hi, i'm a lawful permanent resident of the united states, and my boyfriend is a citizen of canada. i was wondering if i could legally marry him and have him come live in the united states. can anyone please help me with the steps i need to take in order for him to come legally be with me? thank you
Can a green card holder legally marry a non US citizen?
- Thread starter triples
- Start date
if you are not married to anyone else, and neither is he, you can definitely marry each other. As for bringing him here to live -- that would take about 5-7 years if you do not opt to get your citizenship, or less - if you have only a couple of years or less left until you get your citizenship.
please read http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/family.htm
please read http://uscis.gov/graphics/services/residency/family.htm
Sundar_vaidya
Registered Users (C)
triples said:
Unfortunately, No. The fiancee visa or K3 visa is for US citizen only. The only option for him to come to US on H1 or L1 visa. Otherwise he has to wait in Canada until I-130 approved and the priority date becomes current. It is taking anywhere between 5-7 years.
Sundar
> is there anyway possible for him to stay with me in the US
> after we get married?
If your question is:
Can I help my boyfriend to immigrate into the US based on my GC status ?
The answer is:
Yes, but it will take 5-7 years
If your question is:
My boyfriend is a canadian citizen. I want to get married to him and live with him. Eventually, I want to help him to become a PR/citizen of the US. How do I do that.
My tentative answer is:
His best bet as a canadian citizen is to come to the US on a 'TN' visa, or potentially a 'F' student visa or maybe a 'H1b' or 'L1' work visa. You guys can marry before or after he comes here, you can either file an I130 for him immediately or you can wait until you are a citizen and file then. (Once you are a citizen there is no waiting period except for the processing time).
If your question is:
What are the effects of me marrying my boyfriend on HIS future immigration options ?
Answer:
He might encounter problems obtaining F (student) or J (exchange visitor) visas. (One of the questions asked when applying for these visas is whether your spouse is a US citizen or PR). For H and I believe TN visas there is no love based discrimination.
Other than that, it is entirely legal for you to marry anyone you deem fit.
> after we get married?
If your question is:
Can I help my boyfriend to immigrate into the US based on my GC status ?
The answer is:
Yes, but it will take 5-7 years
If your question is:
My boyfriend is a canadian citizen. I want to get married to him and live with him. Eventually, I want to help him to become a PR/citizen of the US. How do I do that.
My tentative answer is:
His best bet as a canadian citizen is to come to the US on a 'TN' visa, or potentially a 'F' student visa or maybe a 'H1b' or 'L1' work visa. You guys can marry before or after he comes here, you can either file an I130 for him immediately or you can wait until you are a citizen and file then. (Once you are a citizen there is no waiting period except for the processing time).
If your question is:
What are the effects of me marrying my boyfriend on HIS future immigration options ?
Answer:
He might encounter problems obtaining F (student) or J (exchange visitor) visas. (One of the questions asked when applying for these visas is whether your spouse is a US citizen or PR). For H and I believe TN visas there is no love based discrimination.
Other than that, it is entirely legal for you to marry anyone you deem fit.
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When my husband and I got married, he had a green card and I was on F-1 visa. After graduating from college, I was hoping to get H1 sponsorship, but I didn't succeed. So, the company my husband works for tried to help us by giving us help from their immigration team (they have a whole department that deals with immigration and employment issues for foreigners). They said that as a fiance of a green card holder, technically I would have more rights than as a wife. Apparently, there was a loopwhole in a law where if I was his fiance, I could have gotten the Employment Authorization to work. I'm not sure how would it work, but since we were already married, it didn't matter. We found out about this in March 2004.
My suggestion to you is to seek an advice from immigration lawyer.
My suggestion to you is to seek an advice from immigration lawyer.
that's not right, blue. If you were a fiance of a USC, you'd get a 90-day authorisation to work when you entered the U.S. on a fiance visa. If you are not a USC fiance -- well, you don't have any rights whatsoever. Even filing I-130 won't give you a legal status or a work permit.
Perhaps, they meant OPT work permit....
Perhaps, they meant OPT work permit....
> so if we got married now, there's no way he could stay with me in
> the US during his petition process?
There are many ways for him to stay with you during the petition process (TN, H, J, F, B). Just none related to your immigration status.
How long do you have your GC at this point in time ? If you have let's say only a year to citizenship, you might be better off waiting till then. You might be able to do 'direct consular filing' and get it over with in one shot (I am not sure how that process works, but I know someone who got her GC that way in europe within 2 months)
> the US during his petition process?
There are many ways for him to stay with you during the petition process (TN, H, J, F, B). Just none related to your immigration status.
How long do you have your GC at this point in time ? If you have let's say only a year to citizenship, you might be better off waiting till then. You might be able to do 'direct consular filing' and get it over with in one shot (I am not sure how that process works, but I know someone who got her GC that way in europe within 2 months)
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LucyMO, if a team of lawyers working for a global company said that I would be able to get Employment Authorization as a fiance of a Green Card holder, I don't have any doubts about it. But, I found about this in March 2004, and maybe things changed. And again, this is or was a loophole that a lawyer will know about, and not something that people usually know or something that is widely publicized.LucyMO said:
blue25 said:
A team of lawyers can say lots of things (they have to tell you what you want to hear after all, if they want to see any of your money), but many of them could be wrong. It happened to two of my friends who chose to use lawyers for a simple process. Boy, the money the lawyers wanted.... and the things they did for my poor friends!!! Well, the lawyers' actions screamed of their incompetence in the matter. Let's just say that it took me 6 months to accomplish what the lawyers are still doing for my friends (5 years and 3 years respectively - while the situation is absolutely the same for all three of us). And the lawyers keep asking for additional money and keep making the mistakes.... And one of my friends who opted to keep the lawyer still doesn't have what she paid for... the other one got it after she dropped the incompetent but greedy lawyer and did everything herself (she had to start from scratch).
Some lawyers are competent, I cannot argue about that, but to tell someone that a fiance of a gc holder is eligible for a work permit (based on the relationship, and not on your own non-immigrant status)????? Hmmmm.... have you thought that, perhaps, the team of lawyers specializing in employment based immigration may not be 100% competent when it comes to family based immigration?
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