Confused!

[Montrealer09 0]

Hi, apologies for the newbie question.

I'm Canadian and my girlfriend is American; I live in Canada and she lives in the U.S. We met two years ago at a meeting (while I lived in Asia) and have seen each other about every month since. I moved back home to Canada from Asia last year.

Now we'd like to live in the same city, preferably in the U.S. I had no idea what a series of hurdles cross-border relationships can be until I found this site.

My question is - is it faster to get married in the U.S. as a tourist and then file for whatever status I can get, or is delaying marriage and getting a fiancee visa the faster route?

I read that if you marry in the U.S. as a tourist you have to prove that you had no intent to do that before you leave Canada. Is that true?

Another problem is that I am a freelance consultant in Canada and basically I work for myself. I've looked into the TN visa, and I don't qualify.

Thanks for your help!

[Kathryn41 3,207]

The fastest legal route is pursuing a K-1 visa - fiancee visa. Your US fiancee starts the process by filing an I-129f petition with US immigration. The petition is requesting permission for you to apply for a fiance visa. After the petition is approved, the process moves to the US Consulates in Canada (Montreal for Ontario east and Vancouver for Manitoba west). You gather together necessary documents ( birth certificate, passport, police records, immigration medical, etc.) and when you are ready, the Consulate schedules you for an interview. The process takes about 8 or 9 months. When you get the visa you have 6 months in which to use it to move to the US, 90 days after you move to the US to get married, and then start the process for permission to remain in the US (Adjustment of Status - AOS).

The other legal route is to get married - either in the US or in Canada - and your fiancee/spouse files an I-130 petition with US immigration. The petition is requesting permission for a family member to apply to become a permanent resident in the US. It is called a CR-1 visa. The process is virtually identical in many ways to the above except that when you complete the process you receive the green card after you enter the US and don't have to apply for the AOS. It takes about 1 year. There is another process called a K-3 that used to get a married spouse to the US quicker and then apply for AOS instead of getting the green card first, but right now the K-3 is taking about the same time as a CR-1 and you STILL have to apply for the green card when you arrive.

Coming into the US as a tourist with the intent to get married and remain in the US, applying for AOS, is illegal and is called visa fraud. You have to prove at the AOS interview that you had no intention of getting married when you entered the US. If you are unsuccessful in convincing US immigration, the consequences are very serious - a lifetime ban from ever entering the US. If you lie to US immigration that is considered misrepresentation and will also result in a probable life time ban from entering the US.

It is legal to enter the US to get married and then return to Canada to process the appropriate visa, although it is up to you to convince US border authorities when you enter that you have sufficient ties to Canada to ensure your return. If they suspect you are trying to enter to remain or are living in the US for more than a 'visit' they will deny you entry to the US until you present the proper visa.

Hope this helps.

Edited October 2, 2009 by Kathryn41