Immigration Site

Hello,

I hope someone can guide me into the right direction:

I am a TN Visa holder and have been living in the US since 2006 under that same status. I got engaged to a USC in October 2010 and we have been planning to get married this November 2011 ever since. Two weeks ago I had a meeting with the company immigration attorney regarding a different case and I decided to ask her what she recommended to do since my Visa is expiring on August of this year, she said to get married now and not wait for my TN Visa to expires because it would look bad at the time of the interview, being that a TN Visa a Non immigrant Visa and I would be basically lying about my "temporary status".

Taking that advice we got married April 20th, 2011. I am planning to submit all of the forms needed to obtain my green card but are now facing a new issue:

My wifes family is Christian and old fashion, I respect them a lot but since we basically only got married this April to expedite my green card application, we are not planning to move in together until the ceremony and reception takes place in November 2011. I have been reading a lot about the interview questions and I am afraid we will not be able to pass it since we are not living together. We have sufficient documentary evidence to prove the bona-fide marriage (joint bank accounts, driver license with the same address, pictures of us before, during and after the marriage, etc.) but I definitely want to avoid lying about the fact that we are not living together.

Is there a room in the law that would entitle us to live apart until we have the religious ceremony and reception?

My wife currently lives with her grand parents (she takes care of his grandparent who suffers from a heart condition). We have an outstanding relationship, we see each other almost every day and she sometimes spends the night at my house (which I own).

I definitely dont want to put pressure on the relationship by having her move in with me now against her family wishes.

Please help with advice! Thank you!

Given that there are no pressing external circumstances forcing you to be apart, such as military deployment or job relocation, youre risking serious problems in the interview if youre not living together.

Dont set yourself up for an immigration nightmare thats going to end up costing tens of thousands of dollars in lawyer fees and lots of time in immigration court. Ill suggest these two options to avoid trouble:

1. Move the ceremony to sometime in the next 2-3 months, so you can move in together before the interview.
or
2. Renew your TN status, and use consular processing instead of I-485/adjustment of status. After renewing your TN, have your wife file I-130 without the I-485, and select a consulate in Canada for question 22 of the I-130. Then some months later you will interview in Canada for the green card instead of in the US. When you interview outside the US, they dont expect you to be living together yet, and your recent TN renewal also would not be an issue because the potential problems surrounding immigrant intent etc. are not applicable to people who interview outside the US, they are only applicable to people who stay in the US to pursue I-485.

Unlike some countries where you have both a civil and religious ceremony, in the US you are married when you have either one by a properly licensed officiant. As long as you have a legally recognized civil ceremony, you are married in the view of US law. The religious ceremony is not your marriage; you will not have a license for the officiant to sign. The excuse for waiting for a ceremony that has no legal implications makes no sense. This entire thing sounds bizarre in that there is no reason for you not to live in the same home. Have her parents been told of the civil ceremony?

This entire thing sounds bizarre in that there is no reason for you not to live in the same home. For some Christians (and especially Roman Catholics) the church wedding ceremony (where the sacrament of marriage is performed) is a pre-requisite for co-habitation. This does not only apply to old fashioned Christians either.

There is therefore an important difference from a religious standpoint between having a civil ceremony and a religious ceremony as the civil ceremony will not include the sacrament and that is a good reason not to live in the same home until after the church wedding ceremony.