US Citizen marrying Canadian on student visa (citizen of India)

[Curious.George 0]

Hello,

 

I am a US Citizen and am dating someone who is studying in Canada on a student VISA (Indian citizenship).

Our goal is to get married and for her to come to the US (where I am) and settle here.  Once her degree is completed, she has a job to get work permit and path to permanent residency (if either of these help - ideally we don't want her to find a job in Canada, but find it in the US). 

 

What is the fastest path for her to legally enter the US and stay in the US legally? Depending on the options, marriage can be done before or after (whichever makes sense and is the ideal option). 

 

Thanks a bunch for the help (as you can tell, I am a newbie to this). 

 

Regards

Neel

[JacobP 186]

Your options are either the K-1 fiance visa, which lets your fiance move in and apply for adjustment of status to get permanent residence here, or the CR-1/IR-1 spouse visa, which lets your spouse move in and become a permanent resident immediately upon entry. The K-1 processes faster (at least before COVID), but the process to obtain permanent residence itself can be very costly and long, especially with the recent USCIS fee increases and COVID. They can't work or leave the country until they either receive their green card, or their EAD and Advance Parole (which are going to be part of the extra cost now).  The CR-1/IR-1 will likely take over a year to process, but will allow them a smoother transition into the country, since they'll be able to work and leave/re-enter the country more freely by being a permanent resident on entry.

 

If they're a resident of Canada when it comes time for the interview for whatever visa, they'll be doing the interview at the consulate in Montreal. I'm not sure if you need to be a permanent resident of Canada to interview there, or if you can interview there as a temporary resident like a student, work permit, etc, I'll let someone else answer that. If they happen to move back to India when it comes time to Interview, they'll have the interview there, I think in Mumbai.

 

Note that they very, very likely won't be able to obtain or maintain permanent residence status in Canada if they move to the US. Side note, being a green card holder actually lets you visit Canada visa-free, in-case they ever want to visit in the future.

 

Here's the site guides for both kinds of visas

 

Edited September 1, 2020 by JacobP

[geowrian 22,338]

* Moved from Bringing Family Members of USCs to America to What Visa Do I Need. OP is asking about available visa options. *

[Curious.George 0]

Thanks Jacob for prompt reply!

 

Would the scenario change if she were Canadian citizen?  

Also, if she were to move back to India, would the same two options (K1 or IR1/CR1) be available for her?  of course, as you said, the location for interview, etc. would change to local consulate.  

 

Thanks!!

 

Neel

[CS_Bradshaw 55]

23 hours ago, Curious.George said:

Hello,

 

I am a US Citizen and am dating someone who is studying in Canada on a student VISA (Indian citizenship).

Our goal is to get married and for her to come to the US (where I am) and settle here.  Once her degree is completed, she has a job to get work permit and path to permanent residency (if either of these help - ideally we don't want her to find a job in Canada, but find it in the US). 

 

What is the fastest path for her to legally enter the US and stay in the US legally? Depending on the options, marriage can be done before or after (whichever makes sense and is the ideal option). 

 

Thanks a bunch for the help (as you can tell, I am a newbie to this). 

 

Regards

Neel

Hey there, just wanna share some information and experience. As @JacobP be said there are two options for her, K1 visa or CR1/IR1 visa. If you want to save some money, I would suggest to just get married first then apply for CR1 afterwards. Because based on my friend experience, she moved to the US with K1 visa earlier this year, but till now (been 9 months) she still haven't got her green card, which make her can't find a proper job. Not sure if it takes usually that long or because of the Covid the system are slowing down. But my other friend who moved there in April with CR1/IR1 visa got her green card in about 2-3 months after she entered US. Waiting for CR1/IR1 visa might be a bit longer, but it will be convenient after she move to the US.

 

I am an Indonesian who live in Japan, so I am applying my IR1 visa from Japan. And I think if she is still in Canada by the time you start to apply her visa, it should be fine. Just keep in mind that her family in India might need to send her some of documents, for example like original birth certificate if she doesn't have it with her. If in the middle of her visa process she decided to move back to India, you might need to inform the USCIS or the NVC or the US embassy (depends which step you are in at the time she move) and ask them to transfer her case to India, but usually transferring a case, might take longer for 2-3 months. I am applying from Japan because I am working here and because of the Covid I was not be able to go to Indonesia and transfer the case there. The US embassy in Japan is re-open for immigrant visa, but the US embassy in Indonesia is still close. 

 

And to your question, if she move back to India, the K1 and CR1/IR1 visa will available for her. 

[JacobP 186]

1 hour ago, Curious.George said:

Thanks Jacob for prompt reply!

 

Would the scenario change if she were Canadian citizen?  

Also, if she were to move back to India, would the same two options (K1 or IR1/CR1) be available for her?  of course, as you said, the location for interview, etc. would change to local consulate.  

 

Thanks!!

 

Neel

Yeah changing location doesn't change what options you have. The most that changes is the interview location, which might change how fast it processes since one consulate might be faster than the other. Becoming a Canadian citizen won't change very much in terms of US immigration. Since India doesn't allow dual citizenship, they'd have to renounce their Indian citizenship and probably report that change in nationality to whatever US agency is handling their immigration case if you happen to be in the middle of processing. Canada and the US allow dual citizenship, so if they did become a Canadian citizen, then became a US citizen later on, they'd be a dual US Canadian citizen. Otherwise, as far as immigrant visa processing is concerned, it won't change much of anything.

 

Canadian citizenship requires 2 years as a permanent resident at the bare minimum, and requires 3 years (1,095 days) of physical presence in the last 5 years before the day of applying, and days spent in Canada before being a permanent resident only counts as half a day towards that. For what it's worth, Canadian citizens and permanent residents can sponsor spouses to immigrate to Canada and become permanent residents there. Just putting all that out there so you know what your options are like.