Help with becoming resident in the US from CANADA...

Hello all!
I have a pickle here and I hope someone might be able to assist me.

My girlfriend lives in Canada in Ontario. I live in the US. I was born here, an American citizen and she was born in Canada as a Canadian citizen. She would like to come to the US to live with me and work in the states. I have been researching for hours and days and all of the stuff seems so darn difficult and never has a plain english answer.

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on where to go, who to contact, what to do? I really need help with this and it seems all these lawyers want $300+ for just consulting.

She unfortunately does not have a high school degree. She would like to continue studying or get some sort of degree here in the states but would not be able to start right away. She is 27 and has been working since she was 16.

The ultimate goal would for her to become a citizen or at least get a green card. For now we would be happy if she could just work here and stay here for a few years through some sort of visa. The is the thing most confusing, the whole visa issue and which one and how to get it. How can she get a job in the US without first getting a visa, but how do you get a visa without having a job? Those sort of things.

Thank you,
Michael

If she has no high school education even, getting a work visa will be rather difficult. University degrees are usually required, and/or several years work experience in a specific skilled position.

She could get a student visa of some sort, but then she'd have to pay the exhorbitant non resident tuitions, and she'd be restricted to only a part time job on campus to support herself. And it is only temporary.

If she has no immediate family in the US herself, only other option is for the two of you to get married, and then You sponsor her. If marriage is not in your plans, I'm afraid her moving to the US legally is highly unlikely.

You could however move to Canada, where the ceremony of marriage is not a legal requirement. However, common-law partnership is, so you'd have to live together as husband and wife for one year before she could sponsor you. Which is rather difficult to do when you're in separate countries obviously.

Is marriage in your plans at any time? Or were you planning to just live together indefinitely?

i want to thank you for your reply.

well marriage is an idea but i am not sure if i could say it is going to happen anytime soon. so i am not sure what we are going to do. it seems so stupid that it is this difficult just to live here in the US. Is there anyway for her to just stay here for a while, even if she is not working? Some sort of visa that will allow her to at least stay for awhile even if she is not going to school or working?

what about the school visas? what ones are there? she would like to go back to school. does it have to be a full fledged college or can it be a community college? if she got her GED in Canada, would that help?

if we were to get married what are the rules about that? how easy is it through that route? do we need to remain married for a certain amount of time?

what is needed for me to live and work there? if i go there and live and work then we get married there, can i bring her to the US later to work and live?

Thank you,
Michael

If she's going to study, the categories are F-1, M-1 or J-1. I doubt she qualifies for J-1 from the sounds of it. F-1 is basically to do a college degree and M-1 is for a vocational qualification (usually chefs and dentists are the most popular I think).

Any of them require sponsorship from a college registered with the Dept. of State, so basically she needs to be accepted by an accredited college in the US.

F-1 has restricted work authorization, part-time on campus for up to 20 hours a week during the course of study. Once it's finished, she can get optional practical training for one year (which means any job related to the degree she's gotten).

M-1 can get work authorization to permit the course of study, e.g. if you're studying to be a chef you can get work authorization to work at a restaurant as a chef to learn how to be one.

Really the best option is marriage, because it leads to permanent residency. Have a look at http://www.visajourney.com, but basically you have to get married and sponsor her for an immigrant visa by filing a substantial amount of paperwork.

Or you could do both, she enters as a student, you get married and then apply for adjustment of status while she's at college, that way she can stay in the US while the process is underway. Obviously if she gets her GED it's going to be easier to get into a US college, but usually they're looking for SAT scores and proof she has enough money to pay.

i really appreciate the responses. sometimes it is easier to just talk to someone than find info on websites.

i don't know if this has anything to do wth it, but my dad was born in canada and still has a green card, he has been living in the US since he was 2 years old. his parents came over. would he be able to help at all? like sponsor or something?

and the marriage thing. i hate to ask this and don't think i am crazy but what if you get married and then divorce or have it enolled(spelling?)?

also, on a side note. what is the process for me as a US citizen to go live and work in canada?

