Need Information

[Brian77 0]

I don't know if this has happened to anyone. I've tried to look for information for months and can't find my situation.

I'm a USA citizen and have been seeing, my now fiancé for 2 years. She is from the Philipines and has been in Canada. She has her work Visa in Canada and has roughly 5 more months to get her immigrant status. We very much want to marry, but I do not want to jeopardize any of her work trying to get into Canada and potentially having her deported back to the Philippines. What is our route to take at this point? Do I have to wait until she is a Canadian citizen? Which embassy takes over Canadian or Philipines? I could really use some help. She has been in tears trying to find information and so have I.

[Que Saudade 284]

Canada is not going to care. She is there legally.

Does she want to stay in Canada, or is the plan to move to US?

[Brian77 0]

Yes, she will be moving here to the States. We want to go with the K-1 fiancé visa. After the initial paperwork, what embassy(s) get involved? This isn't a cut and dry matter for me like the sites entail. I'm completely lost. We haven't started any paperwork for fear it would mess up her visas and get her sent back to the philipines. She does have a travel visa to the USA that is good for quite a few years.

Edited August 24, 2012 by Brian77

[Que Saudade 284]

Brian,

I have only some opinions based on reading. But, I am going to refrain because I am not sure.

Please wait for a more senior member to answer. As it is late, most of them are not online. You should receive a response tomorrow.

Be patient for an answer....

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

Yes, she will be moving here to the States. We want to go with the K-1 fiancé visa. After the initial paperwork, what embassy(s) get involved? This isn't a cut and dry matter for me like the sites entail. I'm completely lost. We haven't started any paperwork for fear it would mess up her visas and get her sent back to the philipines. She does have a travel visa to the USA that is good for quite a few years.

This actually is pretty cut and dried. The US Embassy or consulate will be involved, regardless of what country the beneficiary is from, because this involves immigration to the US.

When a visa applicant is from a different country than the one that the US consulate is located in then the US consulate usually requires the applicant to have resident status in that country, and not merely be a visitor. This is meant to prevent "consulate shopping", which is when a visa applicant travels temporarily to a different country because they believe their chances of getting a visa at the US consulate in that country is better than it would be in their home country. For example, the US Embassy in Lagos, Nigeria, is known to be an extremely tough consulate because of the level of visa fraud there. A Nigerian national would likely not be allowed to interview at the US Embassy in London unless they had resident status in the UK.

I don't know what sort of status is conveyed by a work visa in Canada, or if that would be enough for the US consulates in Canada to allow your fiancee to interview there. If the US consulate in Canada won't accept the petition package then your fiancee would have to return to the Philippines and interview at the US Embassy in Manila.

If I recall, there are two US consulates in Canada where fiancee visa applications are accepted and interviews are conducted. These are in Vancouver and Montreal. Which one your fiancee would interview at depends on which province she lives in.

Having a petition filed for her by a US citizen shouldn't have a direct adverse affect on her immigration process in Canada. In other words, they shouldn't try to remove her from Canada just because there's a US petition pending for her. However, she can't simultaneously immigrate to both countries. Both Canada and the United States require immigrants with resident status to actually LIVE in the country, and both countries impose limits on how long a permanent resident is permitted to be outside the country before they will be considered to have abandoned their resident status. She can't satisfy the residency requirements of both countries simultaneously. She needs to immigrate either to the US or Canada.

[Brian77 0]

Sounds way more promising now. At least we can still be together and see each other. Will keep trying to petition at each stage of her Canadian citizen ship until they approve it or will that have repercussions?

[Que Saudade 284]

Brian, please change your non-US citizens country from Canada to Philippines. You will get some answers from people who have done the Philippino process. It is quite a different process for that country to get married and or engaged!!

Next, your statement about "Will keep trying to petition at each stage of her Canadian citizen ship until they approve it"... I still don't think you understand the process.

First things first, decide what you guys are going to do with your relationship. I will personally recommend the CR1, but check K1 and CR1 both out. (we did K1 and I wish we would have done CR1)

You need to really do some research for yourself on this process. Once you have a basic understanding, then if you need help with specific parts, people (myself included to the best of my ability) will more than glad answer questions.

Comparison CR1 versus K1

K1 guide

CR1 guide

Guides in general <----this link is at the top of the page and leads you to all the others. I am given you a jumpstart

Good Luck

[Brian77 0]

CR1 is for people who are already married. We where waiting until she gets her immigrant status in Canada and do a K1 fiancé visa to get married here in the states. Heard that if we got married while she has a travel visa to the states could cause a red flag and ban her completely from the states. We don't want to go all the way to the philipines to do a interview.

[didopage 337]

It's not a red flag if she comes to the US to get married AND then return back to Canada (and then start the process to get a spousal visa). The bad thing is to enter the US with a non-immigrant visa and have the intent to immigrate.

Look at the VJ guides to know about the pro and cons of K-1 vs CR-1.