Applying to TN visa while married to H1B or Green card holder

S

stillwater09

New Member
I'm currently working in US using H1B and my fiance is under TN visa. He has to go back to Mexico for two years. We are wondering that if we get married now, will our marriage cause any trouble when he needs to get a new TN visa to come back to US two years later (by that time, I'll either still be using H1B, but have submitted my 140/485 for greencard or already got the greencard)? Thanks in advance for reply.
 
Neither your H1 nor any H1 that he may have had has any impact on him getting a TN.

If, however, you want him to live with you in US when you get your GC, you must marry before you get your GC or he will need to wait for you to be a citizen before he gets GC.
 
nelsona said:
Neither your H1 nor any H1 that he may have had has any impact on him getting a TN.

If, however, you want him to live with you in US when you get your GC, you must marry before you get your GC or he will need to wait for you to be a citizen before he gets GC.
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Not exactly. A TN is a nonimmigrant visa. Although the H-1B status doesn't have anything to do with a TN application, the pending green card application certainly does. Border officials sometimes do not make an issue of this, but it can be an issue. The best bet may be to marry and file for consular processing for the husband, who will then enter as a green card holder.

Jim Mills
 
That is exactly what i said. But rather that be forced to stay out of US while awaiting consular processing which may take years, marry while on TN in US, file I-485 and then get their own EAD and AP.
 
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TN married to GC

My husband is a LPR, and I had considerable difficulty trying to get a TN - the border officials did eventually grant it to me, but not without a lot of hassle first. I even had various pieces of evidence that we do plan to move back to Canada in the next couple years (e.g. canadian bank accounts, deeds for property in canada). They definitely see marriage to a GC holder as "intent to immigrant" and TN does not allow this dual intent. CBP sees every entrant to the US as an immigrant, and in the case of TN status, the onus is on YOU to convince them that you're a nonimmigrant.
 
The bottom line is it's easier to adjust from TN to a GC holder while in the US than outside. Not the least of which is that you'd be living in the same country as your spouse.
 
tncanuck, you don't have much choice dio you? You need to work. That is why I'm encouraging our poster to file spouse's GC papers as soon as it becomes possible (oh, and that also means marrying pretty soon too).

As you said, even getting into US when married to LPR can be tricky in this climate (it shouldn't be as immigration is almost impossible under those circumstances, and CBP knows this).

But, filing AOS along with one's spouse is how one gets EAD and AP, and then CBP be damed at that point.
 
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