Here's my situation.. what's the best way to get to the US?

Hi Everyone,

I've got various things going on in my life right now and I'm really wanting to move to the US, but there's some factors holding me back. Here's the deal.

1) I LIVE in Toronto, Ontario, born and raised in Ontario.

2) I WORK for an American company based in California from home. I travel to the US on business (meetings) every few months and have never been denied/questioned

3) I LOVE a woman that lives near Philadelphia and would love to be able to move there as soon as possible to be close to her, as we've been talking about getting engaged/married in the next year or two, but I want to move there sooner to spend more time with her than just the monthly visits we've been doing.

4) My education is just high school, I have no diploma or degree. I am a self-taught computer programmer w/ 9 years experience in that particular area of computers, I have 13 years of actual job experience with computers in general.

Now, because I work from home, I can therefore work from ANYWHERE, and continue to get paid into my Canadian bank account as I do right now.

My goal is to relocate to PA as soon as possible and just continue working from there (while not really "working" per se). Since I don't have an office or anything like that, is that doable?

I know that once I'm there for a while I can eventually apply for a fiancee visa and move permanently as long as we marry within 90 days, but for now, I just want to be closer to her.

So, I have been looking at tourist visas, I could come down and stay there for 2 weeks per month - would I even need a visa for that? Would I be able to rent an extended stay room/suite for 2 weeks each month and live out of there while I'm visiting?

So, that's my long and complicated story. please anyone, if you have any advice, or questions to help you provide advice, I'm ready.

Thanks
Mitch

You can't legally work in the US without a work permit. And eventually, if you're going back and forth every other week, you're going to be questioned and very likely denied entry.

Agreed: just because you work from home doesn't mean you don't need work authorization. This also means that you're failing to maintain your present status and need to depart the U.S. In order to obtain subsequent immigration benefits. You may have also committed fraud by representing entry as a visitor when you intended to work from home. If there is a genuine fraud issue, then you would need to file a fraud waiver (I-601) when you apply for adjustment of status based on marriage to a US Citizen.

Ah, alright.

So what I'm gathering then, is I need to just continue my weekend visits to my girlfriend, and once we're ready to become engaged and married, I can then relocate on the Fiancee visa and legally work from where I'd be living down there then?

I haven't as of yet "worked from home" when I've visited her, so there's no fraud committed. When I've traveled there to visit her, it's been just to visit her.

Thanks for the replies.

IIRC, it's better to apply from Canada and go through the embassy rather than apply from within the US for change of status, because you can't work while you're waiting.

I've actually been in the position of doing work on a laptop flying over the US and basically the law hasn't caught up with technology. I've sat in transit lounges using wireless VPN to connect to the office, it's all quite silly really.

It's always been really hard to apply immigration laws to journalists and writers, and a lot of IT people are in a similar position now.

The biggest joke is a friend of mine who lives on the Isle of Man, where income tax is 19% at the highest rate. Anyway he is an airline pilot and there is a special agreement with HMRC that pilots pay a flat 10% of the tax because most of their work is in international airspace. The Isle of Man recognises that agreement so he pays 10% of 19% at the highest rate - he told me it works out to about 1% of his total income after deductions.

What's the point in all that paperwork for that?

There are sticky points about working when you arrive with a Fiance visa. Not all ports of entry give out the temporary (90 day) employment authorization, so if you don't get it, you can't really work until you've received your EAD. Your EAD won't be received until after you get married and apply for adjustment of status. Which could be several months.

Hi all,

New developments lately have raised questions - here they are.

Technically, and Legally, if I could only work at my job from my home in Canada for 2 weeks a month, could I technically stay with my girlfriend in the US for the other two weeks of each month if I'm not working during those 2 weeks?

That would total 6 months a year, which is the limit. but what would I say at the border? Would I bring a letter from my employer stating I work 2 weeks a month each time I go?

Thanks !

Mitch

Again, eventually the US border officials will get tired of seeing you, pull you into secondary and then deniy your entry and likely bar you on suspiscion that you've taken up residence in the US and only go back and forth to Canada to keep up appearances. A letter from your employer basically stating that fact won't help you any.

Reba:

Thanks, here's my next question then - without a college diploma, is there any work permit that I'm eligible for if I have many years of work experience in my field? (10+ years)?

The reason I ask, is my employer would gladly sponsor me to relocate to the US if we knew what to apply for. At least then I'd be down there and could travel to PA freely!

you might look into an L1B visa. Its an inter-company transfer visa, but I'm not sure that in your scenario you'd qualify. University degree not necessary, but equivalent on the job experience is taken into account, plus you would have to have "specialized knowledge" to qualify.

Other than that, there's H1B visa, I know nothing about those, other than they are terribly limited in number given out, and they're all gone for this year already. It'd be October at the earliest before you'd be able to get one of those.

Or a fiance or spouse visa.