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Originally Posted by nickerjones
My wife is a Canadian Citizen. We went through the process both ways. Her coming to the US and me coming to Canada.. and quite frankly it's stupid both ways. No one can answer your questions at the numbers they give you. I don't remember it as bad on the US side ( bc we had an attorney) but the Canadian side was ridiculous. You'd call in and ask simple questions and the CBSA people wouldn't have a clue. Keep in mind I went through my Canadian stuff when they were on strike so I'm sure the experience is better now.
Your experience might be different because my wife attended school in the states. After she graduated she has a work visa for a year. By the time that was about to expire we were already talking about being married. We hired an immigration attorney, we were married, and then we went through the process. There is a ton of paperwork and sometimes travel involved. I would highly suggest an immigration attorney. Our process took 4+ months but we had friends who were going through it without an attorney. They missed a couple things on the paperwork (or filled it out wrong) and it was sent back and they had to start all over.
As for the process, after the paperwork and money was paid, it was relatively simple. They'd send you mail correspondence saying things like "you are required to visit a homeland security centre on XX date. Here are the addresses you can visit." We lived in Branson, Missouri at the time and the closest locations were Kansas City and St. Louis. Sometimes we'd drive 3+ hours to STL only to have my wife get finger printed and then drive back. We had to make 3 visits for mundane things like that and then one visit for the "immigration interview". This was a series of intense questions scrutinizing our marriage. This is where the immigration attorney paid off , as he prepared us for all the questions.
All in all the process took us 4+ months. So the quick answer to your question is no... you don't get a green card right away. My wife was issued a temporary working permit, quite easily, but the attorney said this was rare. I think this is likely because she was already working on her student visa.
My advice is get an immigration attorney. Also keep detailed records of your marriage and relationship history. Pictures, stories, dates you met her family etc. They ask that kind of stuff.
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what kind of questions did they ask?
we've already talked to the lawyer and basically gonna be near 4k to get it taken care of.