Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
K-3 Spouse Visa Process & Procedures	Read to throw in the towel?	Our K-3 took almost a year. We go home, as a family, on Thursday after 14 months. Keep with it, it's worth so much more in the end	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-08-19 14:34:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	US Embassy in Toronto Questions	Does anyone here have any information about the Embassy in Toronto? I need to head down there this weekend with my wife and son to get his US citizenship paperwork taken care of. We're wondering if there is a hotel in the near vicinity that we can just take a quick cab ride or walk without a whole lot of difficulty. Any suggestions? Thanks...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-11 11:28:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	police certificates	In our K-3 packet check-off it said that you didn't need a certificate from the US if you had lived or were living there. I assume because it's all linked into the same database that DOS can check anytime they want. Not sure if it's the same for K-1, but I would assume that it is.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-07 08:11:00
US Embassy and Consulate Discussion	Clothing on Interview Day	I wore a button down shirt, nice pants and nice sandals. I think having good evidence and knowing that your case is solid is a lot more important, but I certainly wouldn't go in there wearing a Metallica t shirt and ripped jeans	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-07-19 20:55:00
US Citizenship General Discussion	If my child is born outside of the US, is he/she a US citizen?	You will need to take the child's birth certificate, as well as your US birth certificate and some other items to the nearest US Consulate and file for a Consular Birth Abroad certificate. You can also apply for the child's US passport and social security number at the same time.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-04-24 20:56:00
Canada	Nneeds some reassurance	QUOTE (sly_wolf @ Sep 9 2007, 05:20 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hi. My fiance and I (Canadian) are finally able to set our marriage date. I have done much reading and posted many questions earlier this year. We have decide to get married and then file a K3. I am hesitating for a few reasons and would appreciate some reassurance on our K3 decision (versus K1). We have known each other for 4 years and during that time I visit her every weekend since I am within short driving distance. Will getting married first (January is the month we are thinking about) and then filing the K3 create any unforseen risks (versus K1 approach). After we get married and I leave the US, will I be legally required to stay in Canada untill the visa is approved? .... can I continue to visit on the weekends as I do now? All comments appreciated. Thanks Steve Steve From my experiences, if you get married to an American, and go back to Canada, you will not be allowed back into the country if you tell them that you are residing in the US and not Canada. If you tell them that you are living in Canada and visiting your family in the US, and do not intend to, and this is very important, "permanently reside in the US" you will be allowed to come and go under the passport. If you tell them, as my wife and I did, that we are living together in the US with the intention of someday immigrating, you may be considered "out of status" and not allowed to visit until you have some sort of Visa. You can email me for more details and I might be able to give you a better perspective...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-09-09 18:51:00
Canada	drivers license question	QUOTE (Earmuffs @ Sep 9 2007, 06:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> when am I able to get a US license? I'm entering on a k1. will I be able to transfer my class 3 with air brakes? or do I have to re do all that? also I will be driving my fiances car across the border. will this be an issue since I'm not insured? go to the Department of Motor Vehicles website of whatever state you intend to live in. We don't allow you to transfer your Commercial Driver's License here in Alaska, you're supposed to take the test that the State gives. I think it probably depends on the employer as well, if your future employer transports to Canada, you may have some luck. If it's purely interstate, you most likely will need a state CDL...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-09-09 19:10:00
Canada	claiming foreign family members on federal US taxes	We're still a long way from tax season, but does anyone know if I can claim my wife and son (both in Canada still and, at this point, CDN citizens only) on my taxes next year. I think I'll be able to do it for my son quite easily as soon as we apply for his dual citizenship and get his SS number, but I'm thinking it will be harder to claim my wife...anyone have any ideas or experience with this?	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-09-16 21:16:00
Canada	Got our K1 Petition NOA2	congrats!! My waning hopes are rvived when I read posts like this	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-09-30 13:45:00
