Hello everyone. I have been reading a bunch of the posts and I had a few questions. I am from Canada and my husband is from the US. We were legally married at the end of January and we were going to go through the K-3 spouse visa process. However, I have decided that I would like to attend his school in september. Is this a possibility? Can I go into the US on a student visa? Has anyone else done this?

If not, I was wondering if it would work if we got divorced and then remarried a few months later when I got to the US on my student visa and then applied for a change of status. Would they know that we had already been married?

Also, if we have to go through the K-3 route, we have booked our honeymoon at the end of July and we fly from detroit to seattle. If we had started the process for the K-3 would that mean that I wouldn't get to go on my honeymoon because I would have to enter the US? Should we then wait to file until after the honeymoon?

Is there any way we can be together by September????

Thanks in advance for your help. I know I probably sound kinda stupid.


Also, my US husband is living in Michigan. Does anyone know where he's supposed to file the paper work? I have no idea about where the consulates are or who we are supposed to go through. Thanks

Also, what if we decide to come to Canada instead? Can we just leave the whole immigration process for now and I would just go to the US on a student visa for 2 years and then we could decide what we wanted to do?

He will send i130 to chicago and i129f to CSC




Are you saying he would take up residence in canada and keep going to school in the u.s? That one seems messy. He would definatly loose his resident status for tuition purposes, pell grants, federal loans etc.. I would assume. If he officially moved to canada and met the residency requiremens (6 months) you would file DCF. In our case DCF took just over 3 months from filing to visa.

DCF requirements are different in Canada. He'd have to have legal permanent residency in Canada first before he could petition for her, and the Canadian LPR process itself can take over a year sometimes.

Do not get divorced just to try and make immigration easier. As funkyab mentioned, you would have to include information abour your divorce (including certfied court decree) with any future petitions anyhow, and how do you explain why you got married, immediately divorced, then re-married just a few months later?

Canadians can freely visit the US when I-130 petitions are pending, you just need to prove to the US border officials that you do not intend to stay in the US illegally, and that you have ties to Canada. Search the Canada forum here at VJ for tonnes and tonnes of posts on visiting the US during the process.

Getting a student visa when you're already married to a US citizen is unlikely, because student visas are not dual intent. They would consider you have intent to immigrate to the US simply because your husband is American. It is also unlikely that the K3 or CR1 would be completed by September. Unforuntately, K3s and Cr1s are taking about a full year to process for Canadian.

If your husband decides he wants to move to Canada, he can do so and you can sponsor him as your spouse. The filing fees are fairly expensive, but unlike in the US, the fees are 75% refundable if you change your mind and withdraw, or your applications are denied. Check out http://roadtocanada.com/ for Canadian immigration information and forums.

Thanks so much for replying to me! So, just to clarify, it is unlikely that I would get a student visa to attend school in September because I am married to an American and they think I'm trying to stay there? We were originally going to stay for a while after we were done school, but I think our plans may change now, so we really don't know where we are going to live. If I started school in September, I would have a year and a half of school, and my husband has two years. So I couldn't go in on a student visa even if we were planning on going to Canada after 2 years? It seems like a ton of work and separation when we aren't even going to live there for long.

Thanks for the info on the divorce. Haha. I didn't think that was the best option. I am going to read the board about visiting the US during the process per the suggestion. Thanks!