I need some advice/comments/suggestions regarding my situation

[Leslie... 0]

Here is my story.

I am a female Canadian citizen 19 years of age turning 20. I have a boyfriend who I been with 6 years. We are planning to get married soon ( I have no clue where to start with this process). The thing is he lives in the US. He is currently in college and planning to apply as a transfer student to schools such as Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in Saint Louis, and Davidson College. He is an exceptional student and he has been hearing good news from counselors that he has a good chance at admissions. We both decided that I will come to the US to live with him and eventually get married. If I were to come to the States legally and get married what will happen or what do i have to do before and afterwords.

Here is the problem that might cause more headaches...

He receives tons financial aid and I do not know if it will affect his aid if we get married. He is a full time student and does not work, but is willing to pick up a part time job. He would have to ask the schools if this would affect him. With that being said, I proposed to work full time while he continues his studies (he eventually wants to be a physician) Can I work full time in the United State legally with only a high school degree while he goes to school? If we get married I believe I can work, but then the finance aspect would kick in. I also want to study in the United States and be a physician one day, but the tuition is astronomical for international students. I can go to a community college but I do not know if I have to be a full time student to work in campus let alone work in general. But if we both go to school, money plays a part with rent. He has saved 3000 American dollars and I have saved 11000 Canadian dollars and plan to live in a small studio ($400-$700). Maybe he can get affordable housing off campus to where he is accepted for us? We both met in person and the magic started from there. We see each other occasionally, but since he is transferring...we would be further apart. We waited to long to ...wait again, so now seems like a perfect chance to progress in our life. I will wait this year out and continue to work until we can come up with a solid plan. He is a good man and we both want things to work out smoothly. Is it possibly to do this under 1 year? If we cannot get married, can I work in the US full time and/or go to school particularly community college while living with him.

This process seems overwhelming and we just want to be happy.

Can you please help? How shall we approach this?

Thank you.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Leslie...

[amykathleen2005 441]

Here is my story.

I am a female Canadian citizen 19 years of age turning 20. I have a boyfriend who I been with 6 years. We are planning to get married soon ( I have no clue where to start with this process). The thing is he lives in the US. He is currently in college and planning to apply as a transfer student to schools such as Georgetown University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in Saint Louis, and Davidson College. He is an exceptional student and he has been hearing good news from counselors that he has a good chance at admissions. We both decided that I will come to the US to live with him and eventually get married. All sounds well...right?

Here is the problem that might cause headaches...

He receives tons financial aid and I do not know if it will affect his aid if we get married. He is a full time student and does not work, but is willing to pick up a part time job. He would have to ask the schools if this would affect him. With that being said, I proposed to work full time while he continues his studies (he eventually wants to be a physician) Can I work full time in the United State legally with only a high school degree while he goes to school? If we get married I believe I can work, but then the finance aspect would kick in. I also want to study in the United States and be a physician one day, but the tuition is astronomical for international students. I can go to a community college but I do not know if I have to be a full time student to work in campus let alone work in general. But if we both go to school, money plays a part with rent. He has saved 3000 American dollars and I have saved 11000 Canadian dollars and plan to live in a small studio ($400-$700). Maybe he can get affordable housing off campus to where he is accepted? We both met in person and the magic started from there. We see each other occasionally, but since he is transferring...we would be further apart. We waited to long to ...wait again, so now seems like a perfect chance to progress in our life. I will wait this year out and continue to work until we can come up with a solid plan. He is a good man and we both want things to work out smoothly. Is it possibly to do this under 1 year? If we cannot get married, can I work in the US full time and/or go to school particularly community college.

This process seems overwhelming and we just want to be happy.

Can you please help? How shall we approach this?

Thank you.

Ok first of all the financial aid will only be affected if it is need based. If they are academic scholarships, there is no difference. But getting married changes your status, either from dependent to independent or just adding another person. So if he is a dependent of his parents that would force him to become an independent filer. I would check with the financial aid department of the school. They might even be able to give you a quote as to how the aid might change and what they would offer.

You can work legally in the US but it would have to be under some type of visa. So either in as a temporary worker or as a K-1 or K-3. But all of those processes take time, lots of time. By the time you could work under a visa where you are getting married I would guess it would be around a year from the time you start the process.

So you could go to a college in Canada and then study abroad for a year at a school near to him, but that seems like it might be drastic if you have not already started the degree.

Just from the way I see it, I would wait until he has graduated with his Bachelor's degree. Then getting married will not effect financial aid and you have time to figure out your plans.

Edited August 25, 2009 by amykathleen2005

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Welcome to VJ, Leslie.

Well, I don't think my news is going to be all that happy for you . . . the immigration process isn't a quick and easy one and there are very specific requirements. There is also a fair degree of financial commitment and time commitment necessary.

First, it is not possible for you to move to the US to live without having a specific visa that allows you to do that. Getting married to an American isn't enough - it doesn't get you anything in the immigration process except an American husband and a reason to apply for a visa. You are allowed to visit the US for a possible maximum 6 months at a time but you need to be prepared to show strong ties to Canada - work responsibilities , property ownership, etc - to the border guards each and every time you visit. Without these ties they will assume you intend to stay in the US and to prevent that happening will turn you back at the border. You are not allowed to work in the US as a visitor.

