1. Try to follow the law and do the right thing. Be calm.
2. Your husband's H-1B expiry probably does not matter much for Canadian PR directly. But then, be prepared for extensive scrutiny and bigger processing time by CIC. I hope he has a valid passport from his home country.
3. Being illegally present in the U.S. has always been a civil, not criminal violation, and subsequent deportation and associated administrative processes are also civil proceedings. I think those should not be treated as criminality by CIC for visa purposes. Said that, overstay in US may lead to up to a 10 year ban from entering US, which would be unfortunate. In fact, most other countries would not grant him a visa after that, even after he gets a Canadian citizenship. So try to maintain legal status. Also, you never know what new changes happen this year in the US. And the civil violation could be made criminal, which would directly affect your Canadian application. Essentially, if you have a criminal offense, you have very less chance of getting a Canadian PR. But so far, this is a civil offense, not criminal offense.
4. If your husband has a proper Canadian visa (or if he is allowed visa-free entry to Canada), my suggestion would be to go to Canada and apply inland. He would be able to get an open work permit in about 4 months that would allow him to legally work in Canada. One problem with this is that he would not be able to leave Canada during the application process. But that is still better than facing deportation and extended bar from US.
5. If your husband does not have a Canadian visa, he probably would not be given a Canadian visitor visa given his H-1B violation history. In that case, I would still suggest him to leave US and apply outland from his home country. Staying in US as an illegal alien is not a good idea. Because you never know that at some point later in his career if he wants to come to US, a 10 year (or even a life) entry ban would shut many options for him.
6. Btw, as a PR holder, you need to stay in Canada for spousal sponsorship. If you want to get out of Canada for an extended period during his sponsorship, you better be a citizen.
7. Remember, there is still a risk of Canadian border people rejecting his entry into Canada given his US visa violation. So take that into consideration. Sorry, it's a messy situation.
Lady J said:
Good Day! I'am a PR holder and married to a guy in the US with H1B expired (now He is Out of Status in the US). We married last August 2016. We are planning to process his paper under Spousal Sponsorship soon. My question is- Is there any problem that we might encounter once his paper is on process? And What we should do. Please, Please Help!
Thank You.
Lady J