Canada	US Consulate in Toronto Questions	QUOTE (trailmix @ Oct 20 2007, 08:08 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> You're welcome! I see from your timeline you are applying for the K3. Don't know if you have seen Liz's timeline to interview spreadsheet for Montreal yet or not - you can see it here http://www.visajourn...h...t&p=1267457 - just click on the link in her signature. If you leave a message in the thread I'm sure she would be happy to add you. You will be glad to know the interviews in Montreal have been picking up lately. That's good. I'm going to attempt to switch our interview to Vancouver regardless. I'm hoping that my congressional delegation can put some weight behind our request based on our final home being in Alaska, but who knows if that will happen. All you can do is try, right? If it's only a month or so difference in our CR-1 vs K-3, we may just suck up the last two months and go for the CR-1.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-21 03:51:00
Canada	US Consulate in Toronto Questions	QUOTE (daisylynn @ Oct 14 2007, 08:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I just saw this, so I'm assuming you have already gone. I hope everything went well! trailmix-Thanks for posting the link to that thread for them. And she's right, painless. It was easy breezy! I hope you had the same experience! Yeah, we went and everything was great. The only thing that went wrong was they wouldn't accept my State sponsored retirement statements, saying they needed social security statements. I told them I don't get social security since I'm a fire fighter, but they told me I had to at least send the statements anyway. I kind of laughed because there wasn't any personal information on the SS statements that isn't on the Alaska Pension forms, but for some reason they were adamant about getting them. Overall, they were really helpful and the whole thing didn't take more than 20 minutes. I was kind of disappointed in how complicated they make the forms though, we took in a lot more than they needed due to the instructions you get from the website. Would have saved us some money and a whole lot of hassle. Thanks to both of you for your help. I really appreciated it.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-20 19:55:00
Canada	US Consulate in Toronto Questions	QUOTE (trailmix @ Oct 12 2007, 09:15 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (WAITING_FOR_FAM @ Oct 12 2007, 07:45 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Does anyone here have any information about the Consulate in Toronto? I need to head down there this weekend with my wife and son to get his US citizenship paperwork taken care of. We're wondering if there is a hotel in the near vicinity that we can just take a quick cab ride or walk without a whole lot of difficulty. Any suggestions? Thanks... Thought this might help in case you don't get any 'first hand' suggestions before tomorrow: Link to Hotels list - near University Avenue We ended up just getting a room at the Comfort Suites for 150 US. It's just down the street from the consulate a bit. We made an appointment for the little guy at 9am for his visa, social security #, and passport. Hopefully it's going to be a painless process. We have all of our paperwork filled out already, and I think we have all the necessary information, but you never know until you get there what kind of mood the officer will be in. We're crossing our fingers...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-12 22:33:00
Canada	US Consulate in Toronto Questions	Does anyone here have any information about the Consulate in Toronto? I need to head down there this weekend with my wife and son to get his US citizenship paperwork taken care of. We're wondering if there is a hotel in the near vicinity that we can just take a quick cab ride or walk without a whole lot of difficulty. Any suggestions? Thanks...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-12 20:45:00
Canada	Tax stuff (US) and filing a W7	QUOTE (Delicia @ Oct 27 2007, 12:35 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am a CPA and I read that on the IRS site, I can look and see if I can find it again.... hold for link. Thanks...good luck with the AZDOT. I lived in Scottsdale briefly in the 90's and found them to be a total pain in the ###.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-27 12:46:00
Canada	Tax stuff (US) and filing a W7	QUOTE (misa @ Oct 27 2007, 11:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey Delicia, if you file jointly, wouldn't you have to also put your husband's Canadian income amounts on your US tax return? I don't think you have to do that. I was looking over my tax returns, and I think you only report income made in the US on your US tax return. Unless you got a W-2, I don't think it gets reported. I'm not 100% sure about it, but I think this year my wife will file jointly in Canada showing me making no CDN income, and I will file jointly here using her assigned tax number and no income for her. I think it will also strengthen our case come interview time. We're going to meet with her accountant next week. I'll update our progress there. QUOTE (Delicia @ Oct 27 2007, 12:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> QUOTE (misa @ Oct 27 2007, 12:43 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hey Delicia, if you file jointly, wouldn't you have to also put your husband's Canadian income amounts on your US tax return? Yes, but a certain amount (the first ~$80k or so) is exempted from U.S. tax and it works the same way on the Canadian side. Where did you find that information? On the IRS website, or did your CPA tell you that?	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2007-10-27 12:33:00