If you're talking about a marriage of convenience there are checks in the system to prevent that, she has to be married to you for two years and then apply for removal of conditions on her LPR status and it takes three years to get citizenship. Plus she will be interviewed by USCIS and they have to be convinced, wedding pictures and so on. It's not a casual process.

Your father can't help as he has no relationship to your girlfriend.

If you want to do it the other way around, the Canadian sponsorship process is pretty similar to the US one, i.e. get married and she sponsors you. The only major difference is that Canada recognizes common-law relationships, but you need proof of co-habitation for at least a year I think.

However work permits are a bit easier to get in Canada than vice versa, you need to find a job, be sponsored for the permit and get labour certification from HR Canada (i.e. proof that they can't find a local Canadian to do the job).

well again i really appreciate all the responses.

i am thinking that it might just be easier to go there(Canada). i am in a skilled trade as a floorcoverer so i think the job thing would be good for me. i read somewhere that the job you get has to be of high skill or something.

if i were to go there and live and work for a couple years, would i be able to bring her back sometime even if we were not married?

well okay. this is making sense, it sucks but it is helping.

can you maybe explain the job thing some more. i don't understand how she can get a job here if she can't even stay here long enough to find a job. how can she get an employer to sponsor her if she can't live here to work for the company? i also read about the job she would have to have must be a high placed job such as doctor or lawyer for them to even consider her residency in the states, is this true?

she has a bunch of experience in managing restaurants and food serving, could she be sponsored by a restaurant job?

again THANK YOU SO MUCH for helping.
mike

On the job front;
If you are planning to apply as a skilled worker to Canada you need to meet the criteria set out by the government. There is also a requirement for you to show proof of funds, the lower end being 10,800CDN. This is waived if you have a valid offer of employment.

Here's a link to the funds page
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/immigrate/ ... /funds.asp

From that link you can navigate the toolbar to access the list of occupations, FAQ, eligibility assessment and more.

Common-law to Canada requires, as Steven & Reba mentioned, a minimum of one years cohabitation, there is a near impossible to get conjugal class as well for couples as well but it is sparingly granted. When there is no 'impediment' to you simply marrying and applying spousal, conjugal is hard to apply for.

Here's a link to a forum on heading north
http://www.roadtocanada.com

As for moving there for a few years and then 'bring her back' to the U.S. as your girlfriend, The U.S. doesn't recognize common-law marriage, so she would have to come down as your fiancee or spouse (and ultimately be eligible to work) which in a genuine relationship would be a non-issue. If this is only a means to an end for her to live and work in the U.S. with no real commitment between you as a couple, you really should take the time to think things through, USCIS uses stringent checks and balances for this very purpose.

She could look into attending school in the U.S. and if she is from Ontario, there are certain schools which fall under OSAP criteria, she'll need to research that and check into which schools in your area will accept international students. Keep in mind the tuition cost is substantially higher for international students in many cases.

Keep in mind the tuition cost is substantially higher for international students in many cases

Yeah, like double! And college tuitions are already more expensive than Canadian tuitions, which is just crazy

It sounds like you guys are really not very serious about each other, and I would strongly suggest you do not consider a marriage based visa to either country if you are not. Marriage is intended to be a life-long committment (regardless of the current divorce rates!). To enter into marriage for the soul purpose of gaining an immigrant status to a foreign country is fraud, and the consequences are many. Not limited to deportation, and bannishment. For the sponsor there could also be a monetary fine, and/or jail time. It is not something to be entered into lightly.

On the job front;
If you are planning to apply as a skilled worker to Canada you need to meet the criteria set out by the government.

Getting a work permit is miles easier. And once you've got it, getting PR status is miles easier too because it gives you more points. You can get a work permit inside of 2 months, skilled worker takes about 2 years at the moment.