--Posted 1/12/05--

Q- For a TN holder, does buying a home as the principle US dwelling create 'immigrant intent' for the USCIS. Should the TN holder ever be asked about living arrangements during a border crossing/ TN application?

A- Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and immigrant intent is in the eye of each individual CBP officer. The longer a person is on the TN, the more likely an officer will think this is a relevant question and a relevant issue.

Our article on intent gives some idea on the legal basis for deciding intent, but remember, CBP officers have unlimited power and discretion to bar someone with no judicial review so they can take unsupported actions despite what a court may say.

Relevant issues could bge whether or not you own the house with someone who has more permanent status in the U.S., how often you have changed jobs and your likelihood of employment in Canada at a similar earning level. They all point to whether or not you might return to Canada in some reasonable period.

Q- I am a legal US Permanent Resident and would like to sponsor my mother for a green card. She is 67, widowed and a Canadian citizen. I am her sole means of support.

A- As a permanent resident, you cannot petition for your parent. You would have to naturalize before you could sponsor her. The good news is that once you do naturalize, and are above age 21, she qualifies as your "immediate relative" and a visa number will be immediately available to her. To determine whether you are eligible for naturalization, view the naturalization requirements on our site.

Q- Once I am a citizen, how long would it take her to actually become a PR? Although a visa number for her might be available immediately, the processing times seem to be long (taking months with no end in sight)!!! Would Consular immigrant visa processing be faster rather than AOS in the US?

A- There are two procedures by which an alien can obtain permanent residence in the U.S. One is called adjustment of status and is only available to people who are residing in the US upon the filing of t he application. In your situation, if your mother is physically present in the U.S. you would file an I-130 petition (the underlying immigrant petition) at the same time as filing her adjustment of s tatus, and you would file it through a lockbox facility in Chicago, IL rather than through a regional service center. The Chicago office will process it and then forward the case to the local USCIS office closest to your place of residence for f in al adjudication of the permanent residency application. The amount of time it takes for her to obtain permanent residence depends on how long it is taking your local USCIS office to process permanent resident applications at that time. With some exceptions, the local USCIS offices tend to process permanent residence applications more quickly than the regional offices that adjudicate employment based permanent residency applications.

The other procedure, which aliens who reside outside the U.S. must use, is consular processing. (Aliens living in the US also have this option but it is not required) . If your mother is in Canada, and not present in the US prior to your petitioning for her permanent residence, then she will have to consular process. This would start with you filing an I-130 petition for her at the USCIS Nebraska Service Center. Currently Nebraska is working on I-130s that were submitted 10/3/03, so it is taking over a year. Once the I-130 is approved, notice of the approval will be forwarded to the Natio n al Visa Center, through which your mother can file an immigrant visa application. After the application is filed, she will be scheduled for an interview in Montreal, which is the only consulate in Canada that processes immigrant visa applications. From the time the I-130 is approved to the time she is scheduled for an interview will generally be 4-6 months. So in total, between the I-130 and Immigrant Visa application, you are looking at a year and a half of proces sing time.

Depending on what the processing time is for the USCIS office with jurisdiction over your place of residence, it will probably be quicker for her to adjust status. You can find local USCIS office processing times for I-485 Adjustment of Status applications online, under the heading "District Offices." However, she would only be able to adjust status if she is already present in the U.S. And she must h ave some lawful basis for being in the U.S. For example, if she were to come to the U.S. a month or so prior to your naturalization oath ceremony where you get sworn into US citizenship, and you were to file her I-130 and I-485 a month or so after you become a citizen, then she would be lawfully present in the US and you would be able to file for her using adjustment of status.

Q- I am soon going for my Oath Ceremony and have received hte invitation letter with the questions on the back. However, to one question (Have you been outside the US since the naturalization interview), I have to answer yes, since I will be leaving for employment overseas. Will this pose any problems at the Oath Ceremony?

A- It depends on how long you are gone for and your intentions on returning to the US after a temporary absence. If going overseas on behalf of your US employer for a short assignment, it would not make a difference. If you have a job overseas for a foreign employer, it could make a difference in that the Examiner might decide that you are abandoning your status in the U.S., or at least interrupting it.

Q- I am an Indian citizen, living and working in India. I have just been sponsored for an H-1B visa, and will soon be attending the interview at the US consulate in Chennai. My wife is a Canadian citizen (born in Canada, but living in India for a long time), living with me. Does she have to apply for an H-4 visa at the US consulate in Chennai, or can she get the visa stamped in her passport at the US port of entry?

A- Your wife will not need a visa. As a Canadian citizen, she is visa exempt. She will get her H-4 admission stamp at the Port of Entry