suggestions, tips, etc given my situation.  I'm a US citizen living in NYC planning to sponsor my partner who is a Canadian citizen living in Toronto.  We both work in financial services and while we don't make the absurd money that some of our peers do, we are quite financially comfortable.  We've been in a relationship roughly a year and half at this point and we see each other almost every weekend.  I fly to Toronto every other weekend and she flies to New York every other weekend.  In addition, we've taken some longer vacations to other countries (yes, a particular airline has been making good money off of us).  We were originally going to go with CP in order to avoid the employment gap but we've been taking a more serious look at K1 as she really wants to live with me sooner and there are some mitigating circumstances that would make a K1 palatable.  Note that we plan on doing a city hall legal marriage first with a big ceremony after immigration is fully settled.  My current understanding is as follows:

 

CP gives us the full green card in a 12-14 month timeline.  This is reliable and doesn't require any employment gap or weird limbo period.  However, it takes longer for us to be together.

 

K1 + AoS is about 8-10 months for her to move here followed by 3-6 months for AP/EAD and then another 6 months or so for the green card.  The 3-6 month limbo period isn't great, but it's not as bad as it could be.  We'd be living in Manhattan so lack of a driver's license is practically irrelevant.  We have sufficient savings to cover several years of unemployment if necessary so a 6 month unemployment by a single member of the household isn't material in the long run.  The additional expense of a K1 over CP is immaterial (in fact, we'd be saving money since we wouldn't be flying back and forth all the time).  Furthermore, she is a native English speaker accustomed to living in a northeastern metropolis so there isn't much of a culture shock and she has friends and a professional network in NYC.  She can use some of the time to have face-to-face meetings with headhunters and prospective employers.

 

There's several potential issues I'm hearing though, that aren't as widely discussed.  How often do employers respect the EAD?  3-6 months out of work is ok; over a year is not.  Do people normally face discrimination from an EAD vs the full green card?  I'm also hearing that the employment gap might be problematic for applying for a mortgage later?  This could be an issue since we'd like to buy a place in a few years.  Are there others things that I'm missing that should be taken into consideration?  Anything tips or issues that people have run into in a similar situation?  I really appreciate any help.  The breadth of knowledge in this community is incredible.

I don't think you can get a definite answer whether employers discriminate towards the EAD or not. You never know whether a company decides to not contact or hire you bc you have "just" a work authorization and not Greencard. If you find one person here who assumes he didn't get a job because of the EAD doesn't mean that this is generally the case.

That being said I came here on a K1. I work in marketing, have a master's degree in Marketing and 4 years of work experience. If they asked for it, I sometimes wrote in my cover letter that I have a work authorization as part of a Greencard application just so they could tell that I wouldn't need sponsoring. I interviewed for a few positions and usually got asked how I would be eligible to work. It didn't seem to cause a problem for anyone. I was in the end hired by a real estate investment firm who was even willing to wait until I received my EAD.

Now, a year later, I am applying again for jobs. I now changed the wording in my cover letters mentioning that I have a Greencard and thus am eligible to work for any employer without sponsoring. I applied for 9 jobs and got with 8 an interview which is a huge increase to last year. Is it because I now have a Greencard or is it that extra year of ("American") work experience (I already have one more through a work visa I had here before) that helped me land more interviews? I don't know... you can only speculate. 

 

[Alabamak1 688]

If money isn't much the issue. I would definitely go for the K-1. You guys have a lot going on for each other. I didn't go for CR-1 because of the time being apart. IMO definitely go for K-1. The other stuff with the mortgage and future employment is is not much of a concern it's fixable and like anything. As time passes you'll be back on track

[payxibka 10,047]

Discrimination is illegal, besides they won't ever know what your permission to work documents are until after you are hired and you submit the I-9

[RLA 324]

@Klam Two additional things to consider before chosing the K1 route: 

• Your fiancée will have to stay in the US until her AP is approved, which takes about 5 months at the moment (same as EAD).  No going back to see friends and familiy in Canada, not even in cases of emergency.  
   
• 3-6 months out of work might seem bearable.  The problem is that you can't know beforehand how long it will actually take.  The indefiniteness will make the waiting much harder.  It will also make it harder to apply for jobs in NYC because she won't be able to tell potential employers when she'll be ready to start.  It's not just the waiting that's the problem, it's that you're not able to plan.  

Edited May 8, 2018 by RLA