TN extension before marrying a USC?

Y

ymmud

New Member
Hello Forum,

I am a Canadian working in the US on a TN visa which will expire on
Jan 1, 2016. I am getting married in mid-November. My fiancee
will have her interview for immigration on Nov 2. She may or may not
have become an American Citizen by the time of the wedding. What
options do i have to continue to work after Jan 1, 2016 when my
current TN visa expires? It seems not a good idea to renew at the
border on Jan 1 because she may already have become an American citizen. I
am thinking of submitting TN extension by mail. My questions are:

1. If i submit my TN extension by mail now with premium process and
get married a month later, will it cause any problem later when i file
my Adjustment of Status?

2. After i get my TN extension approved, how soon can i file
Adjustment of Status through Marriage to a USC route?

Thank you!
 
What status is she currently in?
I guess it comes down to when she will be sworn-in.

It is doubtful that she will have her swearing-in ceremony so soon after her interview, so that is not an issue.
I would however go to the border and renew your TN as soon as possible. I don't see a benefit in mail-in in your case. You want to lock in TN asap.

Then, early next year when she is sworn-in, you can file the next day is you wish.
Some unrelated advice for your fiancé, from nolo.com :
If you have been married recently, USCIS will want your new spouse’s biographical information before allowing you to naturalize. If your name has changed because of a new marriage, it will not match the preprinted naturalization certificate that you are given at the conclusion of the oath ceremony. You should provide evidence of your name change (such as a marriage certificate) and you will be scheduled to take the oath at a later date once USCIS processes this new information.
 
nelsona said:
What status is she currently in?...

It is doubtful that she will have her swearing-in ceremony so soon after her interview, so that is not an issue.
Click to expand...

I assume she currently has a GC.

Lots of people have same day oaths so I'm not sure I agree that she won't be a citizen by the time of the wedding. Other places often schedule oaths within a few days of the interview. That was the practice when I naturalized in 2011 and a quick check of 'trackitt.com' shows that same day or a few days after oaths are still very common. What are you basing your belief that the swearing in won't happen before the wedding on?

A trip to the border to renew the TN within the next week is called for here.
 
If a trip to the border to renew the TN that fast isn't in the cards, another option may be to postpone the citizenship interview. I believe they allow you to postpone once, no questions asked and no need for an additional fee or to start from scratch. This could buy additional time to get the TN in place. Presumably the wedding date is more or less set in stone :) this close to the day but the N-400 interview can be a bit more flexible.
 
OK. This is a TN forum, not Natz. So, as I said, "I would however go to the border and renew your TN as soon as possible. I don't see a benefit in mail-in in your case. You want to lock in TN asap." This agrees with cal's assessment.
Unless the ceremony is that day, the second paragraph of my post still applies, and should tweek the poster to do a little more Natz research. It might indeed be better for both reasons to delay the interview until after the wedding, which would give more time to get TN at border.
 
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Wow. thank you all for the super quick reply!
We are in a situation that postponing neither the wedding nor the interview is feasible. So i guess getting TN extension ASAP is my only option here. Why I was thinking of mail-in application is 3 years ago when i renewed my TN for the first time at the border about 6 weeks before it expired and I was told by the officer that I came too early as TN can only be renewed at the border on the same day of expiration. Is it true or the officer was just too inexperienced? You all pointed out getting TN at the border right away so i am just getting confused. Have any of you actually renewed TN at the border, say two months before it expires?

Thank you!
 
Well, you should first try at the border. It is not limited to "day of expiry", but 2 months might not be accepted. Then, if this fails, do a mail-in premium processing.
 
Agree w/Nelson your first thing should be to try at the border for a new TN. Also agree w/both of you that 2 months in advance is pushing it. Even with premium processing a mail in renewal might not be processed before you are married to a US citizen. In that case the mail in is a non starter. Hopefully the border plan works but if not you may need to think carefully about why it isn't 'feasible' to postpone the interview.
 
I don't think the link would be made to the USC spouse while the I-129 is being premium processed, in fact I'm quite sure it would not. No I-130 would have been filed yet on our poster's behalf, and I-129 doesn't even ask for marital details, let alone the nationality of the spouse.
So, try at border an file I-129 without worry.

An I-129 approved for a spouse of a USC is still valid. The real danger is border TN after mariage, since one can be questionned. Not so with I-129, especially if no immig petitions have been filed.
 
nelsona said:
I don't think the link would be made to the USC spouse while the I-129 is being premium processed, in fact I'm quite sure it would not.
Click to expand...

Then why the need for premium processing at all?

The original poster may--if they haven't already done so--check out trackitt.com and in particular at tracking information for N-400 cases in their particular area (which they haven't shared in this thread). That would help a lot in understanding the timing for the oath (which tends to follow fairly predictable patterns but dependent on local procedures) which seems rather key here.
 
Indeed, the only reason would be to get the TN approved so he could start the AOS process, without this popping up while they were processing his I-129, sometime next year. While the marriage will never come up on the radar during processing of I-129, a submitted I-130/I-485, etc, certainly would.
He is already stuck in US as soon as he marries USC, no need to prolong this by waiting for his TN to be approved before submitting AOS paperwork. He would no doubt want to stay on valid TN until EAD is awarded, and would also no doubt want to file AOS asoon as possible.

That requires Premium processing, to get possibility of TN denial out of the way.
 
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