I am a US citizen. I am dating a UK citizen who is also a Landed Immigrant in Canada. We are evaluating what is the best way to get us both in one city. The big dilemma is how we can both keep working throughout the process. Should:

1. we get married and then apply for my partner's immigration to the US?

2. we get engaged, live apart and then apply to the US?

3. my partner start looking for work with a US employer to gain entry?

4. my partner become a Canadian citizen first?

The difficult part seems to be remaining employed throughout the process. We also have no idea whether he needs to move here first or remain in Canada and approximately how long these different options will take to process.

Your choice of country to live in should be primarily based on your personal preference rather than immigration laws. From an immigration point of view, the differences between Canadian immigration and U.S. immigration are not significant.

As a U.S. citizen, you can petition a fiance (who must marry within 90 days) or petition a spouse. In either case, as the spouse of a U.S. citizen he will be eligible for a green card right away under the immediate relative category. However, he will be subject to a two year condition on permanent residence (something he may not like). As a landed immigrant of Canada, he can sponsor you as a fiancee (who must marry within 90 days) or as a spouse. As a spouse of a landed immigrant, you are still eligible for landing right away as an immediate relative. U.S. processing for him would probably be about 8 months and Canadian processing for you would probably be about 12 months.

If you are not ready to get married right away, getting your spouse temporary employment status might be a good idea. However, he will have to be eligible for tempoary status on his own merits. You should refer to the nonimmigrant section of my site for more information on temporary visa categories.

If your fiance takes up residence in the U.S. before I gets his Canadian citizenship, he may lose his landed status on the basis that he has "abandoned" his Canadian residence. As a U.S. citizen, you could take up residence in Canada right away without losing your right to return to the U.S.. You might want him to get his citizenship before he takes up permanent residence in the United States but is is not absolutely essential.

I am a Canadian Citizen. What I'd like to know is: is it possible to live in United States with my American husband, work, and be able to return from time to time to Canada to visit my family or do I have to live 1 year and a half continuously before being able to do so?

You have not properly explained your situation so I will have to assume that you are currently a lawful permanent resident of the United States and that you were originally petitioned as a spouse by your U.S. citizen husband. I further assume that your reference to 1.5 years relates to preservation of residence for naturalization purposes.

Short trips to Canada would not jeopardize your lawful permanent residence status for the purpose of continuing your status in the U.S.. However, additional requirements apply for naturalization purposes.

I have discussed eligibility for naturalization in the May 13, 1996 bulletin. As an alien petitioned by your U.S. citizen spouse, you need to only show 3 years of lawful permanent residence in the U.S. instead of the normal 5 years. You also have to show continuous presence for at least half of that time ... in your case 1.5 years.

As I mentioned in the previous bulletin, not all absences from the United States will have an effect on your eligibility to naturalize. Absences from the United States for six months or less do not break the continuity of residence. An absence of more than six months but less than one year raises a rebuttable presumption of abandonment of residence for naturalization purposes. An absence of one year of more in general breaks the continuous residence for naturalization purposes.