Seemingly Complicated

My girlfriend and I are looking to get married. She is Canadian and I am American. There are a couple of options I'm looking at, but only a few seem real promising. I was looking for some advice as to what would be the easiest and most successful.

Option one:
I was planning on moving to Ontario this September, either on a student visa or just a traveling visa, which would end up turning into a work visa. It sounds relatively hard to get a work visa in the country, unless you are sponsored. The plan after that is for me to file for a fiance visa and bring her over here, which seems relatively easy.

Option 2:
Since it is difficult to get a work permit, unless your trade skill is scarce, is it possible for us to get married in the US, which is ultimately where we want to be, and then for me to move up there and be sponsored until she graduates (March 2012)?

Option 3:
I would go up there with a traveling visa and do side jobs to make ends meet, this seems the riskiest of all of them and I would probably only do it if nothing else worked.

Please let me know what seems like the best option and what other options there might be.

Thanks!

My girlfriend and I are looking to get married. She is Canadian and I am American. There are a couple of options I'm looking at, but only a few seem real promising. I was looking for some advice as to what would be the easiest and most successful.

Option one:
I was planning on moving to Ontario this September, either on a student visa or just a traveling visa, which would end up turning into a work visa. It sounds relatively hard to get a work visa in the country, unless you are sponsored. The plan after that is for me to file for a fiance visa and bring her over here, which seems relatively easy.

Option 2:
Since it is difficult to get a work permit, unless your trade skill is scarce, is it possible for us to get married in the US, which is ultimately where we want to be, and then for me to move up there and be sponsored until she graduates (March 2012)?

Option 3:
I would go up there with a traveling visa and do side jobs to make ends meet, this seems the riskiest of all of them and I would probably only do it if nothing else worked.

Please let me know what seems like the best option and what other options there might be.

Thanks!

Option 3 is a terrible choice, if by "side jobs" you are referring euphemistically to working illegally. The Canadian-American border is still a relatively easy border to cross (even post-9/11) and messing yourselves up in that regard, potentially for life, by being caught working illegally is just not worth it.

I personally believe in thinking long term--although I admit that sometimes mean I see romance as a lower priority in the short term than some do.

Since your ultimate goal is to move her to the USA, you're going to need a solid US job to sponsor her to come to the USA. Stay in the USA and find that job so you can lay the groundwork for her eventual move here. Visit each other frequently but you need to get established in the USA to be able to financially sponsor her--and that's not going to happen if you are working odd jobs in Canada (legally or otherwise).

Thanks for your response. We are both apathetic as to where we live, we just want to have the fastest possible. I think marrying in Canada and then applying for permanent residence is the fastest at that point. Or do you know of a faster way?