Move to USA now, then apply for Work visa once there?

I appreciate the community here and links provided. I'm sure you can imagine this is daunting to someone new to all this.

I am a Canadian who wants to work for a church in the US. Can I fly down now as a visitor, claiming I'm only staying a couple weeks, and when I arrive, can I then submit a visa application and begin the petition process? The reason for this is that I want to start ASAP, so I could fly down before I technically start working for the church.

Any tips and support is very much appreciated in helping me figure this out. I want to live and work there "indefinitely", but want to fly down asap.

mrtea

"wants to work for a church".... "claiming I'm only staying a couple weeks"

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this post?

Must be one of those new fangled religions where lying isn't a sin. lol

The answer to the original question is no, you cannot come to the states on a visitor visa and change to a work visa while still here.

Thanks for the replies.

It looks like the R1 visa is most applicable here.