I-94/TN visa holder under NAFTA to marry american citizen.

[indycat5]

North Carolina.

I am a Canadian citizen and have lived and worked in NC at the same hospital for the past 6 years. I am legally in this country under NAFTA, with an I-94 and TN visa. My current TN does not expire until July 2005. I plan to marry in October of this year(2004). Do I need to do anything special to maintain my current status here.

Thank You for your time and advice.

 

[ImmigAttyLana]

If you get married to a US citizen, you will have to change your status either to H-1B (if you are eligible) or file for permanent residence on the basis of your marriage to the US citizen since you will no longer be eligible for the TN classification, as that does not permit its holders to have immigrant intent. Marriage to a US citizen certainly is considered as having immigrant intent.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or need further assistance with this matter.

 

[indycat5]

Thank you for your quick response to my question. How do I qualify for H1-B status? Do I need to change my status or apply for permanent residency before or after I marry? If married am I still able to use my employer as a sponsor for permanent residency or would I then have to use my husband as a sponsor?

 

[ImmigAttyLana]

If you get married, you no longer need to have your employer as your sponsor since sponsorship through your US citizen spouse will be a much faster process.

As for the H-1B qualification, you do not HAVE to change status to H-1B. ONce you marry and file for permanent residence you will be eligible for a separate employment authorization document on the basis of which you can continue working for your employer. It is just that your question initially was how you can maintain the same status and my response was that it will not be possible to maintain and extend your TN status, since that is incompatible with immigrant intent.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or need further assistance with this matter.

 

[indycat5]

I thank you again for your help and hate to keep bothering you, but I do have another question. I understand that once married I can apply for permanent residency using my spouse as a sponsor, but will I be able to continue working legally during the period between my marriage and the time I apply for permanent residency?Which prompts another question; should I retain an immigrations lawyer and begin the application now so that everything is ready to be submitted as soon as I am married? Thanks again in advance for your helpful advice.

 

[ImmigAttyLana]

Yes, of course. As long as your current TN is valid you can continue working on it. My whole point in prior threads was that you will not be able to RENEW your TN once you are married to a US citizen and have filed for permanent residence so you want to make sure that you time it properly. Depending on when your current TN is due to expire, you either make sure you have enough time to get married, filed I-485 and get the EAD before that happens or renew the TN for another year and then know that you have time to secure the EAD before having to extend your TN again.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions or need further assistance with this matter.

 

[indycat5]

Thank You!!!

I thank you again for your knowledge and patience. This site is a wonderful help.