Canada	Things speeding up in MTL ?	Congrats to both of you guys!! Maybe ours is closer than we think now!!!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-01-11 16:26:00
Canada	MTL Interview	We'll gladly trade with you. Ours will probably be scheduled sometime next August Edited by Eric_and_Corinna, 12 January 2008 - 12:19 AM.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-01-12 00:14:00
Canada	Where to find the Change of Agent Form	Thanks for the response...it helped me find the G-28 form. I think between that and the 3032 I can get it figured out...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-01-26 16:47:00
Canada	Where to find the Change of Agent Form	After months of deliberation, we finally fired our lawyer. Back in September, (when we were first considering this) I had found the form I needed to send in telling USCIS of our decision to change agents, but for some reason now I can't find it. Anyone know which one it is, and where I can find it. Sorry for posting such a routine question	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-01-26 09:37:00
Canada	Good Luck Friday Cat!! (Catou1181) Montreal Interview	Congrats Cat!! Hopefully we're not too far behind you	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-10 20:18:00
Canada	Question	I finally got mine involved on Thursday. A friend of mine from high school is our senior Senator's chief of staff, and he was surprisingly knowledgeable about the entire process. I had a letter drafted, but ended up just calling the office and then emailing him the details. He told me he would call USCIS this coming week and see what the deal was with our K-3 Visa. I had held off contacting my reps as long as I could, but it has been over 6 months for our I-130 and rapidly approaching 6 months for the I-129F. We'll see if it does anything. I'm not sure if you were referring to your state representatives who work in Austin, but I doubt that your state reps can do anything as this is a federal problem. You need to contact your federally elected officials. As far as them blowing you off, I think it all depends on your representative. If I were you I'd approach my Congressman about your case, since there are only two Senators for all of Texas, and you're more likely to get better service from the Congressman's staffers. I'm going to DC in March for some work stuff, and have appointments with both of Alaska's Senators and the one Congressman. As an aside from my work, I'm definitely bringing up how F'd up the entire USCIS process is. But from talking to my friend, it sounds like they already know... Edited by Eric_and_Corinna, 16 February 2008 - 01:34 PM.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-16 13:31:00
Canada	Do I need exact copies of my I-129F and I-130 files for the K-3 Consular Interview?	Ok...I finally got rid of my lying, cheating, thieving lawyer. I sent him a letter notifying him that we no longer needed his services and asked for half of his fee back. I also told him that I expected our paperwork back, as well as pictures and other information etc. To my surprise, he actually had my an envelope of papers waiting for me with a check. Or so I thought. But, as I go thru all of our paperwork here today, it's evident that he had his lazy secretary make copies of whatever she felt like and throw them in the envelope. Upon closer inspection, I see that we're missing all of our pictures, personal statements, affadavits of support, copies of our passports, marriage certificate, etc that would prove our marriage is "BONAFIDE." All he did was make return copies of our G-325s, and I-130 &I-129 applications. The lawyer stated in his cover letters to USCIS that he enclosed all of these things (evidence of our marriage) in our applications, but I'm wondering if he even did that. This is the same guy who lied to me about sending our I-129F in July, then to tell me that USCIS lost it and he had to resend everything (hence our large gapin filing dates), but it's evident by looking at the paperwork i have now that he didn't send it until late August. But I digress... To all you wonderful VJrs who have been to an interview, is it 100% necessary to have the EXACT same paperwork that was (supposedly) submitted when we go to our interview in Montreal? Or, do we update the evidence of BONAFIDE marriage anyway since we have since had a son, have taken hundreds of pictures since then and I've got a binder of travel documents going back and forth between Alaska and Canada. And, I can recreate the copies of the passports, birth certificates, photos etc from the list he supposedly sent. I'm willing to go and hold a gun (figuratively speaking, of course) to his (or his secretary's) head and get the files, but I'm not going to keep beating my head against a wall if we don't need to. At least his check didn't bounce. Yet.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-16 19:35:00
Canada	Affidavat of Support	If he filed single simply because you don't have an SSN, there is a way to get an Individual Taxpayer ID Number (ITIN). It's IRS form W-7. If you decide to file jointly, you simply fill the form out and send it in with your return to a processing center in Austin Texas. I'm surprised the IRS didn't mention this option. Of course, if he filed separate for financial reasons, disregard the W-7. I'm not sure how this will affect your affadavit of support. Hope this helps a little Eric	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-19 01:11:00
