KSOLANO

Stop overthinking this. You had a 4 years marriage. Yes, it looks bad that you separated and divorce quickly after getting your green card. However, you have a 10 years green card. When you naturalize under the 5 years rule, you shouldn't have any problems. Anyway, there is nothing you can do to change anything about your past marriage and divorce. It is what it is.

THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your help. I truly appreciate it. God bless

Do you understand that you are nowhere close to applying for US citizenship, right?

You got your green card in March 2014. You can apply under the 5 years rule in 2019. If you marry another US citizen, you would still need to wait the full 3 years under the 3 years rule to apply, so it's still 2019 at the earliest.

Ok, I understand I wouldn't be able to apply for my citizenship until 2019. So another question, if USCIS does not receive report of my divorce, wouldn't they find out once I renew my green card under my maiden name? I have no desire to keep my married name once the divorce is finalized, so I would have to renew my green card with my maiden name, correct? So with that, would they question my divorce then?

My husband and I married on 07/01/2010. We followed all legal procedures in order to obtain my green card ( as a legal permanent resident), which I received in March 2014. Shortly after, around June 2014, we separated due to immense fighting, distrust, him cheating, and even physical abuse. He finally filed for the divorce in August 2015 (in the state of Maryland, you have to be separated for at least 1 year before filing for divorce). I am now currently 10 weeks pregnant with my new boyfriend of a few months but have some concerns:

1. Will this divorce have any affect on my application of US citizenship?

2. When will I be still be eligible to apply for US citizenship?

3. We've been married for 5 years before he filed for the divorce, but we were separated for that 1 year, does that affect anything?

4. Does my pregnancy affect my application for US citizenship?

5. When the divorce is finalized, will USCIS inquire about renewing my greencard with my maiden name?

Thank you in advance for any advice!!

It might, I wouldn't risk it. Plus if they give you a shorter time and you stay longer than that you might end up with some issues being flagged on your file. Its just easier to stay the 180 days or whatever time they give you and then come back.

When I get back, and I have a job again, that means I have ties with Canada again. Would I be able to visit during the process? If I can, do I still bring any documents showing I am in the process and aware them of it?

Hi

you need to wait abroad till the process is completed you can visit him but could be an issue at the POE, showing no ties to your birth country. and probably you would be rejected.

In the other hand if both are inside. married and living together you can file an aos, and stay in usa while waiting but the main problem is that is not legal to enter with the intention to apply for and AOS and could be declare as a visa fraud.

So legally talking your best choice is keep waiting abroad and wait for the Consular Process.

wish you luck

Can I apply for CR1 in the US while with him? I don't want to file an AOS because we have intent to marry before me entering.

I just had one more question I forgot to ask, if we do go for the CR1 Visa can I stay with him while during the process up until I have to return to Canada for my medical examination and interview? I would then just wait for the approval in Canada. It will most likely cause an overstay though, will this affect my process?

I plan to visit my fiance this June. Chances are we are going to get married in July. When we proceed with the CR1 Visa, can I stay in the US with him while in the process? Or, until I have to get my medical check and have my interview? Would I be able to go back and visit with no ties to Canada other than showing them the NOA? If they deny me entry, once I get my CR1 Visa, I should be able to go no problem right?

Actually they would probably do the same thing again due to lack of ties, give you a date to leave by, but it helps that you havent overstayed your time. The NOA is the letter they send you to say they have recieved your file, usually takes about a week or so to get, so it would depend on a few things. You would need the marriage cert before you can send it in, and that takes anywhere from the same day to a few weeks depending on where you get married. Depending on how long you are allowed to stay you may or may not get it while you are still there. The process for a CR1 takes about 10 months I think? I would take a look through the CR1/IR1 forums and guide and through the Canadian posts on it to find out rough timelines . If you have any questions once you have read the guides, make a new post so that the CR1's from this board can better advise you on things! Good luck!

thanks so much for your help!

