Engaged and on TN - Trouble at border?

[smurrito 1]

Hey there,

I recently renewed my TN status in June. In August, my fiancé and I (he's a USC) went to Canada on vacation. When we returned and crossed the border, he referred to me as his fiancé (even though I asked him not to at the border). I thought this was going to cause all sorts of problems. However, the customs officer asked me when we were getting married, and I just said "next year sometime". She then put an "R" on my I-94. When I asked what it meant, she said it meant that she "Re-Evaluated" my status and that it was fine and let me go on.

I'm not sure if that is going to cause any red flags in the future or not. I've never had that before (I've had 4 TN's). Has anyone else?

I am planning one more trip back to Canada before we get married - next July. Has anybody had trouble at the border while they've been engaged? Has anyone had their TN status taken away? I'm getting really worried about it and am not even sure what would happen if they took my TN away...

Any suggestions/Advice?

[warlord 73]

Hey there,

I recently renewed my TN status in June. In August, my fiancé and I (he's a USC) went to Canada on vacation. When we returned and crossed the border, he referred to me as his fiancé (even though I asked him not to at the border). I thought this was going to cause all sorts of problems. However, the customs officer asked me when we were getting married, and I just said "next year sometime". She then put an "R" on my I-94. When I asked what it meant, she said it meant that she "Re-Evaluated" my status and that it was fine and let me go on.

I'm not sure if that is going to cause any red flags in the future or not. I've never had that before (I've had 4 TN's). Has anyone else?

I am planning one more trip back to Canada before we get married - next July. Has anybody had trouble at the border while they've been engaged? Has anyone had their TN status taken away? I'm getting really worried about it and am not even sure what would happen if they took my TN away...

Any suggestions/Advice?

Now that they moved to the 3 year TN, I'm thinking it's something new and that maybe the R means you won't be filling out your entire term on the TN. You may now be asked more questions next time you come through to see if you did get married etc. I'd give yourself extra time the next time.

Right now there's nothing saying you can't be enganged and on a TN, so the only thing is by saying you are getting married in about a year, that probably was just flagged on the TN. At least you were honest so that's a good thing, but I don't even know if that even needs to ever be disclosed unless asked upon by the IO.

Either way, I'm sure the "R" means to tell other border guards to just re-evaluate your status each time you come back into the US to make sure you are not legally married at that point. Seems pretty new proceedure to me as I hadn't even heard of that before...

[smurrito 1]

Yeah I haven't heard of it either. Seems a little weird to me...she also didn't seem to know much about TN status. She had to ask her supervisor something about not having it for 30 days? I was confused. I'm wondering if it's something that's done for other visa's or status and she just did it for mine? Oh and I didn't volunteer the information that I was getting married next year - they asked me when I was. I know better than to lie to the officers

If they're just going to ask me if I'm married when I cross, that's fine. I won't be crossing while married. I'm just worried that the officers won't know what it means or something and that'll send off even more red flags and who knows what will happen. Oh my...

Edited October 12, 2010 by smactley

[warlord 73]

Yeah I haven't heard of it either. Seems a little weird to me...she also didn't seem to know much about TN status. She had to ask her supervisor something about not having it for 30 days? I was confused. I'm wondering if it's something that's done for other visa's or status and she just did it for mine? Oh and I didn't volunteer the information that I was getting married next year - they asked me when I was. I know better than to lie to the officers

If they're just going to ask me if I'm married when I cross, that's fine. I won't be crossing while married. I'm just worried that the officers won't know what it means or something and that'll send off even more red flags and who knows what will happen. Oh my...

Oh I meant when your boyfriend mentioned you were now enganged was something he didn't need to mention at all unless they specifically asked him that (say they saw your ring). I thought you two went to the customs person and they had asked how long you wwere away and what the purpose was and he blurted out "WE GOT ENGAGED" or something.

