canadian going to the US

hi,

i've searched the previous ten pages but haven't found an answer that quite suits my situation. i'm pretty new to the immigration process, but i'm hoping i can get some help here.

the situation:
i'm an american citizen going to school in NYC. my boyfriend is canadian, lives in canada, and has a degree in creative writing and music composition from a canadian institution. if it matters, he doesn't have much professional working experience and is currently working as a server/waiter, and from what i gather, it doesn't look like he'll be able to qualify for the TN visa. we both want him to move to NYC so we can be together, but we are unsure about the visa he will qualify for and how to go about it. we were under the impression that he could come as a visitor, live with me, and find a job in the meantime, but i read on this forum (thanks!) that it is illegal to do so. to make things a bit more complicated, we are thinking of getting married in aug/sept 09.

questions:
- with his credentials, what kind of visa will my bf qualify for?
- will my bf have to secure a job before moving to the states?
- would he be able to get a visa through a serving position at a restaurant?
- would it be easier for him to postpone coming to the states until 90 days before we get married?
- is there a visa that allows you to come to the states through an employer and then apply for a fiancee visa shortly thereafter?

thanks a million for any help!

K-1 sounds like the best bet, unless you want to get married now and use an I-130, which will be faster than K-1 (fiancée visa). Because it's a family-based immigration visa what kind of job he wants or what his qualifications are don't matter.

Even if he did qualify for TN-1 with his job credentials he doesn't qualify for it because he doesn't have non-immigrant intent.

Once the K-1 is approved, he enters, you have to get married within 90 days, then he applies for AOS to permanent resident on I-485.

If you have a look at www.visajourney.com it explains how to get K-1 in much more detail.

K1 is actually usually faster by a couple of months than a spouse visa (K3 or CR1), always has been.

As Steven said, your boyfriend doesn't qualify for TN as a waiter, however his degree *may* qualify him for some sort of teaching position at a music school or some such. Good luck in finding a job though!

Your best bet is to start the ball rolling now on the K1 and it *might* be completed by September, but its doubtful. Current processing time of the petition along (I129F) is about 9 months, then you've got a couple of months wait on the Montreal consulate to schedule an interview. (I see that the visa fee will be going up starting Jan 01 as well from $100 US to $131 US. That's on top of the petition and application fees of $455 and yadda yadda yadda.its not a cheap process by any means)

Click the link provided by Steven to Visa Journey, there is all sort of information there about marriage based immigration, and even a Canada forum where other Can/Am couples mingle with horror stories.