TN while married

C

caram11

Registered Users (C)
Hi,
I am a US citizen marrying a Canadian citizen in the fall that is currently working in the US on a TN visa. He is planning on applying for GC, just trying to figure out timing that will allow him to continue working and go in and out of the country without issue.
I have a couple of questions.
Does the TN become negligible after we are married? Especially in regards to honeymooning out of the country and going to a wedding in Canada. I want to make sure he will be let back in the US. We might try renewing him prior to the wedding for a 3year TN.
Can we wait to file the forms for a green card and renew him under a TN (after marriage) to give us more time for the forms to be processed (and he can continue working)?

Thank you!!!
 
When does his TN expire?

Getting married to an American will not invalidate his TN. It will be very difficult to get a new one under those circumstances, though, because it will be assumed that he has immigrant intent. Traveling in and out of the USA also has risks, because if the border inspectors discover he has an American wife they might refuse him admission (also for immigrant intent).

If he has several months left on his TN now, you could do a city hall wedding, then file for Adjustment of Status. He would also apply for Employment Authorization and Advance Parole. The EAD would let him work anywhere, not just for the TN employer, and the AP would allow him to travel out of the US without abandoning his AOS.

I was a Canadian in the US on TN status... I married an American, adjusted status, and now I'm a US citizen. Everything went smoothly with my case.
 
We just renewed his TN today (3/20/09) for 1 year. We were thinking of trying to go back and trying to increase it to a 3 year (learned about that after the fact). But if he might not be allowed back in the US everytime we leave (ie. honeymoon), I guess, it doesn't make a difference what he has.
This is stressful! Thanks for the help!
 
Regardless of what status he has in US (except for H1) anytime a Cdn married a US person living in US, they ALWAYS must stay in US while their GC paperwork gets filed and processed (three months). This applies to all foreigners who marry in US, so it is not a TN issue. If you marry in US and then leave US, the foreign spouse is typically stuck outside US until they get a K1/K3 visa. So there is no getting around this period of loss of mobility. It will be your choice if you want them stuck in US, working and with you, or stuck outside US, not working and apart from you.

My guess is that you will choose: marry in US, honeymoon in US, and file his paperwork, keep working in TN and then 3 months later he can travel and keep working.
 
No need to bother trying to get the three-year TN. You are in fine shape right now. The two of you get married, he files for adjustment of status, along with EAD and AP. With EAD he can work anywhere, with AP he can travel. The paperwork is relatively straightforward, but you could hire a lawyer for additional peace of mind. Simple marriage-based cases aren't too expensive. You don't have to get stressed; you are in a much better position than many others who post this type of question. Usually, they have just got married and the TN expires in 10 days... that's the time to stress.

Edited to add: Nelson is right... spend your honeymoon in the US. Once you get married, he should NOT leave the US until he has filed for AOS and AP, and has RECEIVED the Advance Parole documents.
 
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Okay, shock of yesterday is over and feeling better about things. Not a big deal to honeymoon here and we will just have to miss a friends wedding, could be worse.
Our thought process in getting the 3 year TN would be to give more processing time for the rest of the paperwork. The officer at the border made us believe that Sept '09 to March '10 (TN expires) was not enough time for things to be processed and my fiance would have to stop working. That's our biggest concern, him being able to keep his job. I think we are going to meet with a lawyer to talk about the time frame. We might have to JOP it and have the family ceremony later to give us more time.
I really appreciate all of your replies, this forum is great.
 
Officers at the border are not very reliable sources of information. After the wedding, part of the filing will be for Employment Authorization. He should receive it within 90 days. Once he has that, his TN is unnecessary. As long as the EAD is valid, he will not have to stop working even after the TN runs out. After filing for AOS, his status will be "pending adjustment". He can keep renewing the EAD until the AOS case is approved. Your lawyer will spell all this out for you.
 
... and just so you know, even mentionning to a border officer that you were going to marry this 'foreigner' was sufficient grounds to deny him entry until he received a fiance visa - no TN, no job, no entry. That is why they have such a thing as fiance visa.

Never ask any question or volunteer any added information to a border officer.
 
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