Alex

Hi,

My fiancee and I have already filed for a k1 visa. She is a canadian
citizen and I applied in CA. Our petition was recieved in mid July
and we're still waiting. We had one Request for Evidence that we
returned, but we don't know how long that's going to impact us.

Meanwhile my fiancee has been offered a very good job that she would
like to take. Today we talked to a lawyer just to see what our
options were. He suggested that we drop our k1, get married (she is
currently in the country visiting), and file for AOS, saying that we
could get her a work permit in 4-6 wks, versus continuing with the k1
which he thought would be 4 months.

Since it's hard to tell exactly what our best option was, I was
wondering if people could share their opinion on what route we should
take. I have a couple of questions I'm wondering about specifically:

(1) how long will it be until my fiancee can work if we follow k1. We
applied in mid July, the INS phone service says we should have a
decision by early Dec, but then we still need to have our file moved
to consulate, medical exams etc, and then the interview. how long
further until she can get an EAD

(2) how long will it be until my fiancee can work if we marry and file
for AOS. Can you really get a work permit in 4-6 wks?

(3) is their a danger in marrying and filing for AOS. my fiancee has
been visiting for a couple of months. she came down legally by car
from Canada and the INS didn't ask her any questions, so she didn't
lie about anything, but still we wonder how likely it is that an
extended stay could be percieved as intent to circumvent immigration
laws.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, this whole process seems much
more painful and stress inducing than it should be. We're so
exhausted with waiting and trying to start our lives that we don't
know what to do anymore.

Thanks again,

Al