No, he hasn’t asked me yet. But when he does, I’d like to hit the ground running and already have some information about how to proceed to keep everything nice and legal and get things done in the right order.
I’m here on a TN visa (specialty: medical technologist) that I need to renew annually. I’ve been trying to look through the official government info, but it’s really hard to sift through, and I can’t find anything pertaining to my particular issue: changing from a TN visa to a… well, whatever I’d be changing to. That’s part of the problem - I don’t even know what I’m looking for, exactly.
Do we get married here, or in Canada? Does it make a difference? Is there any way for me to actually plan a wedding, if there’s paperwork we need to wait for? I mean, I can’t really book a reception hall if I’m not sure when my change-of-status application will be accepted. This really feels like it’s going to be a hell of a lot of work, which is why I’d like a head start on the process.
I realize that I will likely need to find an immigration lawyer, but for now, I’d love some help finding websites explaining the process. I know several Dopers are transplanted Canadians now in the States through marriage, and some firsthand accounts and advice would be very helpful too. And, for that matter, maybe recommendations for a good immigration lawyer in the Baltimore/DC area.
Since you already have a valid status in the US, you can probably just go ahead and get married, and then file for adjustment of status afterward. The spouse needs to file I-130 (Petition for Alien Relative). After that is approved, you can file I-485 (Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status). You should also file I-765 (Employment Authorization) and I-131 (Advance Parole) together with your I-485. The Employment Authorization allows you to work without maintaining your TN status, while Advance Parole allows you to leave the country without abandoning your application.
Member Eva Luna works for the INS. I think she is usually ok with giving out help to Dopers if you ask nice. Perhaps PM her for more info if those boards don’t help.
Oh, that’s definitely a given! That’s why I want to research it. I don’t want to find myself deported while I wait for stuff to be approved, and I don’t want to be here but unable to work.
Those sites look like they might help clear things up a little, thank you. It just gets so frustrating trying to get through the legal mess of documents. Just managing to acquire my TN to get my butt here in the first place was a horrid process.
I’m almost positive I’ll be getting a lawyer when (if) the time comes, to help streamline everything, but the more I know beforehand, the better.
One reason to have at least a civil ceremony here in the States is that it is easier to get it recognized as it is one less then that you have to deal with at the embassy. My wife and I had a civil ceremony in the US which was very small and a larger wedding overseas. However, this was done for our convenience so we wouldn’t have to figure out the marriage license requirements in Brazil and then have to do whatever was needed to get the marriage recognized in the U.S.
We got married before we did anything with adjustment of status or even met with an attorney. If you want, PM me and I can give you some names of firms who I know that do this. Both are in DC.
IANAL but please be careful and make sure you follow the correct procedure.
A cautionary tale. My son went to the US from England on a tourist visa six years ago. While there he met and fell in love with an American girl. They were married in Kentucky and wishing to remain in the US he applied for a green card. After about six months he got one, took a job as a bargeman on the Ohio river and settled down in Paducah. Every year he went along to the immigration authorities in Louisville to renew his status or whatever it was he had to do. This went on for five years. He’d just applied for US citizenship when in 2002 he went along to Louisville for the usual routine.
This time however was different. He was called out to an office in the back and a stern-looking official interviewed him and told him that he had followed incorrect procedure. After marrying he should have returned to the UK and re-entered the US on a different visa rather than the tourist visa he had originally entered on.
My son explained that all these facts were known to the Louisville office years ago, yet they’d okayed his green card and never mentioned anything of this in any of his annual visits. If somebody had pointed this out in thwe first place he could have rectified it.
Explanations were in vain. My son was arrested on the spot, put in chains and taken to federal lockup as an illegal immigrant. He was there for 3 months until he was deported back to the UK and told if he set foot in the US within the next 10 years he would be subject to a long term of imprisonment.
In retrospect my son sees that he should have had legal advice right from the beginning, rather than trusting that everything was OK because he’d been rubberstamped each year without problems. I’m sure that 9/11 resulted in a tightening up of immigration checks.
Anyway, good luck and please make sure to dot the is and cross the ts!
I looked around a little bit, and it appears that TN status does not allow for dual intent. This can be problematic if you want to stay in the country while the rest of the paperwork is pending:
DISCLAIMER: IANAL, though I have almost 10 years of experience as a paralegal in this area. Talking to a lawyer would be a good idea in your case - PM me if you’d like me to ask my boss for a recommendation for a colleague in your geographic area.
