TN1 and married couple border crossing question

[timimi 0]

Hi everyone,

My Canadian fiance and I (US citizen) are getting married in Canada at the end of August 2011. She has recently obtained a job that will sponser her TN1. She intends on getting crossing the border prior to our wedding to make sure that she has it. Once we get married we intend on crossing the Canada-USA border together while driving back. It's too late to get a K-1 and I think getting married now and filing for an IR-1 will mess up her TN1 status. We don't want to spend any more time apart and therefore don't want to jeopardize her TN1 status.

My two questions are...

What should we tell the border agent when we are asked about our relationship and what is her purpose of our visit so that she doesn't loose her TN1 status?

Would it be easier to travel separately so we don't have to face the question of relationships so that they don't deny her entry because they think she has intent to immigrate?

I ask because I know that a TN1 does not allow dual intent.

wikipedia:

If immigrant intent is presumed based upon inferences made by consular or Department of Homeland Security's border review, this is grounds for termination of non-immigrant visas issued, refusal of the visa application, refusal of admission at the port of entry, refusal of readmission, or removal (deportation). Further, if a border or consular official believes that a visa holder is intentionally misrepresenting himself, then the applicant for entry into the U.S. can also be permanently barred for visa fraud. Unless the foreigner holds a dual intent type visa, (s)he is subject to review for immigrant intent on each visit to the United States.

tnvisaexpert:

Occasionally a prospective TN Visa Applicant, who is married to a US citizen and resides with the spouse and perhaps other family members in one of the other NAFTA countries, wishes to work in the US under the terms of the Treaty. Inspectors are trained to recognize marriage to a US citizen as "prima facie," evidence that an applicant for entry who is married to a US citizen plans to remain in the US.

[Anh map 2,098]

If she makes a material misrepresentation (single vs. married) that carries the potential of a ban. So choose your course of action carefully. It wouldn't meant that you could not live together. It would mean that you could not live together in the USA.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Hmm, you're putting yourself in a very sticky situation here by getting married in August in Canada and by also applying for a TN visa.

Once they find out she's married to an American, she likely won't be issued a TN Visa, since the marriage insinuates she has immigrant intent and that is a big no-no. Even if they find out she's engaged to an American, she would likely be under extreme scrutiny, if not denial.

You need to seriously consider your situation. Right now, your fiance is looking to immigrate, not move for a job, so you need to be conscious of that and make the right choices when it comes to visas. By trying to circumvent being apart, you could get yourself into more trouble than its worth. Obvious immigration visas take a lot longer to process than a TN, but at this point, unless you put off the wedding, I don't see what other options you have. Even if you got married, crossed separately and she was in the US on a TN visa, then what? Adjusting her status would be somewhat difficult seeing as she would have entered on a non-immgrant intent visa with the intent to immigrate. Proving she didn't have intent would be very difficult.

This website actually has some useful information: http://www.naftatnlawyer.com/marrying-a-usc-while-in-tn-sta/

I'm sure a few others will chime in, and it might be worth moving this to the Canada-specific forum.

[timimi 0]

We don't plan on changing her status once she enters the US.

We plan on moving to Toronto in two or three years once I finish school.

The biggest obstacle we face is what to say at the border if we travel together. I don't want to lie and I don't want us to be apart so if anyone has any real life expeirience they can share that is all I am looking for.

Thank you SapphireDreams that website is very informative.

[SapphireDreams 71]

Ah okay, I see what you mean about not changing her status.

Even still, I think the key thing will be proving that she has no immigrant intent. But, the fact that she's married to a US citizen, who will be living in the US, sort of blurs that intent. Even if, you really don't have any intent, the burden will be on her to show proof of that.

If you have things back in Canada like property or a job offer that you can show you'll go back to, that will definitely help.

Good luck!