First of all…… yay!! Incredibly excited! I pretty much had planned to live the single life forever, but here we are!
And here’s the question. I was planning to apply for permanent residence last year when I hit the 10 year mark. I have lived here for 11.5 years, but I learned last summer that although j was paying my insurance/taxes on time, prepaying your taxes in bulk is actually considered a bad thing (what?!), so I switched to monthly payments and was planning to wait for at least two years of monthly payment records before attempting to apply. That would be summer 2026.
However, meeting my wonderful partner last summer and getting engaged last night were definitely not part of the plan in my PR process. And we are thinking to get married early next year!
Mostly for pride’s sake, I want to get PR the non-spousal way (I’ve made it this far) rather than take the spousal route, but now I’m concerned that a recent marriage can actually be a hindrance rather than a positive in PR eligibility.
I plan to meet an immigration attorney sometime in the next month or two, but in the meantime, I want some opinions.
I have 3 more years on my current Visa (humanities.) For a more smooth PR process, should I be staying on the same Visa I have now rather than changing to a spousal Visa? Spousal visa has more freedom (I actually have jumped through a lot of hoops to get special permissions for side work, and still need to do that for particular jobs), but I’m thinking it will probably negatively impact my chances of success.
And if I apply for PR when recently married (without a spousal Visa) is that still likely to negatively impact my PR application?
Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!
by kailenedanae