Canadian and US marriage visas in tandem

[iocdn]

Hello,

My wife and I are currently living in Europe and have been thinking of moving back to North America. She holds American citizenship, and I hold Canadian citizenship. We haven't decided on which of Canada and the US we will apply to, but it did cross our minds whether or not we could apply to both in tandem and make a decision based on what happens. That is, we would each apply via marriage for a visa to the other's country.

1. Is this legal?
2. Is this permitted by Canada and/or the US?
3. If it is permitted, how likely would it be an issue, if at all?
4. After choosing one, and therefore turning down the other, to what degree would that influence a future application to that country, if at all?
5. Any advice or anything we should be aware of if we proceeded this way?

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. Its possible my google skills aren't what they should be, but I haven't been able to track down good answers to this set of questions.

Thanks

 

[scylla]

Hello,

My wife and I are currently living in Europe and have been thinking of moving back to North America. She holds American citizenship, and I hold Canadian citizenship. We haven't decided on which of Canada and the US we will apply to, but it did cross our minds whether or not we could apply to both in tandem and make a decision based on what happens. That is, we would each apply via marriage for a visa to the other's country.

1. Is this legal?
2. Is this permitted by Canada and/or the US?
3. If it is permitted, how likely would it be an issue, if at all?
4. After choosing one, and therefore turning down the other, to what degree would that influence a future application to that country, if at all?
5. Any advice or anything we should be aware of if we proceeded this way?

Any input or advice would be greatly appreciated. Its possible my google skills aren't what they should be, but I haven't been able to track down good answers to this set of questions.

Thanks

I'll answer your question from a Canadian perspective. You will most likely need to post your question to a U.S. immigration forum to get your answers on tht end.

From Canada's perspective, you can certainly have both applications ongoing. However to be approved for Canadian PR, you will need to show concrete proof as part of the application that you plan to relocate here to live here once the PR visa is approved. If the PR visa is approved but you don't decide to use it, then it will expire and you can reapply at some point in the future if you change your mind. The bit you need to keep in mind is that you must show you actually plan to live here once the visa is approved as part of the application package. That might be tricky.

 

[iocdn]

Thanks for the reply

Yes, I've seen that one needs to demonstrate "proof" that one intends to live in Canada if PR is granted; I forgot to ask about this. What actually constitutes proof? Our situation is really that if we get approved we will move to work and live, if not, we would continue to live our lives elsewhere. I'm not really sure how to provide any unshakeable proof in our situation beyond a statement that we intend to live there upon receiving PR.

 

[scylla]

Thanks for the reply

Yes, I've seen that one needs to demonstrate "proof" that one intends to live in Canada if PR is granted; I forgot to ask about this. What actually constitutes proof? Our situation is really that if we get approved we will move to work and live, if not, we would continue to live our lives elsewhere. I'm not really sure how to provide any unshakeable proof in our situation beyond a statement that we intend to live there upon receiving PR.

Discussions on this topic can be found in the Family Sponsorship section of the forum.

Generally it's things like existing property ownership or other assets you already have in Canada, proof that a job offer is waiting for you here or that you have started discussions with potential empoyers, if no property ownership what accommodation arrangements you have started making (e.g. living with friends), etc.

 

[iocdn]

This seems a bit difficult when both parties have been living abroad for some time. It seems like the burden is that I have to show I'm rearranging my life to move my wife to Canada before we've been told we can. I have to wonder if its really the case that couple like us haven't tried to do the same thing. That is, see if we can get approved before we start to dismantle a life somewhere else.

 

[scylla]

This seems a bit difficult when both parties have been living abroad for some time. It seems like the burden is that I have to show I'm rearranging my life to move my wife to Canada before we've been told we can. I have to wonder if its really the case that couple like us haven't tried to do the same thing. That is, see if we can get approved before we start to dismantle a life somewhere else.

Lots of couples like you have had to do the same thing.

Again, strongly recommend you wander over to the Family Sponsorship section of the forum since this is where the discussions on spousal sponsorship are concentrated. Search through the discussions there to find historical discussions on this topic. There are plenty fo them.

 

[iocdn]

Makes sense to me. Thanks for the information!