Second, again, you can't work in the US without a specific visa that gives you permission to work. With an immigrant visa you can apply for permission yourself and work while you wait for the rest of the immigration process to unfold. If you want to move to the US to work, then you need to find an employer before you move to the US and that employer has to initiate the work visa process - generally by first proving there is no American available who can do the job. Work visas are very limited in number and go quickly so that there is often a waiting list for employers hoping to hire foreign workers. Most work visas also require higher education and specific experience/training so I don't see it likely that you would qualify for an employment visa. It is illegal to work in the US without one. .

Third, any immigration process starts with the US citizen filing a petition which is basically requesting permission for the foreign partner to apply for a visa. You can seek either a fiance visa or a spousal visa. In both situations, your American partner needs to prove to US immigration that they are financially able to support you by showing they have an income that meets or exceeds 125% of the poverty level for the US household. If they can't provide this, then they need to provide a co-sponsor who agrees to meet this income commitment for you. The commitment is until the foreign individual earns 40 quarters of employment (10 years), becomes a US citizen (possible in 3 to 5 years), leaves the US or either individual dies.

Fiance visas are taking about 9 months right now to process and require you to be living in Canada during the processing. Spousal visas take about a year and you also need to be living in Canada during the process, but would allow you to work once you arrived in the US.

The immigration process itself is quite expensive. There are fees required and certain steps along the way that need to be completed at certain times so once you start, you need to complete it even if money is scarce or you lose what you have gained up until that stage. You are looking at a 3 to 4 year process over all (possibly longer - ours has taken 6 years to go from filing for the K-1 visa to applying for US citizenship), although you would be together generally after the first year.

An option you might want to consider as a possibility is to look at what is required to get a student visa to a school near where he lives. You would need to be accepted by the school, plus show that you can afford both the tuition and the living expenses while attending school. That way the two of you could be together but you would still have to go through the immigration process for you to remain in the US longer than the time it takes to complete the schooling plus you would need to keep applying for student visas the whole time. I am not sure if you would be allowed to work at the same time as having a student visa so there would definitely be income considerations. $11,000 is a good amount of money to have saved but I doubt it would get you through one year as a student n the US.

To be very honest, you may find it better to wait until he has finished his education. You may wish to pursue yours now while you are in Canada and get as much of it done as you can for the cheaper cost while the two of you plan for when you are more financially stable. Having to deal with immigration issues definitely complicates a relationship.

Edited August 25, 2009 by Kathryn41

[amykathleen2005 441]

An option you might want to consider as a possibility is to look at what is required to get a student visa to a school near where he lives. You would need to be accepted by the school, plus show that you can afford both the tuition and the living expenses while attending school. That way the two of you could be together but you would still have to go through the immigration process for you to remain in the US longer than the time it takes to complete the schooling plus you would need to keep applying for student visas the whole time. I am not sure if you would be allowed to work at the same time as having a student visa so there would definitely be income considerations. $11,000 is a good amount of money to have saved but I doubt it would get you through one year as a student n the US.

To be very honest, you may find it better to wait until he has finished his education. You may wish to pursue yours now while you are in Canada and get as much of it done as you can for the cheaper cost while the two of you plan for when you are more financially stable.

Just a note, that most public schools in America, while cheap to those who live in the state will be expensive to someone not from the area. For example, Ohio State Uni is $8,706 a year for tuition for an Ohio resident. But for someone outside of Ohio it is $22,000. Please also consider this in any decision you make.

[Leslie... 0]

An option you might want to consider as a possibility is to look at what is required to get a student visa to a school near where he lives. You would need to be accepted by the school, plus show that you can afford both the tuition and the living expenses while attending school. That way the two of you could be together but you would still have to go through the immigration process for you to remain in the US longer than the time it takes to complete the schooling plus you would need to keep applying for student visas the whole time. I am not sure if you would be allowed to work at the same time as having a student visa so there would definitely be income considerations. $11,000 is a good amount of money to have saved but I doubt it would get you through one year as a student n the US.

To be very honest, you may find it better to wait until he has finished his education. You may wish to pursue yours now while you are in Canada and get as much of it done as you can for the cheaper cost while the two of you plan for when you are more financially stable.

Just a note, that most public schools in America, while cheap to those who live in the state will be expensive to someone not from the area. For example, Ohio State Uni is $8,706 a year for tuition for an Ohio resident. But for someone outside of Ohio it is $22,000. Please also consider this in any decision you make.

There was so much I didn't know. I mean this isn't going to break us or anything it just a bit of a minor blow to the stomach. We had a back up plan I guess you can call it. He could finish his degree while I continue my education (2-2 1/2 years) while I continue mine. We have a lot of decisions to make regarding education and what types of paths we can take. For example... I can transfer to a school close to where he would go to Medical School. Or we can ask someone in his family to cosign the fiance or spousal vise requirement. I will try to keep an optimistic view to approach this. Thanks for all the information, at least we can plan earlier for the future.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Information is power. Good for you for looking at this realistically. You will find that there are a number of individuals on VJ who have taken the longer term approach and waited as well until things were in a better place for them financially, career wise or whatever. It wasn't easy but it was for them at the time, the wise decision. Good luck to the two of you and I hope everything works out well, whatever you decide.

Edited August 26, 2009 by Kathryn41