How to get married to an American?

[lucky_man]

My American fiancée and I (Canadian) want to cohabit eventually, but have good jobs in our respective countries and don't yet know whether better opportunity will lie in the US or Canada. We also don't want to undermine the eventual immigration that one of us will have to do by getting married too early (e.g., the US has a fiancé visa).

- If she were to move to Canada, my impression is that there is no reason not to just get married now and begin the immigration process whenever it suits us. Right? There is nothing special about beginning the process during an engagement?
- If we planned our wedding in Canada, is she definitely going to be allowed to enter Canada to take part in the wedding? She can show pay stubs, proof of residence, family, etc., and it has been mostly me visiting her so she has not spent much time here but... wouldn't she still be considered an "overstay" risk? It would be awful for her to be denied the opportunity to take part in her own wedding, so we want to plan a scenario where there's zero chance of that happening.
- Once we were married, would she be denied entry for the same reason (overstay risk) if she didn't have a special visa? So casual visits would be out until we could arrange for her to immigrate? Given our situation, maybe it would be better to stay "under the radar" as "girlfriend"/"boyfriend" as long as possible and delay our marriage to facilitate visits until we know where we both will live for the long term?

Thanks in advance for any advice you're able to offer!

 

[Helena R]

Hi there, it's not that terrible as you picture it

Although waiting for the application process can be tedious...

So... you have many different options here for your situation but they are all up to you, depending on what you want to do, which you still do not know... so there's no rush for anything. Although if you want to start the process of her becoming a Permanent Resident of Canada, you have to get married because you are not living together. And you can apply as an Outland Sponsorship, the wait time depends on the case but usually for people from the US it takes around 5 months, super fast. Once it's done, she doesnt have to stay in Canada right away, so you'll have more time to decide where to stay. However, check requirements in the US as the process seems to be easier ?

In regard to her visiting while the PR is in process, she should be allowed to enter Canada, she just has to have proof of ties to the US.

 

[lucky_man]

Dear Helena, thanks for the reassurance! It's good to know that the timeline is not too time consuming - 5 months is pretty reasonable. The situation going Southbound is also less problematic than I had imagined.

We'll make sure to travel with documents showing ties to the US/Canada. But if/when she comes in for the wedding ceremony, she will be entering on a tourist visa, right - I think that is what you normally get when you cross the border? And it's no problem for her to declare that her purpose is to come in to get married? Maybe it would make sense for her to come in a week early, so there's time to sort out any border-crossing problems if necessary.