K Visa Canadian with TN Visa marrying American Citizen

[brownatlaw]

I am a Canadian citizen residing and working in CA under a TN Visa. I am engaged to be married to an American citizen. We are planning to get married in Mexico for a destination wedding.

1. I understand that I am not able to continue under a TN Visa once married to an American, what do I apply for? Green card?

2. How long is process?

3. Do I apply prior to or wait until after married?

4. Do I need an attorney?

5. Can I apply for US citizenship?

6. Can I have dual citizenship?

7. Is marriage in Mexico a problem or should I get married officially in US and just have ceremony in Mexico?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

M. Brown

 

[NYClex]

1. Yes. Your American spouse must file a petition for you to become a legal permanent resident. (I-130) If your are legally in the country at the time of the marriage, you can file at the same time as she files the I-130 an Application for Adjustment of Status (AOS) to adjust your status from your former TN status to LPR status (Green Card).

2. That depends where you file. Usually it takes between one and two years until you finally hold the green card in your hand. As a spouse of a citizen you are allowed to stay in the country during this time, if you filed for AOS. You can leave any time, but you cannot return to the US unless you have filed for and received an Advance Parole. An AP might take half a year to get, so you should plan any travel abroad very carefully.

You are allowed to work in this time if you have applied for an Employment Authorization Document (EAD), which you can do at the same time as you apply for the AOS. It takes about 6 weeks to get.

3. You cannot apply before you are married.

4. Normally not. But there is a lot of paperwork involved, so if you get some peace of mind out of having a professional handle that, you should go for it. Very often people miss one little thing and it causes major delays of years until they get their green card.

5. You can apply for citizenship only after having been a Legal Permanent Resident for a minimum of 3 years and having been physically present for a minimum time in the US.
The time begins to count only after you have been given LPR status, not from the day on you applied for it!

6. Yes

7. As long as you have a valid visa to enter the US after your marriage, you can marry wherever you want. You should make sure, however, that Mexican marriage certificates are accepted as proof of marriage in the US. You might need certain additional papers (apostille, official translations etc.) which might only be issued in Mexico. Therefore if you plan to marry in Mexico you should contact the American consulate in Mexico to make sure you know what paperwork you need.

 

[houstonbf]

canadian girl with tn visa marrying an american

We have been told by an immigration lawyer that our daughter who now is living and working under a TN visa and is marrying an american and the wedding is being held
in canada and they will return to usa to their jobs after the wedding that there could possibly be some type of problem ie they may not allow her to work under a tn visa any more because by marrying an ameican and living there she is no longer a tempory employee as she plans to stay there. We have been told they should get married inthe
us prior to coming to canada and having her family wedding. that way they can put all the papers in order so that she will be allowed reentry to the us and go back to her job.
Anyways if anyone knows differently I would like to know.