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How does US-Canadian thing work?
Question:
Hello…for once I get to post as a regular person, not a consultant. I am getting a bit serious with my boyfriend who lives in Regina, SK in Canada and is from Beijing. I live in Iowa. We are talking about getting engaged at some point but I have no clue how the heck it needs to work legally so that we actually do this. Because of my business, I need to stay in Iowa. I also think Iowa is the best place for the legality to take place because I’ve read chinese law about getting a marriage license between a citizen and non citizen–the consensus is to avoid getting one in China because it takes over a year to get the red tape figured out–compared to less than a month in Iowa. I think any planning should be done with us closer together…but I’m not familiar with how he can come down to US several months ot the wedding (we’re not even thinking dates yet–probably 2000 or later) and live here so we can plan it together. I am NOT planning this thing by myself and with him over 900 miles away…maybe 100 miles would work (like Chicago) but not 900. Does anyone have a clue what needs to happen to get him to live here before filing the marriage license? Ideally I’d like to start arranging for him to get a job here as soon as possible…or at least as soon after a formal engagement takes place. I have this interesting feeling that he would prefer to propose in China…which is an expensive trip. he’s very close to his parents and I think he would prefer to tell them in person and have them meet me first. Plus I know he wants to show me Beijing University–I’d love to see it too…and practice my mandarin. 
Anyone know how to handle this? The ceremony and the like, I can handle. I just need him around to do it…not make decisions for both of us. Thanks, xiexie for the early advice. — Laurel A. Rockefeller White Jade Design http://www.avalon.net/~wjade Special Events at SENSIBLE prices.
Response:
Laurel, The quickest and easiest way i know of to get your ‘fiance to be’ into the U.S. is to get him a fiance visa. This can be done by filling out an I-129F petition for fiance visa with the INS. The entire process takes about 3 or 4 months, if you’re lucky, and allows him to stay and work in the states until you are married. The only concern you might have is the fact that you must have your wedding within 90 days of his entrance into the states. Here is a newsgroup that is dedicated to this kind of stuff: alt.wedding.us.marriage-based I hope this helps, Jarod – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > Hello…for once I get to post as a regular person, not a consultant. > I am getting a bit serious with my boyfriend who lives in Regina, SK in > Canada and is from Beijing. I live in Iowa. We are talking about getting > engaged at some point but I have no clue how the heck it needs to work > legally so that we actually do this. Because of my business, I need to > stay in Iowa. I also think Iowa is the best place for the legality to > take place because I’ve read chinese law about getting a marriage license > between a citizen and non citizen–the consensus is to avoid getting one > in China because it takes over a year to get the red tape figured > out–compared to less than a month in Iowa. > I think any planning should be done with us closer together…but I’m not > familiar with how he can come down to US several months ot the wedding > (we’re not even thinking dates yet–probably 2000 or later) and live here > so we can plan it together. I am NOT planning this thing by myself and > with him over 900 miles away…maybe 100 miles would work (like Chicago) > but not 900. > Does anyone have a clue what needs to happen to get him to live here > before filing the marriage license? Ideally I’d like to start arranging > for him to get a job here as soon as possible…or at least as soon after > a formal engagement takes place. I have this interesting feeling that he > would prefer to propose in China…which is an expensive trip. he’s very > close to his parents and I think he would prefer to tell them in person > and have them meet me first. Plus I know he wants to show me Beijing > University–I’d love to see it too…and practice my mandarin. > Anyone know how to handle this? The ceremony and the like, I can handle. > I just need him around to do it…not make decisions for both of us. > Thanks, xiexie for the early advice. > — > Laurel A. Rockefeller > White Jade Design > http://www.avalon.net/~wjade > Special Events at SENSIBLE prices.
Response:
There are a few things I can tell you since I’m sort of going through the same thing. Now I know nothing about Chinese immigration. It would help to know how he got into Canada. If he was a Canadian citizen I could probably help you out more. If you want him to live with you, the easiest way is to have him apply for a visa. If he has degree in a wanted field or other family in the US that might offer him a job and sponser him that would be great. (sponsering costs a lot of money and you have to prove that you didn’t steal a job from an american) If not, I would suggest he come to school in the US and get a student visa. Then you could get married in the time period he’s in school and he can apply to change his status. Another alternative is the Fiance’s Visa…You would apply for this in the US. Once the paperwork is done and processed, your fiance would have to enter the US immediately and marry you within 90 days. This would probably take 9 months to a year to process by the way…and even then you haven’t even applied for the change of status to get a green card. I would get in touch with your government representative or better yet call INS for information. The bottom line is, this is going to take time and money. The sooner you find out the better. I don’t want to discourage you but it’s been a hell of a headache for me and I’m just dealing with Canada/US immigration. Good Luck! Faye