careers in Criminal Justice in the USA?

tks
New Member



Joined: 11 Jul 2008
Posts: 1
Location: Abbotsford, BC

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 1:26 pm

 

---

Hi there,
I am a Canadian with one year of school left for my Criminal Justice degree. I have a boyfriend who lives in California and we have decided that we want to get married. However, I don't know what career opportunities are available to me if I want to stay within my field, as most Criminal Justice careers require American citizenship. I will be graduated when I am 23, and I heard that it takes approximately 5 years to get American citizenship, so I don't want to put my career on hold until I am 28!
I really need some help, I am so frustrated, I have no idea where to begin. I think that it may be possible for me to work for an international organization that has offices in the US, but I don't know what organizations those would be.
Please help!
Thanks in advance.

Tara

---

Steven
CanuckAbroad VIP



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 1587
Location: Calgary

Posted: Fri Jul 11, 2008 3:13 pm

 

---

Well the marriage thing is no big deal, you don't need US citizenship, you just get a K-1 (fiancee) or K-3 (spouse) visa and enter and apply for employment authorization. Getting the visa takes the best part of a year, getting the EAD on entry takes three or four months (I-765 application). You can apply for change of status to permanent resident at the same time (I-485). Then you get US citizenship after 5 years.

Your real problem is that a degree in criminal justice from a Canadian university isn't going to be of much use in the US unless you did courses on US criminal law, the legal systems are substantially different and the case law is obviously completely different.

There aren't too many jobs closed to LPRs in criminal justice, if you're in LPR status you can still be a para-legal or a police officer.

California is about the only State where the State Bar recognises certain on-line courses in lieu of a JD so you could even be a lawyer if you wanted to.

And there's plenty of other stuff you can do like working in insurance investigation, workman's comp claims, background checks and all the rest of it.

So I guess apply now for a K-1 visa and by the time you graduate, it will be approved. Go to community college in the US and see if they will accept credit from the college in BC and do some US law courses and take it from there.
_________________
Steve.

---

Reba
Moderator


Canuck in NC

Joined: 16 Jul 2004
Posts: 1451
Location: North Carolina

Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:09 am

 

---

Citizenship is available after 3 years of permanent residency based on marriage. Not 5 years.
_________________
I miss Shreddies!

Are you in the US or Canada? Want to make some extra money? Check out My Watkins website for some awesom products and business opportunity.

---