Can you get a TD Visa if you overstayed your previous visa?

[utero5]

Hello,
I would to have some information about the TD Visa. I'm a canadian working in the US with a TN visa. My girlfriend is not canadian nor american and she has overstayed her US working visa by a few years already. Our relation is now getting serious enough to start to think about marriage.

I know about the TD visa for dependants (wife and children) of canadian citizens. My questions is, if we get married, do you think she will be able to get a TD even if she didn't respect the condition of her previous visa. Is anybody has been in this situation before? Can you tell more about the process of getting this visa? I bet is not straightforward as the TN is for me.

Thanks

[Dremani]

If your girlfriend has overstayed her U.S. visa by a few years there is definately going to be a problem in her attempting the TD visa. Something like this is very tricky and if it were I, an attourney would be the next on my list to turn to for help.

[lawsrlaws]

A lawyer won't help. She will be removed from the USA, as she should be. Two years living in the USA Ilegally. You get what you deserve!

You ruined any chance of her ever getting a Visa again.

[Steven]

She'd need a waiver and she wouldn't get it by the sounds of it. Especially if she's been working without authorization. You can get a lawyer if you want but I doubt he would be able to help much. She would be subject to at least a ten-year ban from what you've said if she tried to re-enter because her overstay has been really long. I suspect what a lawyer would say is for her to leave and worry about it if she's denied entry.

Rather than go through all that hassle, given you're on TN-1 anyway which is a temporary category you'd probably be better off getting married and sponsoring her for entry into Canada, then move to Canada.

TD visa applications are basically identical to the B visitor visa applications, the only difference is that the applicant needs proof of the relationship to the TN-1 holder (birth or marriage certificate) and proof of their status (copy of the I-94). More info at http://www.amcits.com

But obviously she needs to leave in order to be able to apply.

[utero5]

Thanks,
this is what I was thinking. Sponsoring for Canada is probably the way to go...