All new to me overwhelmed HELP

[calypso1225 0]

The man I have been seeing (we have talked about getting married) lives in Canada and I live in the USA. He had visited and plans on coming down about every 4 weeks. He has a great job and plans to continue to work up there for a while. He may continue to do that after we are married, for a while. We are wondering what we need to do first for him to keep coming here without problems. Should we get a fiance visa, even though he stays less than a week most times some visits will be 3-4 weeks, probably 2 a year. Would it be easier to get married and then get a spouse visa? Can he continue visiting after we apply for a visa? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Otto 83]

Everything really depends on what your life plans really are. If your soon to be husband will not actually reside in the US - perhaps a fiancé/spousal visa is not the path to take.

[ThaitoUSA 15]

I second that comment. K-1 visas are for fiancé(e)'s who intend to emigrate to USA. I am not aware of any spousal visa that would allow your husband to continue to reside in Canada and guarantee him visitation rights. Perhaps a more experienced member could chime in.

[James and Megan 0]

Would it be impossible for you to move to Canada?

[scandal 951]

I second that comment. K-1 visas are for fiancé(e)'s who intend to emigrate to USA. I am not aware of any spousal visa that would allow your husband to continue to reside in Canada and guarantee him visitation rights. Perhaps a more experienced member could chime in.

Yeah, I would concur with that.

I am a US/Canadian dual citizen -to the extent that that gives me any special knowledge, I don't think it necessarily does.

If your intent is to have your partner (boyfriend? Fiance? However you refer to him...) live in Canada and regularly visit you in the US, and he has no immediate desire to either live or work in the US, then I would continue doing what you're doing. He can freely cross the border as he pleases (he does now need a passport, of course!) as often as he likes, even daily. Of course he could be stopped and denied entry at the border, the border agents always have that right. But there's really no reason for that to ever happen so long as he is entering for visits, has no intent to work or to remain in the US.

The only time you should want to rethink that is if you decide that he wants to live in the US with you, and/or work in the US. At that point other options such as a family based petition by you (K1, K3, IR1/CR1) or a work based visa (e.g. TN) could be reasonable options.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

As the others said, as if he has no intention of coming to live in the United States then there is no reason for you to get a visa. If you are concerned about him being stopped at the border and denied entry, just make sure he brings evidence of ties to Canada (ie. letter from his employer, mortgage statements etc) and everything should be fine. If you decide to get married and have him relocate to the United States, he can still continue to visit you in the US while his visa is being processed. Again, just make sure you bring evidence of ties to Canada along with you.

If you want more specific advice about Canadians and crossing the border the Canadian regional forum is quite active and i'm certain there are people there who could give you good advice

[pushbrk 14,357]

I second that comment. K-1 visas are for fiancé(e)'s who intend to emigrate to USA. I am not aware of any spousal visa that would allow your husband to continue to reside in Canada and guarantee him visitation rights. Perhaps a more experienced member could chime in.

The spouse visa that allows freedom of travel back and forth to Canada without US permanent residency in the US is the K3 but it only allows that for two years. You can apply to extend it. If he's going to spend more time in Canada than the US and keep the job in Canada, he really doesn't need anything but the Canada visitor privilege he's using now.

Edited April 17, 2009 by pushbrk