jechancolvr

It turns out that she can take the course w/o any type of visa.

[/quote

Now we just need a visa that will allow her to work in CA as a hygienist. The employment-based visas take forever, so maybe we'll just wait until we get married in '09 and then bring her over on a K-3? I don't know, just throwing options around...

if she's going there to take a course, wouldn't she qualify for a student visa?

Yeah, I called the school and they said that she wouldn't need one take the course. She can just come in as a visitor.

It turns out that she can take the course w/o any type of visa.

I don't think dental hygenist would qualify for an E3 either.

Employment Third Preference (E3)

Skilled Workers, Professionals Holding Baccalaureate Degrees and Other Workers receive 28.6 percent of the yearly worldwide limit, plus any unused Employment First and Second Preference visas. All Third Preference applicants require an approved I-140 petition filed by the prospective employer. All such workers require a labor certification, or Schedule A designation, or evidence that they qualify for one of the shortage occupations in the Labor Market Information Pilot Program. There are three subgroups within this category:

Skilled workers are persons capable of performing a job requiring at least two years'' training or experience;

Professionals with a baccalaureate degree are members of a profession with at least a university bachelor's degree; and

Other workers are those persons capable of filling positions requiring less than two years'' training or experience.

Plus, the instructions for the I-140 state that the beneficiary would have to be exceptionally qualified for the position petitioned for. Dental Hygenist doesn't seem to fit the bill. But maybe ask an immigration lawyer familiar with work visas rather than an immigration lawyer who does family based.

Yeah, now I think the H-2b would work for her...skilled workers with 2 or more years of training. But, we still need something to get her in the country for the four months that it takes to take the course, the exam and get results...

Hi,

My girlfriend is in Toronto and is planning on moving out here in the spring to take a course in April that is needed to be a dental hygienist in California, and then the clinical exam required for RDH's in June. By mid-to-late July she will be legally allowed to work as a dental hygienist in California.

My question is: which visa should/can we get before she is allowed to work as a hygienist?

Employment-based (EB) visas are tricky and slowly processed unless you have a job in the area of your education. Should we get some kind of student visa that holds over until she passes the clinical exam? And then get a more specific EB visa? I know canadians have 6 months to stay here w/o a visa (or at least i think that's how it goes?), but she needs to have legal proof to be here and take the course in April. And the fact that she's taking the course shows her intent to stay and work in the u.s., so that eliminates non-immigrant visas...

As you might tell, I'm pretty overwhelmed and just want to know if anyone has any insights or suggestions as to how to go about this. Thank you all for your time and input

Do you plan on marrying your girlfriend? What other visa are you considering?

Yeah we plan on getting married in a year or more from now. But, the K-1 is only good for 90 days.

The EB, student visas are the only ones that i can think of right now...if you know of any others, feel free to tell me

Hi,

My girlfriend is in Toronto and is planning on moving out here in the spring to take a course in April that is needed to be a dental hygienist in California, and then the clinical exam required for RDH's in June. By mid-to-late July she will be legally allowed to work as a dental hygienist in California.

My question is: which visa should/can we get before she is allowed to work as a hygienist?

Employment-based (EB) visas are tricky and slowly processed unless you have a job in the area of your education. Should we get some kind of student visa that holds over until she passes the clinical exam? And then get a more specific EB visa? I know canadians have 6 months to stay here w/o a visa (or at least i think that's how it goes?), but she needs to have legal proof to be here and take the course in April. And the fact that she's taking the course shows her intent to stay and work in the u.s., so that eliminates non-immigrant visas...

As you might tell, I'm pretty overwhelmed and just want to know if anyone has any insights or suggestions as to how to go about this. Thank you all for your time and input

She could still get an E3 though. E3s are immigrant visas so there'd be no potential conflict of interest like with a TN which is a non-immigrant.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/ty...types_1323.html

You're right. I'm just a little cautious about it, because with the Labor Cert.(which is needed for the third preference visa), you have to have a job lined up and there has to be enough evidence that the employer can't hire anyone in the U.S. for that position...so it doesn't look like they are just creating the position to bring someone in from another country...

I will look and see what we can do with the people we know who could possibly sign off on a job for her.

Thanks.

Did he explain why in detail? I'm curious what the explanation was as you aren't planning on getting married in a year or more and aren't even engaged at this point.

He didn't. I didn't think that it made sense either. Why can't she just come in as if we weren't planning on getting married in a year or so?

A TN issued at the border is probably the fastest though it's "non-immigrant" and might cause problems when she tries to renew it after a year. It may or may not cause problems when she goes to the border with her employment letter and all the other required docs if they ask if she has a boyfriend/fiance in the U.S. *May* being the key word here.

There are a few people here who came on TN visas and then adjusted later on based on marriage to a USC. Warlord comes to mind so hopefully he'll chime in.

If she does go the TN route, whenever you do decide to get married, I wouldn't get married in Canada because it's possible she might get turned away at the border coming back as married which happened to a member here (Our Mao).

Does anyone else see anything wrong with this scenario for the OP's girlfriend? She doesn't actually have intent on marrying and staying (based on that marriage) currently so I don't see why she couldn't come over initially on a TN.

Her occupation isn't on the TN visa list. Thanks for responding though Any input I can get, is good.

I talked to an immigration lawyer and he said that the only option was to get married sooner than we are planning to. He didn't think that she could come under any other type of visa (other than the fiance or spousal visas, that is). Is that true? She can't come here and work even if we aren't planning on getting married for over a year?

Does it matter which one (EAD or SSN) you get first?

If we get an EAD and SSN, then which would be the best type of visa to get to allow her to go between countries? The thing is we aren't planning on getting married for a year or more from now, so I'm not sure about the K-1, because of the 90 day limit...

Hi,

I have appreciated reading the wealth of info. on this website. Thanks for all of your posts.

My girlfriend (soon-to-be fiancee) is moving to the U.S. in March and is going to work as a dental hygienist after she takes a course and test that is required in order to work as a hygienist in california. I'm thinking that we can get an employment-based visa (E3--other worker before she gets certified to work in CA; then as a skilled worker after she gets certified). This will allow her to work here and stay here, get a SSN (which she needs to register for the required course), etc. We have a friend who can sign off on her visa for her to come and work here.

Eventually, we want to get married...we're thinking in Canada where her family is. And then we would deal with all of that then. But, first thing's first, what's the best path that you guys would recommend to take just to get her here, able to work and get her SSN?

I appreciate your responses and advice. Thanks.