Options for future fiance to come to USA (Chinese citizen, Canadian PR, US B-2 visitors VISA)

[mugatu300 8]

9 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

and i am partial to Canadian health care system

no problem having a child during this process /people can have babies anytime they want /it does not speed up the process

 

if married and born in Canadian CBRA for US citizenship of the baby  , only spouse visa needed 

 

look at poverty guidelines for needed income for 3 

 

Are you saying for the in order for the baby to have US citizenship if born in Canada, the spouse visa/CR1 process would already need to be complete? What if she has baby in Canada prior to that, can baby still have USC?

[mugatu300 8]

9 hours ago, Ontarkie said:

Unless you are both going to go back and forth 6 months in the US and 6 months in Canada it will be difficult to be there together the entire pregnancy and birth. I would encourage you to go the CR1 process because your plans to have a baby asap. This way she can work in Canada and then take prenatal leave. Some companies offer up to two years paid leave. Most of the time it's just a year. Her maternity leave payments can be received in the US too they will continue as normal.  

 

Have baby in Canada (I'm partial to the way women are treated in Canada during delivery vs the US) if you can pass USC to the child. This way baby will become a dual citizen. As she is a PR of Canada if she delivers in the US baby will not be a Canadian at birth. If that is something you both are interested in too. 

 

 

Thank you for the response. Yes, that is something she is very excited for lol (the potential 18 months paid time off). We talked today about the possibility of her relocating apartment to Fort Erie which is very close to the US border so that I could potentially visit everyday. She works remote so location for her doesn't matter and Fort Erie is probably only a 30 min drive for me compared to 2.5 hours for Toronto. 

[mugatu300 8]

9 hours ago, Daphne K said:

The immigration process takes a long time, you might be seperated for a while during the process, and also comes with many uncertainties as to timelines, so planning for a baby during the process would not be something I recommend.
 

Too many moving parts, so why not try for a baby after the process is done? 

Ideally yes totally agree but as I mention above there's some other things at play that are sort of necessitating starting the family sooner rather than later. 

[Ontarkie 14,368]

2 minutes ago, mugatu300 said:

Thank you for the response. Yes, that is something she is very excited for lol (the potential 18 months paid time off). We talked today about the possibility of her relocating apartment to Fort Erie which is very close to the US border so that I could potentially visit everyday. She works remote so location for her doesn't matter and Fort Erie is probably only a 30 min drive for me compared to 2.5 hours for Toronto. 

Sounds like a plan. I would take Fort Erie over Toronto any day

[mam521 2,122]

40 minutes ago, mugatu300 said:

Thank you for the detailed response. So basically go CR1 route, have baby in Canada, then come to US once CR1 is all situated? If she become pregnant after filing CR1 paperwork, that shouldn't delay anything correct? 

The bigger challenge will likely be getting police records checks from China and anywhere else she’s lived if she’s lived abroad in other locations. 
 

The next challenge after that will be if she is pregnant and delivering when she’s supposed to interview. Otherwise, just do your due diligence and look at the requirements for CRBA. 

[mugatu300 8]

21 minutes ago, mam521 said:

The bigger challenge will likely be getting police records checks from China and anywhere else she’s lived if she’s lived abroad in other locations. 
 

The next challenge after that will be if she is pregnant and delivering when she’s supposed to interview. Otherwise, just do your due diligence and look at the requirements for CRBA. 

Ok thank you. And as far as the Chinese records you speak of, is that something that's required for CR1 application? Would similar records also be required for K1 as well? I'm just trying to plan ahead if same type of records are required for CR1 vs K1 or if one doesnt require as many records as the other. Have no idea how hard these Chinese record checks will be to come by. 

[powerpuff 6,746]

5 hours ago, mugatu300 said:

And as far as the Chinese records you speak of, is that something that's required for CR1 application? Would similar records also be required for K1 as well?

Police certificates are required for both CR1 and K1. I know a lot of foreigners struggled to obtain them, they had to hire an agency to retrieve them and they would charge up to 1000$ for that service, you can search for those threads on VJ.  Not sure if it’s easier as she’s a citizen of China, she might want to contact the Chinese embassy and inquire.

 

 

[Dashinka 24,706]

5 hours ago, mugatu300 said:

Ok thank you. And as far as the Chinese records you speak of, is that something that's required for CR1 application? Would similar records also be required for K1 as well? I'm just trying to plan ahead if same type of records are required for CR1 vs K1 or if one doesnt require as many records as the other. Have no idea how hard these Chinese record checks will be to come by. 

Yes, police records will be required from every country she has lived in for more than 6 months after the age of 16 regardless of if applying for a K1 or CR1.  One other thing to think about although not super important is if you marry now, you can time the spousal visa so it becomes an IR1 instead of a CR1 and therefore no need to do the removal of conditions step.

