Entering the US for work while K1 in process

[TrevorK 0]

I'm hopeful that maybe some of the veterans on the site or perhaps someone with a legal background can help shed some light on my situation. I'm a Canadian citizen and my fiance is a US citizen we've been dating (long distance for 5+ years) up until about a year ago we worked for the same company and were able to see each other very regularly (almost every other week) because we worked on the same projects that required us to be working on site at customers together in the US every other week. At the time I had a NEXUS card and was never given any hard time when entering the US primarily at Trudeau airport in Montreal or Pearson in Toronto that was up until about two years ago when I was flagged at Pearson and after a very lengthy secondary screening was told that my employer need to apply for a TN, H-1B or L1 Visa for me. After a lengthy period of time my company finally settled on getting me a "B1 IN LIEU OF H1B" an obscure visa that is notoriously abused by some foreign IT companies to get employees into the US under false pretenses. Having this VISA now in my passport seemed to make matter worse at times and I was constantly told that I really should have a TN visa if I was flagged for secondary screening by the NEXUS machine.

Jump forward to Oct of 2012 my Nexus had expired and I went for my interview at Trudeau airport after receiving my conditional approval the USCIS agent conducting my interview seemed to think I was abusing my NEXUS on behalf of my company and that I didn't have the proper work permits to allow my entry into the US he did not approve my renewal and said he was submitting it to his supervisor for addition scrutiny (to this very day I have never heard anything back) he did enter in my file that I was warned that my company needs to provide proper VISA paperwork TN, L1 etc or I would be barred from entry.

I'm sorry this is a long story to get to the point about my K1. Given the problems crossing the border for work and the fact that my employer had chosen to close our Montreal office in June and had given everyone a working notice of 9-12 months my fiance and I decided to submit our application for the K1 visa seeing that timing of approval would coincide nicely with me wrapping up work in Montreal sometime in June. I informed my employer of the issues arising once again crossing the border and also informed them that my fiance had petitioned for our K1 visa AFTER WE HAD BEEN WARNED. The company is now saying that because I've applied for a K1 visa that I've nullified the B1 IN LIEU OF H1B and are using it for grounds to terminate me.

Does anyone have any insight into my situation I've spent countless hours trying to search the internet for answers to no avail.

[Teddy B 17,251]

It sounds as if your employer was/is doing everything they can to avoid paying for the proper visa for you. That being said, you may have given them the reason they were looking for to abandon the idea altogether. Your filing for a K-1 visa shows immigrant intent, add that to your previous history of being flagged and pulled into secondary, your chances of getting into the US until your K-1 is approved are probably slim and none.