You can get married and start the process down there for sure, but you would have to come back to do your medical and have the interview. You can try to visit but with your lack of ties even this one they might be leary of allowing you too much time down there for fear you wouldnt come back. Telling them you are in the process of the CR1 and showing them your NOA of filing might help, but with no job, no lease etc visiting for an extended period of time might be hard. We have had a few people turned away at the border for this, and telling them he is your boyfriend instead of your fiance wouldn't help in that case, as its the lack of ties to canada they would look at. Now you might be ok if you get a border guard who isnt too picky, but I've seen quite a few stories on here about being turned away because they said they were going to stay for the 6 months and didn't have enough proof that they would go back. Others have been given shorter times (like 2 weeks or 2 months) on a B2 stamp, so they couldn't stay as long as they wanted.

I still have an active bank account would that help? What is an NOA? Would I receive that while I was still there? How long does the process usually take? When I went to visit last time I was still in the same situation I was visiting for a month and a half (march 19-may 5) They border officer said I had to strong ties and I was issued the I-94. I came back 4 days before the date stamped. Would this help me at all in proving I can be trusted to come back to Canada?

1. How would they know if I had the intent of marrying before I enter?

They won't know unless you tell them. There is nothing illegal about going to the U.S. to get married, people do it all the time.

2. If I enter the US in June, and we get married lets say July, could I apply for permanent residency? What is the exact process I need to follow?

You can apply for permanent residency. What you would do, first off, is file an I-130, which is basically a petition to apply for a visa. Once that is approved by USCIS, the file will move to the National Visa Center (NVC) - further documents to be filed there and fees paid. Once that is complete you would be in line for an interview in Montreal at the U.S. consulate. Plan on this process taking around a year (possibly less).

Have a look at the Guides here on VJ, there is a link at the top of this page. You will want to read the guide on the CR1 visa (this is short for Conditional Resident and applies to couples that have been married 2 years or less)

While all this is going on your can still visit your wife, just be sure to bring strong proof of ties to Canada with you when crossing the border. They may not ask for them, but they may.

3. How long would the process take given I enter in June and am legally allowed 6 months, which would be in December. Am I allowed to leave and come back?

As above

Good luck

So if we did get married and we proceeded with the process you described, after however long they allowed me to stay, I would come back to Canada. Would I not be able to stay there? If not and I wanted to go back to visit while everything was being processed, would I need to tell them that we are in the process of getting the CR1 Visa? What type of proof would I need to show I have ties with Canada still? I have no job at the moment I just finished high school and live at home with my mom.

1. Well they might find out at your interview, or the guard might find out when you try to cross. You would have to have proof you are coming back to Canada (lease, job letter etc) to cross into the states and they scrutinize it a lot more if you say you are going down for a long time. The guards and interviewers are also trained to see through people who aren't legit, and really...is possibly occuring a life time ban worth it?

2. To advise you on how to get around the immigration process is against the TOS of this site.

3. The process of doing an AOS takes about 3-5 months for a standard, simple case. You would only be allowed to leave if you got advanced parole when you applied or got your GC, but I've seen a lot of people on here say not to leave if you came as a tourist until your GC is in hand. If you leave without AP your adjustment would be denied.

The risks of doing what you are talking about, with having prior intent to marry (he is your fiance so you do), is visa fraud. There are legal ways to go about the process. File a K1 or CR1. If you don't you do run the risk of being caught and being denied ever being allowed back in the country. If you read Kathryn's thread it says the same thing. If you were there now, he was just your boyfriend and you decided on a whim to get married that would be one thing but you are already engaged and talking on here about circumventing immigration policies.

I am just saying persay. we have no intention of actually marrying yet. It was just a question. I had to leave my job because I would be absent for quit a while. I really just do wanna stay because I have friends getting married in the next couple months and like I said we want to do some traveling in the states. Was it a mistake to tell them he is my fiance? We have no intent of marrying anytime soon. If I go back to the border and say my boyfriend instead, would that be a bad idea?

Sorry I did not mean to ask for a way around the immigration process. I'm just super confused thats all.

The important question is did your friend intend to get married when he entered the US on his last visit?

