Tourist to TD Transition

[buncho 0]

Hi all, my fiance and I are in a bit of a situation and I wanted to reach out here for some advice. The situation is:

 

• I've relocated to the US from Canada on a TN status
• She is eligible to petition for TD status but only if we're married (which we are not yet)
• I don't have the ability to take a vacation long enough to go back to Canada, get married and return with her (especially with all the uncertainty with Covid)

 

What we'd like to do is to have her come to the US (as a visitor) for 2 months so we can at least see each other. Then either:

1. Get married during that time in the US, fly back to Canada once we have the certificate, and return to the US, getting the TD on the way back in
2. Just visit for a few months, fly back to Canada, get married in there, and return, getting the TD on the way back in

 

Option 1 is preferred so that we don't need to rush to get things sorted while on vacation (and since the wedding certificate can apparently take several weeks to be issued). However, I have some concerns about the viability of this plan. Option 2 seems more straight forward, but I still have some concerns about how that will look to the immigrations officer. 

 

The question is, how likely are either of these plans to work? Any warning or potential pitfalls? Any suggestions?

[SusieQQQ 11,586]

They both seem like viable options. Her “long term intention” is still to change to a non-immigrant status so I don’t think it will be an issue. If she is asked about her actual intentions (not all Canadians are) I don’t see a CBP officer will find fault with the plan. 

[buncho 0]

Okay that's encouraging. I think the fact that she's coming down to get married raised some red flags for me, but it seems like that's generally only an issue if it's to a US citizen/green card holder. 

 

So she can be totally transparent about plan 1 and not anticipate any issues? Is there any documentation that she should bring to support her claim? 

[canadian_wife 1,822]

If you go with Option 1 she should carry strong ties to Canada (which may be difficult since her end goal is to join you on a TD). 

 

Good Luck