Up In air, Candian/Us Citizenship (2015, health insurance, lawyer)
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Hi, I'm a canadian citizen with my GF who is american. We are looking to get married, but have come to a block. I think I'd like to move down with her but I'm very unsure abouts how to go abouts doing this? I'm a Long Haul Truck Driver so I'm sure work wise would not be an issue, but I would like to move down there and work down there. It's time we close the long distance gap between us. Can someone give me information that I could use? Any help would be greatly appeciated! Thanks Andrew
If you want to move the the US it's a LONG drawn out process. Your GF will have to sponser you in order for you to get a visa. The BIGGEST misconceptions that Canadians who want to move to the US is that they think they can just up and move and everything is fine. WRONG! My husband works for Dept. Homeland Security and refuses and ER's hundreds of Canadians a week who are living illegally in the US. Even ones who have been living here for 20 years.
Tips:
1 - find out ALL the info you can about immigrating to the US
2 - you will have to come in either on a fiance visa (I believe a b2) or an LPR visa, but you have to be married first.
Check out the Department of Homeland Security website for some answers. They will have all the info you need, if not, call up one of the ports of entry and ask to speak to a legacy Immigration Officer.
I will tell you up front that it's a LONG process. It took mine about 2+ years and I was/am married to someone who works with them. It's really not worth it to not do it legally. I've seen first hand people living down here having their lives completely torn apart in a matter of seconds by CBP. You won't be able to work until your visa is approved (I think the wait time now is 8 months behind so at least a couple years, maybe closer to 2-1/2-3yrs).
In order to legally get married in the US, you will have to apply for a K1 Fiance visa. This is a time-limited visa which is granted after your GF applies for it for you. There is the usual paperwork, fees, interviews, etc. Once married you could then go through the various stages of eventually applying for US citizenship. The US requires your GF to have a certain income level in order to sponsor you.
Find all the info at the US government site: www.uscis.gov
It's marginally easier for her to move to Canada and for you to be married here, but it is still a long and arduous process.
You might want to see my post in "Marriage and Health Insurance" regarding marrying in Canada.
haha, yeah I read up on the Fiance sponser that has to be made in order to get married. The plan was to Get married and for me to continue to work in canada. It's so hard for me to find free time because of my job, I'm usually out on the road for a month or two at a time. really appreciate all the help, Thanks!!!! Andrew
haha, yeah I read up on the Fiance sponser that has to be made in order to get married. The plan was to Get married and for me to continue to work in canada. It's so hard for me to find free time because of my job, I'm usually out on the road for a month or two at a time. really appreciate all the help, Thanks!!!! Andrew
CornerGuy is the brilliant one...I'm just letting you know from my experience. The costs too get quite expensive, especially if you're not expecting them. Every few months we'd get a letter saying we need to pay $350 for this or $850 for that and so on, not to mention the medical stuff you need to get done (only available in certain cities...very few actually in Canada) but that cost around $1000 -$1200 alone. Plus the trip to Montreal for the interview etc...etc....It was non-stop. It really is a hassel, but if you can work through it. And if you can be patient for a few years while it gets done, I wish you the best of luck. I believe it is easier for your GF to relocate to Canada, but still a long and expensive process....just like CornerGuy said.
Hi fatflyguy I can tell you from personal experience (moving to the US and marrying an American) that it was quite a long process. I was in school and actually my fiancee did all of the research and just told me what to do so it didn't seem that long to me. I guess it was just over a year. My husband (fiancee) did a bunch of research for what you had to do, got all the forms (online I think), mailed em all in with the money (a couple hundred dollars or so) and then it was my turn. I don't believe if ever had to actually go anywhere until after we were married. I however had to go get a "physical" (it really wasn't they just basically made sure I looked healthy and didn't have TB or anything) and ofcourse fill out a bunch more paperwork and mail it in, and ofcourse shell out another couple hundred bucks. When I returned home from school my mom and I had to fly out to Vancouver to be interviewed for my K1 fiancee visa (Vancouver and Toronto are the only two US consulates that issue them in Canada [7 years ago that is]) I think it was a couple months after that that I received my visa in the mail and then it was off to the states!! Once we were married my husband again had to sponser me for a greencard. To me this was a lot more hassle than the visa! Several trips to INS and numerous hours in line, filling out more paperwork, paying a lot more money, and the easiest part was the interview to make sure we were actually gonna stay married and things were legit.
Well I hope this help and if you have any questions I can help you with let me know! Good luck
P.S. this was all obviously before 9/11; I don't know how that has changed the difficulty of it
Hi fatflyguy I can tell you from personal experience (moving to the US and marrying an American) that it was quite a long process. I was in school and actually my fiancee did all of the research and just told me what to do so it didn't seem that long to me. I guess it was just over a year. My husband (fiancee) did a bunch of research for what you had to do, got all the forms (online I think), mailed em all in with the money (a couple hundred dollars or so) and then it was my turn. I don't believe if ever had to actually go anywhere until after we were married. I however had to go get a "physical" (it really wasn't they just basically made sure I looked healthy and didn't have TB or anything) and ofcourse fill out a bunch more paperwork and mail it in, and ofcourse shell out another couple hundred bucks. When I returned home from school my mom and I had to fly out to Vancouver to be interviewed for my K1 fiancee visa (Vancouver and Toronto are the only two US consulates that issue them in Canada [7 years ago that is]) I think it was a couple months after that that I received my visa in the mail and then it was off to the states!! Once we were married my husband again had to sponser me for a greencard. To me this was a lot more hassle than the visa! Several trips to INS and numerous hours in line, filling out more paperwork, paying a lot more money, and the easiest part was the interview to make sure we were actually gonna stay married and things were legit.