Canada	A few worries	And they're about to lose Sundin!!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-21 19:58:00
Canada	Happy NHL Deadline Day :)	YA, 1 featherly love touch from Iginli wil Send Forsberg and his butt back to Sweden!! How about those caps!! Federov and huet!! http://tsn.ca/nhl/ne...230624&hubname= Haha I was thinking more about getting Foote and Salei, at least they'll hit in their own zone now Aaaahhh...I love to see other Avs fans. But how does one cheer for the Avs when living near Detroit? How about the Pens? Picking up Hossa and Hal Gill. Are they legit?	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-26 15:31:00
Canada	Will my ignorance be deemed immigration fraud?	Thank you all for your responses. I know that we've been doing everything right since the denial of entry, but the longer the situation goes on, the more what-ifs start to creep into your head... Zyggy and Caladan, her I-275 cites SEC 212(a) (7) (A) (i) (I) and further says that she was living in the US since February (131 days) and that we were both instructed that she was not allowed to visit the US until visa was in hand. Nothing more. This is the section of the Code of Federal Regulations that I found pertaining to our case... (7) Documentation requirements.- (A) Immigrants.- (i) In general.-Except as otherwise specifically provided in this Act, any immigrant at the time of application for admission- (I) who is not in possession of a valid unexpired immigrant visa, reentry permit, border crossing identification card, or other valid entry document required by this Act, and a valid unexpired passport, or other suitable travel document, or document of identity and nationality if such document is required under the regulations issued by the Attorney General under section 211(a) , or (II) whose visa has been issued without compliance with the provisions of section 203, is inadmissible. I've talked to lawyers, CBP officials, and Embassy employees in Toronto that have told us that it should not affect our case since it is considered a withdrawal of application. But you still never know, right? I'd love to hear your advice, if you have any, on it. Edited by Eric_and_Corinna, 28 February 2008 - 11:33 AM.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-28 11:30:00
Canada	Will my ignorance be deemed immigration fraud?	I made the mistake of reading the link about some poor guy who has been battling with USCIS for 8 years trying to get his Japanese wife back. Apparently they filed for a K-1, didn't get it in time, married in Hawaii anyway, and then she entered the US with the K-1 visa (but already married). Anyway, the USCIS charged them with immigration fraud and banned her from entry for 10 years. TI guess the jist of this is that they knew the rules and knowlingly allowed her in without the correct visa. Here is the story that I read last night http://www.usforacle...3b-e3e9d3edddd7 So this got me thinking about my case. And probably worrying way too much, hopefully. In our case, we were completely oblivious to immigration laws and rules. We both figured, that when you married an American citizen you were allowed to live in the US. I knew that we eventually had to get my wife a social security number for her to work, but had no idea about the different visas or what they meant. Stupid, I know, but we were completely ignorant of immigration laws. We didn't have a visa of any sort when we married in Hawaii last January, and didn't know we were in violation until we tried to get back into the US after visiting Canada last June. My wife was in the US for 1 month and a half after our wedding, went home to Ontario for a couple weeks to visit family, then came back to the US for three months before we were finally denied entry by CBP. We were given the I-275 form and told that she couldn't come back, even for a visit, until visa was in hand. The CBP officer who denied our entry told us that the denial would not affect our immigration approval, and that it was if we had never attempted to get her into the US. A lawyer we consulted with agreed with that and said that if we had appeared before an immigration judge, that would have been another matter. Since being told we needed the visa, she went back to her parent's house in Ontario, and we immediately applied for the K-3 Visa. I have commuted back and forth since June, basically visiting for a month and returning to the US for a month. Our son was born in August in Ontario and we got him his dual citizenship and US Social Security number. We are still waiting on our I-129F and I-130 approvals from the CSC (like a lot of other folks). After reading the terrible story of the guy trying to get his wife back, I'm very frightened that USCIS would look at our ignorance and deem that we were committing immigration fraud as well. I feel like any rational person would look at our situation and see that we are very much in love and had no intention of breaking any laws, but rational thought and the US government seem to be like oil and water sometimes. Is our situation rare, or are there other experiences that are like ours? I feel like if we're going to get denied now, I may as well start looking at moving to Canada, rather then wasting our time with a process that will most likely end up in denial. Thanks for listening...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-02-28 03:52:00
