Question for PraetorianXI

[mullins]

Hi there!
Sorry to single you out but you seem to be the only one supporting the situation I'm in.
I'm a Canadian citizen and my husband's a US citizen. We had been wanting to get married this year and I came in May and we applied for a marriage license just in case (we weren't sure if we wanted to get married in canada or here). Anyhow, we had a lot of trouble with prep and decided to just leave it.
I came over in July to go on a trip with him and was supposed to go back home in 3 weeks. But once I got here (I didn't expect to be let in by the customs agents) we decided to get married in case I couldn't come back next time and managed to rush thru it. And then my husband decided I should stay here (coz as a Canadian apparently I can stay for 6mo atleast) and we applied for AOS and we just finished biometrics.
I'm just wondering how badly we'll get penalized if and when we get to the interview. I'm pregnant right now and I'd hate to be banned from here and end up having to get my husband to Canada which will take us atleast a year.
Any advice you have would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

-P.

[PraetorianXI]

Canadians can not stay more than a few days (if just shopping across the border)

or 90 days under the Visa Waiver Program.

or 6 months under a B1/B2 Tourist visa.

HOWEVER.

You have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. Your overstay will be forgiven because of you being married to an US Citizen. Do not even think about it, it happens all the time. Immediate relatives of US citizens can not be penalized because of overstays or illegal employment.

note: DO NOT LEAVE THE USA until you get your GC though, or you may trigger a 3-10 year ban... not even with Advance Parole... ONCE you receive your GC everything is forgotten and your can go back to Canada (or anywhere else outside of the USA) to travel and visit.

Good luck on your interview and with the future baby

[mullins]

Thank you!

Thank you so much for your support. It definitely takes a lot of my mind. Unfortunately I might have to go to Canada anyway, hopefully with the AP..since we don't want to deliver in the US. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it =)