I haven't heard of the R for anything before, so it's probably just something new. Then again with an in-experienced TN customs officer, you never know what the hell they're actually thinking at all...

[smurrito 1]

Oh no - he did do that. He referred to me as his "fiance". Even though I swear I told him about 5 minutes previous not to. I was not happy. But she asked when we were getting married, we didn't volunteer it.

Part of me wants to leave and re-enter just to see what happens. In case it's something really bad, we might have enough time before our actual wedding, but I don't want to risk it either....argh.

[smurrito 1]

Does anyone else have any experience with crossing the border while on TN & engaged? Should I just not do it at all? Any advice?

[SapphireDreams 71]

I did not hav a TN visa, but thought I'd give my two cents. I don't think you should try to cross just for the sake of it to see what happens since every border crossing situation is different. It's almost like playing the lottery. You could get someone really strict or you can get someone more lenient... it really depends.

Like Warlord said, there's nothing wrong with being engaged while on a TN - however, you'll need to research exactly what you need to do when you are married and what happens to your status so that when you do cross you are informed and they see you are going about things the right way. They may ask you something like "Where do you intend to live once you are married" (they asked me that once when I crossed as a visitor). If you say the US, well then that shows you have intentions of immigrating so just be sure you are going through the necessary steps to legally do that. (I just answered that we didn't know yet and he didn't press any further - at that time, I really wasn't sure).

Also just ensure that when you are married and are filling out the proper paperwork that you have the right work status. I'm not certain what happens to your TN status when you marry, but I'm sure you can research that and find out.

If you are seriously really worried about crossing and your status, then you could always just have a civil marriage immediately and fill out all the necessary paperwork now and have a AP/EAD and then probably your greencard in time for your wedding. Not sure you considered that option. We had a civil marriage before our big white wedding and to be honest, it was awesome not having to think about any paperwork after our big wedding and we were able to honeymoon out of the country easier!

[Krikit 1,164]

Hi smacktley. I have moved your duplicate question from the AOS forum over to the Employment Visas forum. You may get some responses there.

[smurrito 1]

If you are seriously really worried about crossing and your status, then you could always just have a civil marriage immediately and fill out all the necessary paperwork now and have a AP/EAD and then probably your greencard in time for your wedding. Not sure you considered that option. We had a civil marriage before our big white wedding and to be honest, it was awesome not having to think about any paperwork after our big wedding and we were able to honeymoon out of the country easier!

I have thought about just get going and getting married now. It does seem like a pretty attractive idea to get all the paperwork out of the way. I would feel weird not telling people about it though - and I wouldn't want to tell them since I don't want to take away from the actual wedding. But I guess that's not a good enough reason not to do it that way. What about at the AOS interview? Did they say anything about the fact that you had the smaller wedding first? Do you think it would look odd if I said "no our parents do not know we're married?"

[SapphireDreams 71]

I have thought about just get going and getting married now. It does seem like a pretty attractive idea to get all the paperwork out of the way. I would feel weird not telling people about it though - and I wouldn't want to tell them since I don't want to take away from the actual wedding. But I guess that's not a good enough reason not to do it that way. What about at the AOS interview? Did they say anything about the fact that you had the smaller wedding first? Do you think it would look odd if I said "no our parents do not know we're married?"

Well, you'd need to figure out how you'd deal with all that and if it's worth it. We told people who asked and it was fine. I don't think it took away from our ceremonial wedding at all! Most of my relatives and friends would always just say they never considered me married yet when I went home. I think my Mom was a bit hurt at first, but she understood that it was for the immigration paperwork that was all. We of course told our parents. I even changed my name last June (which was a little weird, I'll admit) but it all worked out great in the end so I don't regret it at all. We never had an AOS interview, so I didn't have to answer any questions about it. If they did I would've just told them that we had the civil wedding (I wore a white cocktail dress and also carried flowers for some photos in case we needed them) and that we were celerating with our friends and family on a later date in Canada.

Good luck!