Canada	Movies that make you cry!	Not a movie... but Ray Bourque hoisting the Stanley Cup in Colorado after playing so many years with the Boston Bruins. My girlfriend at the time looked across the couch at me and said "you've got to be kidding me!" Obviously I couldn't marry her...	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-03 01:48:00
Canada	DUI, diversion, and entering Canada.	My friend had a DUI. It's definitely on his record. I've never even heard of a diversion before. Must be a midwestern hospitality thing	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-26 17:14:00
Canada	DUI, diversion, and entering Canada.	A friend of mine from here in Alaska has a DUI, and for him to go to Canada with us for a hockey trip in a couple weeks, he would have had to apply for a waiver or something along those lines from the Canadian Consulate in Seattle. They said on their website to apply well in advance of any travel plans. I pulled this off the US Dept of State website. "Anyone with a criminal record (including even misdemeanors or Driving While Impaired (DWI)) charges may be barred from entering Canada and must qualify for a special waiver well in advance of any planned travel for further processing, which may take some time." He went thru last year without the waiver, but didn't want to chance it again. Hope this helps. Eric	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-26 16:15:00
Canada	Interview!!	Pearson can be your POE. I've read other reviews here regarding Pearson that say to give yourself about 2 hours extra for the processing, but some people have gotten thru much quicker. I'm surprised to hear that there is a direct YYZ-SACtown flight. Congrats!!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-26 09:26:00
Canada	visa issued same day?	I think I read somewhere that they don't recommend even making travel plans for two weeks after the interview, in case the visa doesn't show up in the mail	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-29 16:44:00
Canada	Marriage Certificate	As Kathryn said, go to your MPP. We used our MPP to have our son's birth certificate expedited and it took three weeks, WAAAAAAAAY faster then the timeline posted on the website.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-03-30 19:30:00
Canada	Packet 3 arrived!!	Thank God!! We got Packet 3 from Montreal yesterday and my wife went and got her police background check done this morning, and they said she should have the results in a week. She called Toronto and scheduled her medical, and we're busily gathering the rest of our stuff to send back as quickly as we can! Keeping our fingers crossed for having everyone back together by the end of the Summer! Anyone else working on Packet 3 information now?	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-04-17 14:46:00
Canada	We got approved!	Congrats Daisylynn!! I didn't know you could bring kids to the interview...we were thinking about bringing our little man, but didn't know if they frowned on that. Good luck with the rest of your journey	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-04-28 12:03:00
Canada	Thought for the day	Don't forget our president... CLUELESS	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-02 18:34:00
Canada	K1 interview at Montreal scheduled!	QUOTE (rae_and_scott @ May 8 2008, 12:02 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> I am so excited I can hardly contain myself! That's so awesome!! Congratulations!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-08 11:03:00
Canada	Medical\Interview	QUOTE (roshee @ May 10 2008, 03:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Does anyone know where interviews and medicals are usually held in Ontario? I live in northern Ontario. Also, how much notice do you usually get for having to go to your appointments? Thanks for any input.... We made our appointment on the 28th of April, and had it a week later. You can also get them done in Ottawa, I believe, if that's closer. Seiden's office take people in the morning, Medisys is in the afternoon. We had ours at Medisys since we drove from Sudbury. We got there at 12:30 for a 1:30 appointment and got out of there at 5:00pm. I just posted our experience here... http://www.visajourn...p;#entry1819754 As a previous poster said, if you're anything but DCF, you'll be going thru Montreal. Edited by Eric_and_Corinna, 10 May 2008 - 04:10 PM.	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-10 16:08:00
Canada	Autumnchik's Happy Baby Boy	Congrats!! I'm not sure if Declan was born in Canada or the US, but he was born in Canada make sure you apply for the Child Tax Benefit. It's a nice monthly stipend that really helps out as you go thru the immigration process away from your loved one!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-10 13:04:00
Canada	Entering Canada for my fiance's interview	I don't know why you're even concerned, but I guess we all get these crazy moments where our situation makes us almost expect the worst! Are we talking about Customs on the Canadian side? I fly thru Toronto Pearson monthly, and I always tell them I'm visiting my wife who is going thru US Immigration, and the customs folks are always sympathetic to our situation and excited for our family to be closer together. I've yet to be hassled by the Canadians (USBP takes care of that!). A few have even joked around with me about immigrating to Canada because the weather is warmer (than Alaska). Good luck!	Eric_and_Corinna	Male	Canada	2008-05-21 15:07:00