Can she adjust status ?

[victorious 0]

My friend's wife is a Canadian and I wonder if she can adjust status or how does it work. She visits my friend, her bf and then just decided to get married. They've been married for 2 years now and with a child. She said she didn't have any visa when she gets here in US. So how does it work? What kind of paper work she needs to file?

Edited April 10, 2010 by victorious

[trailmix 77]

Hi,

You should have her read this guide:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

[victorious 0]

In addition she didn't leave US and now their seeking to AOS and I-130.

tnx Trailmix.

[Otto 83]

** Moved thread from AOS/Family-based to AOS Tourist/Work/Etc-based.

[sciencenerd 56]

She should be able to adjust status - she has to file the I-130 and I-485 (along with AP and EAD if she wants them). Read the guides and they'll walk you through it.

[LT.Nora 7]

"She said she didn't have any visa when she gets here in US."

It is interesting to me, how can she file Adjustment of Status, if she doesn't have any status to adjust?

[HeatDeath 430]

"She said she didn't have any visa when she gets here in US."

It is interesting to me, how can she file Adjustment of Status, if she doesn't have any status to adjust?

Canadians are allowed (with a passport) to enter the US for up to 6 months for tourism purposes with no formal visa issuance. It's kind of like a cross between the visa waiver program and a less-official B-2 tourist visa that is issued automatically and transparently by the PoE. Canadians visiting the US as tourists who have married a USC can adjust status, just like anyone on a "real" tourist visa, with all of the same paperwork requirements and associated risks as anyone from anywhere else adjusting from a tourist visa or VWP entry via marriage to a USC. The only difference for a Canadian tourist is that they will not have an I-94. Because Canadian tourists are under a legal classification that is closer to a visa waiver program entrance than a tourist visa entrance, and no actual visa is actually issued, no associated I-94 is issued.

Like adjusting from a tourist visa or VWP entry, adjusting from a Canadian tourist entry is significantly riskier than adjusting from a fiance visa, but it is also quite common. Indeed, friends and family of the Canadian immigrant will often express surprise and disbelief when a Canadian describes the fiance visa process, thinking that the standard process for Canadians is simply to drive down, get married, and adjust status. This belief is very common, and many Canadians act on it and end up marrying in the US without having first obtained a fiance visa, for two main reasons:

A ) The vast majority of Canadians are innocently ignorant of US immigration procedures and it simply doesn't occur to them to research whether there are any special requirements to marry an American. The existence os special requirements would be highly counter-intuitive to them. "After all", they would say, "thousands of Canadians enter the US every day, and the US is a free country. Why wouldn't we be able to get married?" This condition is frequently associated with -

B ) Some Canadians feel a real sense of entitlement regarding entrance to the US. They believe, and feel quite deeply, that free entrance to the US is the birthright of every Canadian (at least those with no criminal record). It doesn't occur to them that there are many circumstances under which the US CBP will simply not admit a Canadian. This feeling is often paired, strangely, with the mild anti-Americanism common to the left-of-center Canadian middle class. The revelation that this is not the case - that the US has fairly tight immigration controls that apply even to Canadians - is often quite a bit of a shock, and can significantly inflame the aforementioned anti-American sentiments. That US immigration controls apply even to Canadians will often be seen as draconian, and even ridiculous to these people.

Edited April 10, 2010 by HeatDeath

[LT.Nora 7]

Canadians are allowed (with a passport) to enter the US for up to 6 months for tourism purposes with no formal visa issuance. It's kind of like a cross between the visa waiver program and a less-official B-2 tourist visa that is issued automatically and transparently by the PoE. Canadians visiting the US as tourists who have married a USC can adjust status, just like anyone on a "real" tourist visa, with all of the same paperwork requirements and associated risks as anyone from anywhere else adjusting from a tourist visa or VWP entry via marriage to a USC. The only difference for a Canadian tourist is that they will not have an I-94. Because Canadian tourists are under a legal classification that is closer to a visa waiver program entrance than a tourist visa entrance, and no actual visa is actually issued, no associated I-94 is issued.

Like adjusting from a tourist visa or VWP entry, adjusting from a Canadian tourist entry is significantly riskier than adjusting from a fiance visa, but it is also quite common. Indeed, friends and family of the Canadian immigrant will often express surprise and disbelief when a Canadian describes the fiance visa process, thinking that the standard process for Canadians is simply to drive down, get married, and adjust status. This belief is very common, and many Canadians act on it and end up marrying in the US without having first obtained a fiance visa, for two main reasons:

A ) The vast majority of Canadians are innocently ignorant of US immigration procedures and it simply doesn't occur to them to research whether there are any special requirements to marry an American. The existence os special requirements would be highly counter-intuitive to them. "After all", they would say, "thousands of Canadians enter the US every day, and the US is a free country. Why wouldn't we be able to get married?" This condition is frequently associated with -

B ) Some Canadians feel a real sense of entitlement regarding entrance to the US. They believe, and feel quite deeply, that free entrance to the US is the birthright of every Canadian (at least those with no criminal record). It doesn't occur to them that there are many circumstances under which the US CBP will simply not admit a Canadian. This feeling is often paired, strangely, with the mild anti-Americanism common to the left-of-center Canadian middle class. The revelation that this is not the case - that the US has fairly tight immigration controls that apply even to Canadians - is often quite a bit of a shock, and can significantly inflame the aforementioned anti-American sentiments. That US immigration controls apply even to Canadians will often be seen as draconian, and even ridiculous to these people.

That's interesting, didn't know that!

I guess that answers the main question then

[Kittyfang 6]

Canadians are allowed (with a passport) to enter the US for up to 6 months for tourism purposes with no formal visa issuance.

Just a clarification. The passport requirement is recent. 3 years ago, the PoE only required 2 pieces of I.D..

[Kittyfang 6]

A ) The vast majority of Canadians are innocently ignorant of US immigration procedures and it simply doesn't occur to them to research whether there are any special requirements to marry an American. The existence os special requirements would be highly counter-intuitive to them. "After all", they would say, "thousands of Canadians enter the US every day, and the US is a free country. Why wouldn't we be able to get married?"

I can accually confirm this. When my husband and I married, I was unaware of any paperwork needing to be filed. After speaking to friends, I was convinced that all I needed to do was... I don't know lol. I still don't know what I was expecting back then, but this amoung of paperwork was not what I was expecting.

I will say however, that compared to other countries, Canada does seem to have it easier (from what I've heard and read on VJ). It is not a high fraud country and maybe, USCIS takes this into consideration during the AoS process.