Getting married in the US while on visitor- because of covid (merged)

[Vero Kir 0]

Im visiting my partner (US citizen) in the US. We decided to get married. We were going to fly to Canada , get married and apply for the CR1 visa. but due to another wave of rising Covid (Omricon) we don't feel safe travelling. Can we get married in the US now? 

 

important details:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

-I have a neurological disorder so K1 visa is not an option because it restricts my travel (I need to be able to travel to Canada for my medical appointments)

[Lil bear 3,840]

1 minute ago, Vero Kir said:

Im visiting my partner (US citizen) in the US. We decided to get married. We were going to fly to Canada , get married and apply for the CR1 visa. but due to another wave of rising Covid (Omricon) we don't feel safe travelling. Can we get married in the US now? 

 

important details:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

-I have a neurological disorder so K1 visa is not an option because it restricts my travel (I need to be able to travel to Canada for my medical appointments)

Yes. Marry here.. file the I130

application but ensure you don't overstay your visit.. head home to wait out the process but you should be ok to continue to visit.  It will be up to the CBP Officer at each entry 

[Vero Kir 0]

29 minutes ago, Lil bear said:

Yes. Marry here.. file the I130

application but ensure you don't overstay your visit.. head home to wait out the process but you should be ok to continue to visit.  It will be up to the CBP Officer at each entry 

Thank you for your response! 

 

I want to make sure it would not be judged as fraudulent visa entry. How do i make sure of that? (is there a document or a rule that justifies us getting married now in the US). Do you know of any legal resource that i could point to if we run into any troubles? 

Thank you again!!!

[Dashinka 23,291]

1 minute ago, Vero Kir said:

Thank you for your response! 

 

I want to make sure it would not be judged as fraudulent visa entry. How do i make sure of that? (is there a document or a rule that justifies us getting married now in the US). Do you know of any legal resource that i could point to if we run into any troubles? 

Thank you again!!!

I am not aware of anything needed other than applying for a marriage license with your and you future spouse’s IDs.  It is perfectly legal to enter the US on a visitor visa ( I know, for Canadians it is more like granted visit) get married and leave to subsequently file for a spousal visa.  You can continue to visit.

[Boiler 43,582]

You do not need a reason other than wanting to marry, to marry in the US.

 

Covid or otherwise.

[millefleur 5,038]

**Moved from CEHST to IR-1 / CR-1 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures**

[SalishSea 16,817]

59 minutes ago, Vero Kir said:

Im visiting my partner (US citizen) in the US. We decided to get married. We were going to fly to Canada , get married and apply for the CR1 visa. but due to another wave of rising Covid (Omricon) we don't feel safe travelling. Can we get married in the US now? 

 

important details:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

-I have a neurological disorder so K1 visa is not an option because it restricts my travel (I need to be able to travel to Canada for my medical appointments)

Get married, and return to Canada.  Your spouse can petition you with a CR-1, and you can continue to visit at the discretion of the CBP.

[canadian_wife 1,791]

1 hour ago, Vero Kir said:

Im visiting my partner (US citizen) in the US. We decided to get married. We were going to fly to Canada , get married and apply for the CR1 visa. but due to another wave of rising Covid (Omricon) we don't feel safe travelling. Can we get married in the US now? 

 

important details:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

-I have a neurological disorder so K1 visa is not an option because it restricts my travel (I need to be able to travel to Canada for my medical appointments)

 

Make sure you arrange proper medical care in the US prior to your final move, as you will lose your provincial health care once you become a US resident and move on your Cr-1 visa. 

 

Good luck 

[LMM 2]

I had a same situation before. Had a tourist visa from PH, travelled in US to visit my partner but we decided to get marry here. It just took us 5 months to get my permanent residency after filing for change of status. The downside is you can't go out of the country (US) until you get your Permanent Residency or your Advance travel parole. The process was smooth as long as you submitted all the documents needed and file all forms that you need to file. 

[millefleur 5,038]

2 hours ago, Vero Kir said:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

Just a little confused: so you both live in Canada now, but you want to get married in the US and not Canada? I'm not familiar with Canada's laws so forgive me if this is a dumb question.

 

1 hour ago, Vero Kir said:

(is there a document or a rule that justifies us getting married now in the US).

No special document or rule to get married in the US as long as you can both enter freely with the right documents. I guess my only concern is, if you live together in Canada - why not just get married in Canada? I could see CBP maybe finding it odd should the purpose of travel question come up and marriage is named as the reason yet you both live together in Canada. I'm not trying to be harsh, just trying to understand your situation and reasoning.

[Boiler 43,582]

This is not an adjustment, a CR1, OP has to go back to Canada due to medical issues.

[pushbrk 12,146]

2 hours ago, millefleur said:

Just a little confused: so you both live in Canada now, but you want to get married in the US and not Canada?

The OP mentions in the opening post that she's visiting her partner in the US and does not feel safe traveling at this time due to Omicron.

 

Of course, she will need to travel to Canada before her six months visit privilege expires.

[SalishSea 16,817]

3 hours ago, LMM said:

I had a same situation before. Had a tourist visa from PH, travelled in US to visit my partner but we decided to get marry here. It just took us 5 months to get my permanent residency after filing for change of status. The downside is you can't go out of the country (US) until you get your Permanent Residency or your Advance travel parole. The process was smooth as long as you submitted all the documents needed and file all forms that you need to file. 

Not at all a same situation.  OP is not adjusting status.

[Redro 4,601]

8 hours ago, Vero Kir said:

Im visiting my partner (US citizen) in the US. We decided to get married. We were going to fly to Canada , get married and apply for the CR1 visa. but due to another wave of rising Covid (Omricon) we don't feel safe travelling. Can we get married in the US now? 

 

important details:

-Me (a Canadian) and my American partner have have been living together in Canada for 11 years. He was on a student visa in Canada all these years. We are considered common law in Canada (which is the same as being married for Canada). 

-I have a neurological disorder so K1 visa is not an option because it restricts my travel (I need to be able to travel to Canada for my medical appointments)

Has your partner moved back to the US or are you both still living in Canada and this trip is a vacation?

You can get married in the US or Canada. Doesn't matter. 

You can file the I-130 while you're still in the US or you can wait until you return to Canada. 

You might want to wait to file after you've left as some Canadians report issues filling out Part 4: Beneficiary's Entry Information. 

 

[BeansOnToast 35]

This is exactly what my husband and I did on his ESTA. During the UK travel ban, we flew to Serbia for two weeks before coming back here and getting married. Actually, we got married within 2hrs of landing in fear of another lockdown. We were just sure to not tell CBP upon entry that we were planning to marry (they didn’t ask questions anyhow), because I’d heard of them denying entry and instructing to file a K1. We filed the I-130 a week later, and husband then stayed for almost the entirety of his 90 days before returning to the UK. 
 

Anyway, I say that to say that there have been no issues thus far. It wasn’t even mentioned in the interview, probably because we had several years of “bona fide” evidence in addition. Fingers crossed for the same luck when we remove conditions!
 

To my knowledge, there is no specific documentation to disprove fraud simply because you got married in the US. Just be sure to include lots of evidence spanning over a long period of time such as photos, bank statements, rental agreements in Canada, etc. anything you can think of that you have jointly. And definitely do not overstay your allowance while waiting! 
 

Best of luck as you begin this process!