Canadian citizen marrying a US citizen; am I granted permanent residence?

Question

I am a Canadian citizen residing in Ontario and my boyfriend is an American citizen residing in Michigan. If I enter the US with a passport and then we simply get married shortly afterwards, am I legally allowed to continue to reside in the US? And for how long? Will I be able to work or go to school, or do I need additional paperwork?

I read that in the marriage license application you both need SSNs; seeing as I am not an American citizen and lack a SSN, does this mean we can't even get married in the first place?

My boyfriend plans on talking to a lawyer soon; I just want to get a general idea of the process.

Answer 1

There is a nonimmigrant visa classification that matches your needs. It's called the K-1, fiance visa. If you follow the orderly procedures for obtaining a K-1 visa, things will go smoothly. If you don't get a K-1 visa and try to circumvent the orderly procedures for becoming a K-1, you will go through more aggravation and expense.

Your U.S. citizen boyfriend needs to submit form I-129f to USCIS. Processing time might be 3 to 6 months. After the petition is approved, it will be forwarded to the U.S. consulate in Toronto where you will apply for the K-1 visa.

Once you receive the visa, you will have six months to use it to enter the U.S. Once you enter the U.S. as a K-1, you will immediately be able to work and obtain a Social Security Card. You will be required to get married within 90 days of your arrival.

After the wedding, you will need to submit form I-485 to USCIS in order to adjust status to legal permanent resident. It's a simple procedure which thousands of people follow every year. You can do it without a lawyer (thereby saving even more money).

Any other attempts to be a legal resident are more costly.

Answer 2

Marrying an American does not grant you automatic residence, you will have to go through the long and expensive process of obtaining permission to remain in the US. I think Canadians have quite a bit more leeway then any other other nationality. You might want to check with US Immigration.

Answer 3

If you can enter the US legally, and marry here, you can then make an application and get a temporary work authorization in less than 2 months.  Now the overall application will take more than 1 year, but while you are waiting you are living together, working, establishing your life here in the US.

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Immigration-I...

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