jaydnynj

Thank you. Yeah I usually always get grilled harder coming back to the US than going into Canada even as a US citizen

Hello and thank you everyone for the messages, responses and advice! I really appreciate the time effort and thoughtfulness. I plan to participate more here and offer whatever input I can to help others as well. I feel like I have an idea of how things need to go from here (although please continue to message, respond, and offer any thoughts!) as a final check on the cadence of how things should go, can someone confirm I’m on the right track with these next steps? 1) schedule the civil marriage ceremony in Toronto, CA 2) go up for civil marriage. at Canadian border, CBSA agent: “why are you coming to canada?” Me: “to get married” 3) on the way back home, US CBP: “why were you in Canada?” Me: “I married my girlfriend” 4) file I-130 CR1 petition, wait out the 1.5-2 yr CR1 process, while she is in Canada and I’m in the US 5) sequential visits in between the wait: “visiting my spouse” (either for her visiting me or me visiting her, whether it’s going into Canada or the US). Don’t bring anything that would trigger a concern about a long term stay. Have things ready to show that link her back to Canada (bank account statement, pay stub). Being up front about the I-130 pending 6) hopefully CR1 is approved after the 2yr wait, visa issued and she moves down

Thank you, and for confirming the K1 invalidation and border crossing etiquette. That was our personal timeline based on thinking that she can just come down whenever and stay permanently on a visitor visa and adjust status while waiting for the spouse visa (or until the spouse visa went thru), but based on the previous comments, I now realize that is not feasible or allowed with immigration. That’s also why I was asking about the health insurance, I thought that if she was able to stay here until the spouse visa went through, that she’d need health insurance coverage during the gap time between her coming down permanently and getting the visa/any official status likely the year or two later (that was my thought at the time before learning more about the process here)

We’re pretty independent, probably in large part from being in a long distance relationship for so long. The stay at home life is more her idea and desire, but I get where you’re coming from and agree, especially to your point that we’ve been together this long, what’s another year or two to get it right. Plus will give me more time to prepare, financially and just in general. Thanks for the encouragement, I’m very concerned about getting the immigration steps done right so we can start our lives the right and best way so appreciate the insight (and from everyone here too)

Thanks, helpful to know. I thought I wasn’t allowed or shouldn’t say things like “I’m going to get married” or “i just got married”. I guess a good way to look at it, is you’re allowed to get married, customs on both sides job is just to ensure you’re not overstaying or immigrating illegally (correct me if I’m wrong).

Got it, that makes sense. The religious ceremony did not require a license, just a non-official (as in, not registered with the city or govt) piece of decorative paper. but it sounds like it is too risky and CR1 is cheaper anyway. I am leaning towards the CR1 then now. Thank you. It sounds like her coming down on a visitor visa and then marrying after 90 days and her staying here and then trying to convince USCIS it wasn’t planned is too risky and not legal.

Hey thanks for the response. I like the idea of making it fun, definitely makes it easier. Thanks for sharing as well. Usually at the border they’ll ask additional questions so in this case it would probably go like “attend a wedding? Who’s wedding?” Etc. So is it ok to be up front and honest about my reason for going to Canada to marry civilly then do the I-130 to both the Canadian CBSA going in and then coming back with US CBP? Just trying to understand the angle and what is permissible. I just don’t want to run across an issue at the Canadian border if I answer the wrong way and they don’t let me in, for example, or likewise on the return trip home to the US get flagged for saying I attended my own wedding.

Thank you, it sounds like the best route at the point we’re at is to civilly marry in Canada then do the CR1 to avoid any potential problems since we did a religious ceremony. To make sure I understand correctly, if I was to go to Canada with the intent of getting civilly married, then when I return to the US (and for any visit trips there and back after), what should be my responses at the border when asked why I’m going to Canada or what I did in Canada (I usually drive up and back, and say visiting my girlfriend)?

Thank you, this is very helpful and puts things in perspective. If I were to go to Canada and officially get married there (with filed civil certificate with the city in Canada) to start the I-130 petition, what would be the responses to border officers on both sides, going into Canada and back into the US? Do I keep it at “visiting my girlfriend” or do I need to inform them that I just married in Canada civilly and plan to file the I-130 petition?

Thanks for the response, it seems like with either visa option, the minimum time for her to move down permanently is going to be 1.5 - 2 years. Question though, how would the possibility for a K1 be off the tables now, since there’s no official record of the religious ceremony happening (no file or cert with the city in Canada that it happened, no taking down names at the place of worship, etc)?

Thank you for the response. So the religious ceremony invalidates the possibility of a K1 even though there is no official record of it? How would immigration or customs know that we even had one since there’s no record of it happening?

Hi everyone, I'm a new member, so please excuse any non-intentional breaches of etiquette. I'm a native of and live in the NYC area, and my S.O. is a native of and lives in the GTA (Canada). We've been together and have known each other for more than seven years. The idea is for her to move down here in about 4-6 months (our timeline). She will be a stay at home wife/mom. No kids right now for either of us (we're late 20's/early 30's in age). We haven't started any paperwork yet, and our case, I feel, is pretty straight-forward - we don't have any criminal record or overstays, and have a real, bonafide relationship with years of established photos and trips. She currently works in Canada and I have a full time job as well in the NYC area. We recently did a religious ceremony in Canada that had no official documentation, or filings with the Canadian locality. This was for the sake of her customs and family, to allow her to travel freely in accordance with her own customs and culture, not for any paperwork or certs. -Based on those circumstances, what is the best route to her coming down and having some sort of status the quickest? Would that be the fiance K1 visa? -What if we got married, either in a third country or in the US (after the 90-day period), and then she just stayed permanently and we filed for the spouse visa (CR1?) -In both of those cases, would there be a gap period, mainly in terms of health insurance? Healthcare, as I'm sure you all know, is expensive in the US, and I'd want to add her to my insurance, but I don't think I'd be able to until she had some sort of legal status, right? Any insight or anecdotes anyone can share on health insurance for your partner during the wait, in case they got sick or hurt and needed to go to the doctor, or if we decided to have a baby during the "wait" period either after she came down on the K1, or after filing paperwork for the CR1 in the 2nd option I mentioned above? -How would it work if she came down, stood at least 90 days, then we got civilly married in the US and filed for the spouse visa? Would it be an auto-reject because it's considered visa fraud? Would we need to act like "oh, we weren't planning this and then it just happened"? If we got married in a third country and then went back to the US, do we tell the CBP officer that we got married in the third country (or are we obligated to)? -In what scenarios can she leave the country or travel (or not)? Can she fly intra-US while waiting for status, or is it going to come up that she's on an overstay or has an immigration doc pending? Essentially, I'm just trying to get an idea on the best route forward to unite based on our intention of her coming down by ~mid-year, and having health insurance coverage through my policy as soon as possible after coming down. Since the plan is for her to be a stay at home, work papers aren't as important at this time. Thank you in advance for any insight and advice on these points!