The dual intent issue is the main thing you are facing here. TN status does not allow for the intent to remain permanently in the U.S. If you marry a U.S. citizen, understandably USCIS is likely to assume that you intend to remain permanently in the U.S. So the period between when you marry (or when you volunteer to an immigration offiical that you intend to marry) a U.S. citizen, and when you receive a green card, is a somewhat vulnerable one.
For example, if you had to travel outside the U.S. and return still in TN status, and it came up that you were married to a U.S. citizen, the immigration inspector might decide not to let you back into the U.S., or if he/she were being really nasty, decide that you were trying to commit fraud by entering in a status that does not allow you to remain in the U.S. permanently when in fact you do intend to remain in the U.S. permanently. And a fraud determination is about the last thing you want on your record; it can mean that you would be permanently barred from entering the U.S. at all, though waivers may be available in some limited situations. This area is VERY messy, so I’m not going to make any blanket statements about it.
I’m going to guess that a lawyer would recommend that, for simplicity’s sake, you should get married and file for adjustment of status (you’d need Forms I-130 and I-485, which can be filed together if your spouse is a U.S. citizen), rather than the other alternatives (either a fiancee visa, or getting married in Canada and then processing yoru green card at the U.S. Embassy in Montreal), unless you can switch to some other work-authorized status first, one that allows for dual intent (I’m guessing an H-1B is the most likely option in your case, and it’s somewhat of a crapshoot because of the annual quota - 65,000 - which was met instantly last year, and then some - you can file 6 months before the first day of the coming fiscal year, which is Oct. 1. Last year, more than twice the number of petitions were received the week of April 2 to meet the quota for the whole fiscal year.)
The fiancee visa route and the immigrant visa processing in Montreal is currently taking almost a year, IF you’re lucky and nothing gets screwed up, and during that period you’d be in sort of a legal limbo because of the dual intent issue. But if you got married in the U.S. and filed for employment authorization and Advance Parole (permission to leave the U.S. and return while your green card application is pending), you wouldn’t be in limbo for nearly as long (3 months or so until you get your EAD and Advance Parole). But whatever you do, if you go the I-130/I-485 route, DON’T leave the U.S. until you get your Advance Parole; USCIS will decide that you didn’t actually want your green card, cancel your application, and make you start all over, most likely stuck in Canada the whole time, because of course now you’ve demonstrated your intent to remain permanently in the U.S.
Does it make sense? Well, no, but then again, at least it keeps me gainfully employed.
Anyway, if you run into more specific questions later, please post them.
Yours in solidarity withthe Huddled Masses,
Eva Luna
Immigration Paralegal
As other posters have noted, I think your biggest concern would be the lack of “dual-intent” associated with the TN status.
I got my green card after marrying a US citizen while I was already in the US, but I was on a H1-B status. Since this status carries dual-intent I believe it is fine to enter the US in this status while intending to apply (or having already applied) for permanent residence.
As far as I can see the TN has no such luxury. My understanding is that technically it is the intent that matters - so if you enter in a status that does not have “dual-intent” with the intention of leaving, but meet the love of your life while in the US, then you should be able to adjust status to permanent residence after being married. Even if that is true, you would need to take care that you don’t yet have the intent to stay while renewing your TN (a permanent residence application in the system being the most blatant example of an intent to stay!).
After extensive research I filled out all the paperwork myself without the help of a lawyer, but I think the H1-B to permanent residence adjustment is a little more clear cut. If I was in your position the lack of “dual-intent” would concern me greatly, and I would consult a lawyer to ensure that I stayed on the right side of the law.
That’s my worry. If we do decide to get married (note it’s still a big ol’ “IF”), I’m terrified of being separated while we wait for paperwork. I will definitely be needing a lawyer, so if anyone has recommendations, please PM me (my email address should also be in my profile). I’m a little nervous about the lawyer thing because I don’t have a ton of money, and I’m guessing all those forms and such come with hefty application fees. How much “lawyer time” does this sort of thing require? I guess it probably varies a lot, but let’s say to ask a lawyer what to do, and have them help file the paperwork… two hours? Ten? Forty? I’ve never ever dealt with lawyers before and I have no clue what to expect.
One more question - I understand that I’ll need to stay in the country for a certain amount of time while my “advance parole” gets cleared. But what if there’s an emergency? My family’s all in Canada… if I need to get to them because someone’s sick, or need to (God forbid) go to a relative’s funeral, what happens?
Thanks, everyone, for all the advice and the links - I’ll be doing a little studying. If anything new happens, I may be back with more questions!
