Canadian/American wedding/marriage tips?

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Hi knotters,

I'm Canadian and living in the USA on an F1 visa for graduate school. He's an American. (We're not actually engaged yet, just talking about marriage.)

I don't know any Canadian/American spouses, so I'm hoping people can share any insights or advice on the process:

1.) We both live in the USA but we'll probably have the wedding in Canada. Are there going to be any extra hurdles/paperwork to get our marriage license recognized in the US?

2. Does anyone know how the process works to switch from F1 student to something like residency status, or whatever? Everything online seems to assume the couple is living in different countries. We're both in school in the USA for a few more years. I'd basically like whatever status would let me work in the summer, since right now I'm restricted to working only on campus.

3. We're both open to living in either country depending on what works out best for our careers. I'd like to get us both legally set for residency status in each other's countries so we'll have an easier time finding jobs. Tips? Are there any waiting periods, special tests, etc?

4. What do you see as the pros/cons of getting dual citizenship? I've heard there are some downsides but I'm not really sure what they are.

Thanks for anything you've got in advance!

Cheers.

Anysunrise

This site was a lot of help to me through my process:

http://visajourney.com/

I think you would have to return to Canada in most cases to apply for residencey, since most of them are based off visas and the whole point of a visa is to get into the country in the first place. I don't think you'd be able to work during the summer on anything less than a work visa, which almost impossible to get lately (you have to be a professional in your field, the company has to apply too and show they've offered the job to Americans but you're the only one who can do it, etc.). 

No, if you get married in Canada, you'd just apply for a different visa, I think it's the K3 if you're already married, K1 if you were going to get married in the US. They recognize Canadian marriage licenses just fine, as long as you aren't gay anyway. : /

Residency in the US; the filing fee alone was $1050 and it was months before I actually got my green card. So it's expensive and it takes a bit there. If you're married a certain length of time, I'm pretty sure your husband could apply for residency in Canada just by virtue of being married to you, but I could be wrong on that, I haven't really looked into it.

As far as dual citizenship, it's not really something you apply for; basically, while the US requires you to renounce ties to other countries, a lot of said countries just kinda ignore that and allow you to keep your citizenship/passport. The only real benefit is being able to use a Canadian passport to get into Canada and a US passport to get into the US. And I guess if you planned on moving countries every so often, it'd make it easier.

Let me know if you have any other questions!

ETA: Actually, you can get married while you're in school and apply for change of status, but that's if you get married in the US; pretty sure if you left the country to do it, you'd have to go through a K3 visa.

 

fluttaby32

PM me. There are 2 ways to do it- either marry in Canada and have your spouse file for you through consular processing (K3), or the K1 (aka Fiancee Petition), which is a little difficult because you have to enter with a visa and marry within 90 days in the US. Once you are married he will file the adjustment of status package for you and you should have work authorization within 3 months, interview about 6 months after filing. You will need to do a removal of conditions after 2 1/2 years (another PITA filing fee) and will be eligible for citizenship a year after that. PM me if you want to know more, of have any questions