want to work in the USA

Hi there,

Im going to marry a guy who is currently on a work permit (H1B visa) in the USA. He has not applied for the EAD or Green card yet. I am a canadian citizen. I checked the occupations list for the TN visa and I do not qualify. I do have a bachelors degree and 5 yrs work exp in Canada. My question is: how can I work in the usa? I know once I marry him I will get the H4 VISA, but what are my options to get a work permit? I heard the cap for H1B visa for 2008 is out, so what are my other options so that I dont have to wait till Oct 09 to work?

Also, would it be better for him to move to Canada? I heard once we marry, he can get the permanent residency in 3 months. Would it be easier for him to find a job in Canada? He is a software engineer.

thanks for your advice in advance!

You can obviously sponsor him if he's your spouse, does take awhile to get the visa though, have a look at the CIC website.

Whether you can work in the US depends on your qualifications, obviously, if you don't qualify for TN-1 but you do qualify for H-1B, you might qualify for O-1 if you have "extraordinary" abilities.

If you work for an academic institution in certain fields there is no H-1B cap.

Bear in mind even if he got permanent residency in the US, it will be a long time before you can join him, as the I-130 applications for LPRs take 3.5 years according to the AILA.

You could go into the US and do your master's degree, that will give you F-1 for awhile and then once you've got it there is a separate cap for people with US master's degrees and your chance of getting H-1B increases.

I have a bachelors degree in Commerce, in Canada I am operating my family business. I thought I would qualify for a TN under management consultant, but im not sure. Any insight about that?

Getting a student Visa is a good option, but do I have to do a masters to get a H1B? is doing a graduate certificate good enough to apply for a H1B under the F-1?

Once im in the US on a H4, can I just apply for the H1B in April 09 or do I have to find a job first and then the company will apply on my behalf?

Im trying to figure out what is the quickest way to work in the US. Do you suggest anything else?

thanks!

If you marry him before he gets his green card, then you are able to get a green card at the same time as him. It's only if he gets his green card prior to your marriage that you will have a long wait.

If he has a Master's or better, and his employer will sponsor him for a green card, he should be able to get it in less than a year, since the EB-2 is current. And then you would get yours at that time, if you marry before then.

If he only has a Bachelor's, it could be 3+ years before he would get it.

BTW, you probably can't qualify for an H-4 unless you have at least an opposite-sex common-law relationship (or an opposite-sex marriage). Anything other than that, you can still enter on B-2 status, but it's a pain as you need to renew every 6 months.

B-2 for "co-habiting partners" is unlimited, helps if you enter at the same time as the primary visa holder as it shortens the conversation with USCIS.

but then you can't work on a B2 can you ?

No, but you can't work on H-4 either.

thanks for all your advice guys!
My fiance is on an H1B right now, he has not applied for the Green card or the EAD. If he applies for EAD after we get married, can we receive it together? or does that only apply to the greencard?

You can't get work authorization merely as the spouse of an H-1B visa holder. The point is that there's really no advantage being married, in fact it's a disadvantage in this situation (for a change) because as a "co-habiting partner" you don't need a visa, you just enter as B-2, but if you're married you need an H-4 visa.

But there are no real benefits having H-4 over B-2, other than avoiding a tedious conversation at the border with USCIS. You can study on H-4 but the provisions for it are more restricted than for F-1, and as F-1 is trivially easy to get for Canadians, you'd be far better off leaving and re-entering as F-1 if you wanted to go to college.

If you are married and his employer sponsors him for permanent residency then eventually you would be allowed to work when he adjusts status to LPR as you would be a dependant. But that's not a short process, assuming his employer even wants to do it and he actually qualifies for it.

If you really want to work in the US (and you don't qualify for O-1 either) I'd say your best bet is to do a master's degree there, for several reasons:

There is an additional H-1B quota for people with US master's degrees;
You can do a degree in a field that qualifies you for TN-1;
You can get limited work authorization while you are a student in F-1 status.

But other than that I think perhaps he needs to look into moving to Canada!