Hi, I'm Nicole. Very new to this site and to the whole visa thing. I live in TEXAS and my fiance lives in Edmonton, Alberta. I'm just looking for some information and advice on those of you who've been through this. We want to get married right away, and live here in TEXAS. Can he not just come to visit me on a visitor visa and us get married? If he did this then how long til he could work here?
I see there are several types of visas but which one best fits us? He will HAVE to work as soon as he gets here so i'm trying to find a visa that will allow him to come to Texas anytime while waiting and allow him to work as soon as he gets here. ???? HELP!!!

I suggest you click on the word "guides" and read the step-by step guide for the CR1 visa. This would require you marry before filing. The subsequent visa process for CR1 from Canada is probably going to take 8 to 12 months. That's the only visa that will authorize him to work soon after arrival. He actually arrives work authorized and with permanent resident status but it takes at least a couple weeks to a month to get the SS card.

It doesn't matter whether you marry in Canada, the US or whereever but you can start the process until you have the official marriage certificate in hand.

Entry with a K3 visa would assure a minimum of three month wait for work authorization.

Welcome to VJ! He can't come to marry you on a visitor's visa because it's clear that his intent is not to visit temporarily but to marry you and immigrate. You would have to be able to prove that he really was coming just to visit and decided sometime after he got there that he wanted to marry you. Then he could adjust status and get a green card in 5-6 months I think (check the timelines) and work after that, but regardless you said that he'd have to work right away so even that's not an option. The only thing that will let him work right away upon entry would be the CR-1. You would get married and he'd return to (or stay in depending if you got married in the states or Canada) Canada. You'd file an I-130 for your husband which will take around a year or so to process and then he can immigrate and work. Please read the guides and check the timelines for more details.

Thanks guys! Wow, I never knew it was so hard. You see movies and hear about people immigrating here through marriage but you never think about what they had to go through...wow. It just looks so much easier on TV. I do have a question on the CR-1. Can he come to Texas and visit during the 1 year or so we'll be waiting or his green card? Thanks again for ya'll help. I'll break the news to him today. He's not gonna like it but I guess we join all the others in our same boat huh? This place looks like its good to pass time. I mean, seems like ya'll help each other out in here. That's nice.

I suggest you start reading threads about the experiences of others. Asking about visiting during the process is the most common subject. Usually at least one new person asks about it every day just with regard to Canada.

He can come to visit and you can get married. But he has to leave and return to Canada. He can't stay and adjust status. (That'd be visa fraud.)

Here's the tricky part about the above. They're going to ask the purpose of his trip. If he says "to marry my fiance" they may not let him in. Some border folk think that a K-1 is required to come into the US to marry even if your intention is to leave the US during the process. So, if at all possible, have other plans during this trip and then he can say that he's going to visit his GF or his family or Sea World or whatever. If they bring up marriage or something though, he needs to tell the truth. He can avoid telling them everything, but if asked a pointed question, he has to answer honestly.

So then you get married. You spend some time together. And then he returns to Canada.

You file your I-130 paperwork.

If getting him here in the fastest amount of time is important and, he doesn't need to return to Canada too soon after he's approved and, he doesn't need to work right away, go for the K-3. That'll involve other paperwork right after the 130 is received by USCIS -- mainly the I-129F.

If you need him to work right away and/or he needs to be able to freely leave the US after enternig on his visa, go for the CR-1. Once the 130 is approved then you'll have more paperwork to file.

During the time that your visa is being processed, if he can demonstrate strong ties to Canada in terms of a letter from work stating they expect him to return to work on a certain date, his mortgage statements, utility bills, etc. he'll probably be allowed to visit you. They may never ask for these things. But they might. Or, they could turn him away just because they feel like it. The rules are that there are no rules on who they let in and who they don't.

My husband has been coming here from Ontario every other week since we got married 6 months ago. He says, "visiting my wife" and they say, "OK." But YMMV. Again, there's no guarantee.

However, you can go to Canada any old time to visit or even to get married.

And yeah, most people think you get married and the foreign spouse just gets to stay but it isn't that way. And trying to explain how long it takes to get an approved visa usually makes them think you're just stupid and don't know how the system really works because surely it can't be that complicated or take that long. (It isn't really complicated. But it does take that long.)

K3 and CR1 are taking abou the same amount of time in Montreal anyhow, so the CR1 is the best bet, as she said he'd need to be able to work right away once he gets here.

and MsZ, a K3 is a multi entry visa for 2 years, one does not need to apply for AP in order to travel. AP is needed with the K1, or adjusting from a tourist visa.