 

Good Luck!

[mugatu300 8]

3 hours ago, Dashinka said:

Yes, police records will be required from every country she has lived in for more than 6 months after the age of 16 regardless of if applying for a K1 or CR1.  One other thing to think about although not super important is if you marry now, you can time the spousal visa so it becomes an IR1 instead of a CR1 and therefore no need to do the removal of conditions step.

 

Good Luck!

Ok, based on the link you sent me it looks like police records are needed for the pre-interview/interview forms. Is that correct?

 

Also, how long after initial 130 submission should we expect to need to submit these police forms? Just trying to gauge how long we will have to get everything in order. Thank you!

[Redro 4,611]

3 minutes ago, mugatu300 said:

Ok, based on the link you sent me it looks like police records are needed for the pre-interview/interview forms. Is that correct?

 

Also, how long after initial 130 submission should we expect to need to submit these police forms? Just trying to gauge how long we will have to get everything in order. Thank you!

You should check out the guides for spousal and fiance visas

 

Then check out timelines and forums for Canada (K1 vs CR1). 

https://www.visajourney.com/forums/forum/93-canada/

 

 

 

 

 

[Redro 4,611]

Guides are here:

https://www.visajourney.com/guides/

 

I posted the incorrect link... apologies. 

 

[mugatu300 8]

23 hours ago, JeanneAdil said:

From Crazy Cat's post as seen on home page of VJ

 

A K-1 would be less than wise, imho.  A CR-1 is vastly superior....especially since you can still visit each other during the process.

Every couple has their own priorities, and each couple must decide which visa is better for their situation.

K-1        
    More expensive than CR-1    
    Requires Adjustment of Status after marriage (expensive and requires a lot of paperwork)    
    Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)    
    Spouse can not work until she/he receives EAD (approx 6-8 months)    
    Some people have had problems with driver licenses, Social Security cards, leases, bank account during this period    
    Spouse will not receive Green Card for many months after Adjustment of Status is filed.
    A denied K-1 is sent back to USCIS to expire
  

CR-1
    Less expensive than K-1    
    No Adjustment of Status(I-485, I-131, I-765) required.    
    Spouse can immediately travel outside the US    
    Spouse is authorized to work immediately upon arrival.    
    Spouse receives Social Security Card and Green Card within 2 or 3 weeks after entering the US    
    Opening a bank account, getting a driver's license, etc. are very easily accomplished with GC, SS card, and passport.

    Spouse has legal permanent Resident status IMMEDIATELY upon entry to US.

Just out of curiosity regarding "Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)": If we pursue K1 over CR1, is she still not allowed to leave the US until she receives AP? Couldn't she re-enter US using her visitor's B1/B2 VISA or does she have to give that up when she applies for K1?

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

22 hours ago, ROK2USA said:

The K1 and and CR1 are taking similar times... if the beneficiary is the person who'd be getting pregnant I don't think K1/CR1 makes a difference (paging @DaveAndAnastasia for his experience). If the petitioner is the person who'd be carrying the pregnancy you might want to consider CR1 so you'll know at least one person will be able tobe employed throughout the pregnancy/maternity period... 

In our case, we wanted to have a baby soon but we didn't want to get started until we could live together (I can't imagine going through a pregnancy when you can't be together pretty nearly at-will). And while Anastasia would have had paid leave for a much longer time in Russia that she would have if she'd been working in the US, her salary in Russia was well below California minimum wage so that wasn't really a factor; we were better off financially with her here even not working. So it ended up that our son was born about 13 months after she arrived on a K-1 (he's a little over two now).

[DaveAndAnastasia 2,096]

6 minutes ago, mugatu300 said:

Just out of curiosity regarding "Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)": If we pursue K1 over CR1, is she still not allowed to leave the US until she receives AP? Couldn't she re-enter US using her visitor's B1/B2 VISA or does she have to give that up when she applies for K1?

Once the K-1 is issued, any other existing US visas are normally canceled (there may be some exceptions to this I'm unaware of, but not for B1/B2 or VWP/ESTA), and the K-1 is activated the first time you enter the US after it's issued (note that any entry in the US, even changing planes at a US airport, will do this).

[Daphne . 1,913]

21 minutes ago, mugatu300 said:

Just out of curiosity regarding "Spouse can not leave the US until she/he receives approved Advance Parole (approx 6-8 months)": If we pursue K1 over CR1, is she still not allowed to leave the US until she receives AP? Couldn't she re-enter US using her visitor's B1/B2 VISA or does she have to give that up when she applies for K1?

If you pursue the K1 over the CR1, she will not be able to leave the US until she receives her Advanced parole. The fact that she has a valid B1/B2 does not change that.