Immigration Site

Hi all,

I am a US citizen, currently living in Cananda. Im planning to head on south in a couple of months to start a new business.

I wish to sponsor my fiancee, also currently living in Canada, so that she can come over and join me in a few months time.

Before I speak with a laywer, I was hoping the kind people on this site could share some of their experiences as to what options are available to me and shed a little light on the process.

My questions are:

1. Should we get married here and then sponsor her out right before she comes over or apply for the fiancee visa and get married in the US?
2. How long would the sponsorship process take for a married couple applying from Canada?
3. How long would the Fiancee visa path take all the way to the obtention of the Green Card?
4. If she came to the US through the Fiancee visa, Would she be able to leave the country in case of an emergency?

The fiancee visa generally takes about 3-6 months (may be somewhat faster or slower for some countries ... I dont know the specific statistics about Canada). Then after arrival in the US with the visa, there is a 90-day deadline to get married. Then after getting married and filing the I-485 paperwork (Adjustment of Status), another 3-6 months to green card approval.

The spousal immigrant visa takes about 6-12 months, but once approved and she enters the US with it, she is instantly a permanent resident and the physical green card will be delivered within a month. If she needs to travel before receiving the plastic card, the stamp in her passport will serve as a temporary green card.

However, if she wants to travel back and forth before green card approval, that creates a dilemma. If you file for the spousal immigrant visa and she attempts to enter the US while that process is pending, she could be refused entry if the officer at the border or airport realizes she is married to a US citizen and has an immigrant petition filed for her. But at the Canada-US land border they tend to be less thorough with reading information in the computer system than they do at airports, so if she travels separately from you and uses a land border, theres a good chance they wont know about the marriage or her immigration process. Once she enters the US successfully, going back to Canada during the process will not be a problem whatsoever.

Whereas with the fiancee visa, its a one-use visa, and leaving the US before completing the combination of getting married + filing for adjustment of status + receiving the Advance Parole document could cause a huge setback, possibly having to restart the whole process.

Quick Question:

My fiancee is in UK. She has a visitors visa. If she comes here and I sponsor her as a spouse, then she goes back immediately, Can she enter USA with her visa if she does not apply for advanced parole?

If youre sponsoring her with the consular processing option (i.e. shell be fingerprinted/interviewed at the US consulate in the UK), she wont get or need Advance Parole and she can leave the US as soon as she wants.

The problem is that once you get married and file for her, she may be unable to enter the US again before the process is complete at the consulate, because spouses of US citizens have a very high rate of overstay.