Thank you everyone for sharing their expertise in this topic. This was a learning lesson -- though there are a few who could have been more kind and less accusatory in their posts. I posted here looking for advice, not to be lynched for something I didn't realize was a legal issue. At no point was I advised, not by lawyers we've consulted (who have told us we need to get married before they'll be of much help), by my school, or through my independent research, not to leave the country simply for being engaged.
All of us on this board have had to navigate this process, and I hope for your sakes that your advisees had been kinder, and less judgemental than you have been. That said, I appreciate the wisdom and my fiancé and I will have to reconsider our plans.
This is what I don't understand -- people can be engaged for years before actually intending to marry. Similarly, people can have no intention of marrying, and then end up married after a weekend in Vegas.
I still have my Canadian apartment, and all my finances are still through my Canadian banks. That is to say, I have kept my Canadian ties with the intention of returning to this apartment once my time in the US is completed. Those plans did change once I met my fiancé, but that doesn't mean I'm entering with misintent, does it?
moosers got a reaction from PP31 in AOS from F-1 on OPT to GC