Can I legally marry my fiance?

Question

I am a Canadian citizen...he is American. Can I legally marry him IN the States, but continue to live in Canada and visit with him every once in awhile until I get permanent resident status?

Answer 1

Actually once you marry him yo have to stay in the US as long as your application for residency  is being processed. My brother married an american he had to stay there for almost 2 years while  all the paper work was being done.

Answer 2

Every few years a story about a situation like this pops up in the news down here.  The most recent story that I recall, from a year or two back, involved and elderly couple.  She was Canadian, living in the States.  Married an American man.  They went to Canada for their honeymoon so he could meet her family.  And she wasn't allowed back into the US.  It was going to take something like 18 months or more before she could legally come back.  

A friend of my husband's is from the Netherlands, and came here to be with his American girlfriend.  He had a work visa here, good job, whole bit.  But he had some really stupid rules he had to follow both before AND after they got married, before he was granted permanent resident status.  I do remember that there was a period where he couldn't leave the US even on business.

The immigration laws don't make a lot of sense sometimes.  Just come on down and get it over with.  Most of us down here don't bite.  :-)