If he did not, and the decision was made while he was still in the US on this visit, then he is allowed to apply to adjust status to become a permanent resident while remaining in the US for the green card processing. His wife would file the I-130 petition and he would file the I-485 application. They would send these in together, along with an I-678 - Employment Authorization Document and the other necessary supporting documents (eg. immigration medical, I-864 Affidavit of Support, criminal checks, etc. ) It is probably not worthwhile for him to apply for an I-131 "Advance Parole Travel document" as he may not be able to use it, depending on how much illegal presence he has accrued in the US (if he is not from Canada he probably has over the 180 day limit). Ideally, he should also not leave the US until he gets approval of his green card or he may be denied re-entry. He and his wife would eventually attend an interview, and upon approval, he would receive his green card.

Is your friend from Canada? If so, he was legally allowed to visit for 6 months which would bring him to February. After that time he started to accrue illegal presence. Currently he has at least 3 months of accrued illegal presence. At 180 days of illegal presence he would incur a 3 year ban if he left the US. If you friend is not Canadian, then his allowed visit in the US would have been for no more than 90 days, so he would now have over 180 days of accrued illegal presence.

If your friend did intend to marry when he entered the US, then he is not allowed to remain in the US and apply to adjust status. To do so would be visa fraud - intentionally using one type of visa for a totally different purpose instead of applying for the proper visa. He would need to apply for the CR-1 visa instead. His wife would initiate that by filing the I-130 petition and when that was approved the processing would move to the foreign US Consulate, where he would then have to provide all of the same requested information, and attend an interview. If your friend is Canadian, then he has not yet accrued enough illegal presence to trigger a 3 year ban and should leave the US before he does in order to complete the processing for the CR-1 visa at the US Consulate in Montreal. If your friend is not Canadian and has more than 180 days of illegal presence, then the problem is that he would trigger the 3 year ban when he left, and they would require a hardship waiver in order to get the CR-1 visa approved.

The process he needs to follow is all determined by what his intent was when he entered the US. Your friends would do well to read over the guides here on VJ as well as the actual I-485 form and instructions, as well as all of the other forms indicated by the Guides and by the USCIS website.

Hi, I am sort of in the same situation. I will hopefully be returning to the states from Canada to visit my fiance and we might get married. I have a couple questions though;

1. How would they know if I had the intent of marrying before I enter?

2. If I enter the US in June, and we get married lets say July, could I apply for permanent residency? What is the exact process I need to follow?

3. How long would the process take given I enter in June and am legally allowed 6 months, which would be in December. Am I allowed to leave and come back?

Any advice would greatly help. Thanks!

Since I plan to come back hopefully in June, what do I need to bring with me at the border to let them know I do have plans of marrying my fiance and will be in the process of obtaining the CR-1 Visa? What reasons would they have to deny my entry? Am I not allowed in the US while we process the visa? I heard that you can stay up to six months in the US. Also, if the K-3 is obsolete, then do I just go ahead and do the CR-1 Visa?

My fiance and I will be married this July. He is a US citizen and I am Canadian. I plan to be in the states with him. After some research, we were going to go with the K-3 Spouse Visa and follow those procedures in order to permanently reside as a US citizen. However, I am hearing about this IR1 / CR1 Spouse Visa for the first time and now feel a little confused. I have a couple questions:

1.What exactly are the differences between the two and which one is best suited for my situation?

2.Can I stay in the US with him while we process my visa? (I am in the US since March 19. 2010, will be going back on May 5 - June 2 to Canada and come back to the US until we get married)

3.If we process the K-3 Visa, can I file the I-129F at the same time? If I do, how do I cancel one if I get approved for the other?

Any helpful advice would be gladly appreciated. Thanks!

My fiance and I will be married this July. He is a US citizen and I am Canadian. I plan to be in the states with him. After some research, we decided to go with the Spouse Visa and follow those procedures in order to permanently reside as a US citizen. However, I am hearing about this IR1/CR1 Spouse Visa for the first time and now feel a little confused. What exactly are the differences between the two and which one is best suited for my situation? Any helpful advice would be gladly appreciated. Thanks!