Fiance w/ TN Visa seeking adjustment to permanent status
 

Hi,

I'm a USC and am planning to be engaged to a canadian with a TN Visa.
She works in the US now. How do we go about getting her permanent
status here? I'm not sure if the K visas apply as she already resides
in the US.

Will she have to leave the US for a time? Is it better/faster if we
get married first then apply? Or is it better if she is my fiance and
then we apply?

Any insite would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

usacan

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Re: Fiance w/ TN Visa seeking adjustment to permanent status
 

From what I know you should be able to get married then file all your papers while both of you stay in the US. This might be a bit tricky on a TN for two reasons.

First a TN is only valid for one year since EADs are now taking 3-4 months to process you want to make sure she has at least 6 months left on the TN when you file for the EAD. This is done after you get married.

Second TNs may have some duel intent issues. This is a very grey area within immigration and can be kinda tricky. Technically a TN is a temporary visa and you aren't meant to have the intent to immigrate when you apply for one so depending on when you met this could cause issues. If you met her after she moved to the US on the TN this shouldn't be a problem, if you met before then personally I would start talking to a lawyer or try to get more info.

If she can transfer to an H-1 visa this would get rid of the duel intent issues but H-1s are expensive so she may not have this option.

I've heard that you can now renew TN visas by mail, so recently the advice I've read in your situation. Is if you have 6 months or more left on the TN go ahead and get married and file for a Green Card through marriage. If you don't renew the TN through the mail, then get married a month or two after you get the new TN. File for a Green Card through marriage asap after getting married so her TN doesn't expire before she gets her EAD.

There's another forum with alot of TN info run by a lawyer who specalizes in TNs. It can be found here, you might find someone with more info there.

http://grasmick.com.cnchost.com/board/

Good Luck