Well I hope this help and if you have any questions I can help you with let me know! Good luck
P.S. this was all obviously before 9/11; I don't know how that has changed the difficulty of it
I was reading this post and thought...I WISH it were still that easy!!! You immigrated at the right time! For the medical now, it's a full blown out physical with chest x-rays/ct scans etc...of course that we have to pay for, and Immigration has their list of doctor's you can see to do this. Where I lived there was ONE on the list. They must have cracked down alot since the attacks on America. There are so many people trying to immigrate now that they're behind..last I heard was 8 months. For instance, if you send in your application now, don't expect a response for at least that amount of time. It's quite different with the K1 visa and the spousal visa. ARG!! In any event...it's still costly and a MESS!! Wish I immigrated when you did Dreameyes!!! Would've made life ALOT easier!
Oh, also...this happened to us once or twice too...if the paperwork wasn't filled out EXACTLY as directed, meaning even if you accidently wrote on a line you weren't supposed to or something miniscule they'd send all the paperwork back and make you re-do that part of the application, which added more time. PAIN!!!
Hope thing are working out well and everyone is enjoying their lives South of the border!!! Especially the ones that didn't have it easy trying to get here!!
Gee sounds like you had a tough time. I didn't mean to make it sound like a piece of cake.
My fiancee actually did A LOT of research and spent many hours reading law books and putting together a comprehensive script of what we needed to do. I guess some people have to hire an immigration lawyer and fork out thousands of dollars to get it done right. I was just so fortunate to have someone who was smart enough to do all that work.
When I went for my "physical" I did have to have a chest x-ray but no ct scans. There also was a list of doctors I could only go to however being in a big city it was no problem. Maybe I've just forgot a lot of the hassle. Or maybe it was just so worth it it doesn't seem to matter.
I don't doubt now though that it's a lot harder and more time consuming.
Funny story: I actually forgot my birth certificate when I went to Vancouver for the interview. They let me mail it in though. I'm sure if that happened now I'd have to fly back out there.
Gee sounds like you had a tough time. I didn't mean to make it sound like a piece of cake.
My fiancee actually did A LOT of research and spent many hours reading law books and putting together a comprehensive script of what we needed to do. I guess some people have to hire an immigration lawyer and fork out thousands of dollars to get it done right. I was just so fortunate to have someone who was smart enough to do all that work.
When I went for my "physical" I did have to have a chest x-ray but no ct scans. There also was a list of doctors I could only go to however being in a big city it was no problem. Maybe I've just forgot a lot of the hassle. Or maybe it was just so worth it it doesn't seem to matter.
I don't doubt now though that it's a lot harder and more time consuming.
Funny story: I actually forgot my birth certificate when I went to Vancouver for the interview. They let me mail it in though. I'm sure if that happened now I'd have to fly back out there.
Ok, forgetting the Birth certificate thing...something I would likely do....that must have sucked! Just the fear that came over you when you realized you didn't have it!! Glad it worked out though. I think we had a harder time because of my husband's job. Because he was Immigration he was held at a higher standard than the general public (funny, you'd think it would be easier because of his position...but no...). Because he's expected to know how the process works and knows the legalities of Immigration they held us in a higher class regarding how things got done and making sure they were done properly...every T crossed, every I dotted and so on. It was a nuicanse really!
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I can tell you from personal experience (moving to the US and marrying an American) that it was quite a long process. I was in school and actually my fiancee did all of the research and just told me what to do
so it didn't seem that long to me. I guess it was just over a year. My husband (fiancee) did a bunch of research for what you had to do, got all the forms (online I think), mailed em all in with the money (a couple hundred dollars or so) and then it was my turn. I don't believe if ever had to actually go anywhere until after we were married. I however had to go get a "physical" (it really wasn't they just basically made sure I looked healthy and didn't have TB or anything) and ofcourse fill out a bunch more paperwork and mail it in, and ofcourse shell out another couple hundred bucks. When I returned home from school my mom and I had to fly out to Vancouver to be interviewed for my K1 fiancee visa (Vancouver and Toronto are the only two US consulates that issue them in Canada [7 years ago that is]) I think it was a couple months after that that I received my visa in the mail and then it was off to the states!! Once we were married my husband again had to sponser me for a greencard. To me this was a lot more hassle than the visa! Several trips to INS and numerous hours in line, filling out more paperwork, paying a lot more money, and the easiest part was the interview to make sure we were actually gonna stay married and things were legit.
They let me mail it in though. I'm sure if that happened now I'd have to fly back out there.
