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  • Transit through Canada and I-485

    Question 1 : Hi guys, I would like to ask if I could go through Canada after I've already married my fiance (Which is a US citizen).
    Last time I was thinking of doing it I saw the option of a "Transit Visa" but I was a J1 student and my country was not eligible for a transit visa.
    Now after we get married can I apply for a transit visa or do I need to apply for I-485 first ?
    TL;DR How can I drive through Canada after I get married to a US citizen.

    Question 2: Since Form i-485 is for adjusting the permanent resident status can it be skipped ?!
    We are going to move to Scotland after the winter so that means that I won't really need it since we'll spend our next 5 years there.
    Can I stay in the US without filing the i-485 ? Can I get a work permit without it ? Can I pass through Canada without it ?
    (I'm just trying to save a thousand dollars here)

  • #2
    Your post is hard to understand because you didn't give any background. So I presume that you entered the US on a K-1 visa? And then you married your fiance? And now you don't want to stay in the US? Is that the situation?

    If you don't want to do Adjustment of Status, that's your choice. If you are not planning to stay, then not wasting a thousand dollars for an application fee for something you are not going to use seems like a reasonable choice. You would not be able to work. You didn't give any timeline of when you entered and when you plan to leave. Your K-1 status (as given on your I-94) only lasts for 90 days after entry. If you stay past that, and don't apply for Adjustment of Status, you start to accrue "unlawful presence". If you accrue 180 days of "unlawful presence" and then leave the US, you trigger a 3-year ban. If you accrue 1 year of "unlawful presence" and then leave the US, you trigger a 10-year ban. Even if you don't have a ban, any amount of overstay could be a negative factor if you want to get a nonimmigrant visa to visit the US in the future.

    Your ability to visit and/or transit Canada is determined by your passport. For some, you will need to get a visa; for others, you don't need a visa and just need an eTA if you are flying in to Canada.

    This is my personal opinion and is not to be construed as legal advice.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by newacct View Post
      Your post is hard to understand because you didn't give any background. So I presume that you entered the US on a K-1 visa? And then you married your fiance? And now you don't want to stay in the US? Is that the situation?

      If you don't want to do Adjustment of Status, that's your choice. If you are not planning to stay, then not wasting a thousand dollars for an application fee for something you are not going to use seems like a reasonable choice. You would not be able to work. You didn't give any timeline of when you entered and when you plan to leave. Your K-1 status (as given on your I-94) only lasts for 90 days after entry. If you stay past that, and don't apply for Adjustment of Status, you start to accrue "unlawful presence". If you accrue 180 days of "unlawful presence" and then leave the US, you trigger a 3-year ban. If you accrue 1 year of "unlawful presence" and then leave the US, you trigger a 10-year ban. Even if you don't have a ban, any amount of overstay could be a negative factor if you want to get a nonimmigrant visa to visit the US in the future.

      Your ability to visit and/or transit Canada is determined by your passport. For some, you will need to get a visa; for others, you don't need a visa and just need an eTA if you are flying in to Canada.
      Sorry , let me be more specific.
      I recently got a message from USCIS that my I129 is approved and the documents have been transfered to NVC and that I should wait 2-4 weeks for a email from them.We're planning to get married on May 1st so assuming that everything is okay and we get married we wanna go to Alaska afterwards. We are planning to drive up there and we will eventually have to pass through Canada - that's why I asked if I get married I could pass through them. One thing I didn't mention is that I'm Bulgarian so that means that I need a visitor visa to go through Canada. At that point flying over them seems like the best choice.
      "You didn't give any timeline of when you entered and when you plan to leave"
      A:We plan to enter around April 30th and leave at the end of August
      "And now you don't want to stay in the US? Is that the situation?"
      A: It's not that I don't wanna stay in the US , I just plan doing it in the future . We're moving to Scotland this autumn because I got accepted in an University in Glasgow.

      Does that mean that even after I get married as a K1 Visa I'll hold the status for 90 days ?
      Applying for adjustment of status right away won't give me any privileges/opportunities to pass through Canada?
      Also I guess I'm applying for adjustment of status since I want to stay until the end of August. That being said , I doubt the Parole document will let me be out of the US for 8 months.
      If I apply for a work permit can I get it and use it the next time I go back to the US (probably next summer).


      TL;DR; I just wanna get married in AZ and spend the summer in Alaska which I want to drive through.

      Thanks for your time, tell me if you need some more information.
      Last edited by Nashyge; 03-13-2017, 09:28 AM.

      Comment


      • #4
        So you haven't entered the US yet. You shouldn't have done a K-1 if you are not planning to move to the US right away. A visitor visa will allow you to enter the US to marry and leave. Anyway, whatever status you have in the US, or whatever you file in the US, have no effect on your ability to enter Canada; only US permanent residency will give you further access to Canada. You will need a visa to visit Canada if you otherwise need one. Furthermore, K-1 is a single-use visa. So there is the question of re-entering the US after going to Canada if you use K-1. (Technically, there is something called Automatic Revalidation which allows re-entry to the US after a trip to only Canada or Mexico for less than 30 days and within the validity of the I-94 (which for K-1 would be the 90 days after entry), even if the visa is expired; but it is unclear how immigration officers would apply that to a visa that is not expired, and just single-use and used.)

        So why not just forget about the whole K-1 thing, and enter on a visitor visa, which will usually admit you for 6 months? You will of course still need a Canadian visa to enter Canada.

        This is my personal opinion and is not to be construed as legal advice.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by newacct View Post
          So you haven't entered the US yet. You shouldn't have done a K-1 if you are not planning to move to the US right away. A visitor visa will allow you to enter the US to marry and leave. Anyway, whatever status you have in the US, or whatever you file in the US, have no effect on your ability to enter Canada; only US permanent residency will give you further access to Canada. You will need a visa to visit Canada if you otherwise need one. Furthermore, K-1 is a single-use visa. So there is the question of re-entering the US after going to Canada if you use K-1. (Technically, there is something called Automatic Revalidation which allows re-entry to the US after a trip to only Canada or Mexico for less than 30 days and within the validity of the I-94 (which for K-1 would be the 90 days after entry), even if the visa is expired; but it is unclear how immigration officers would apply that to a visa that is not expired, and just single-use and used.)

          So why not just forget about the whole K-1 thing, and enter on a visitor visa, which will usually admit you for 6 months? You will of course still need a Canadian visa to enter Canada.
          Because it's considered visa fraud if you get married on a H2B visitor visa or any visitor visa.
          You can only get married on a J1 Visa out of the legal ones. Also we are more than halfway through the visa process for the K1.

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Nashyge View Post
            Because it's considered visa fraud if you get married on a H2B visitor visa or any visitor visa.
            You can only get married on a J1 Visa out of the legal ones. Also we are more than halfway through the visa process for the K1.
            Umm... no it isn't. There is not a single visa status that prohibits getting married. Foreigners are welcome to come to the US on a visit to hold their weddings, and they do so all the time. You may be confusing it with the fact that you are not supposed to enter on certain nonimmigrant visas in order to stay permanently. You should not enter on a visitor visa to stay (regardless of whether you get married or not), and conversely you can enter on a visitor visa as long as you are leaving on time (regardless of whether you get married or not). A K-1 will give you a shorter period of admission (90 days instead of 6 months for visitor visa) and you won't be able to apply to extend the status if needed like you can for visitor status.

            This is my personal opinion and is not to be construed as legal advice.

            Comment

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