biggish data

Denied Visit to Canada w/ K1

I mean absolutely no disrespect to you because it is obvious to see you are very upset about this situaion, but your message sounds as if you think you're doing something wrong by wanting to visit. And the border guards will pick up on that. The key is to be prepared and be confident that you should be able to visit. The border guards are trained to read your fear, and fear that they won't let you in could be interpreted as hiding something. It is certainly a privilege to visit and not a right.

You visiting Canada:
The car thing is a problem I will admit. Understand that Canadian insurance works differently than American insurance, and your border guard may not understand the nuances of American insurance. Your insurance company can explain to you how the insurance applies to you, and should be able to issue a declaration that you are insured on the car. You should understand whatever the insurance company has told you enough to be able to explain it to the border guard.

Be prepared - they want to know why you're visiting and when you plan to leave Canada, so the best thing you can do is know your detailed plan. I have never, and would never offer bank account information -it is unnecessary and does not prove you intend to return to the states. Have your parents write you a lease agreement. You can find a simple lease on line, and tailor it to whatever your terms are with them. You may not think you have terms with them, because you live in their house so you have made some arrangements even if they have been non-verbal. I used to make appointments - for work mind you but same concept applies - so that I could give them an itinerary for the day I returned if they asked. I would be able to say I have to be back on X because I have this and this and this already scheduled. Know about jobs you have applied for and job fairs you plan to attend. ALWAYS have copies of your K-1 paperwork. Be sure of your answers when you give them to them. They are looking for you to tell them that staying in Canada is out of the question, because there's no way to rearrange your life that quickly.

Your fiance Coming to the US:
Same concept - they want to know that he has a plan that is important enough to make him return to Canada. Have his boss sign a letter that says he has to return to work at X time on X day. My fiance always had it but never had to use it - we made up a form where his boss just had to sign it on friday and fill in Monday's date. Have a copy of your K-1 paperwork. Does he have a lease? Have him bring his lease. If he lives with his parents, you should consider whether a simple lease would be beneficial. Does he have appointments to return for? Again, money isn't a factor - or it shouldn't be. And nothing extra in the car - if he is staying for 5 days, he should have 5 days worth of stuff. He should not panic if they ask him to open his trunk or the backseat - they asked my fiance this every time he crosses, and he has never been denied. If he is bringing something other than clothes, he should know why. I heard this from a US border guard. Everytime my fiance crossed with something odd, they asked but he knew our plans well enough to answer - his skis because we had made skiing plans at a specific place, his bike because we were going to try out this bike path, his hockey gear because he had promised my nephews he'd take them skating, his jersey because we had my business's seats to a game, etc.

Like I said, I hope you have not taken my thoughts as being disrespectful to your situation, but the keys are to remain calm, to be absolutely 100% truthful and transparent, and to be able to prove the answers to standard questions - where do you work, when was the last time you crossed, when are you coming back, where do you live, where are you going, how do you know each other. Somebody said it before - the burden is on you to prove you're coming home, and what we found was that most of the proof we carried as precaution for crossing the border came in handy in the later K-1 stages. Hope this was helpful to you.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-02-12 14:26:00

K-1 Interview - Approved

Here is our review of our K-1 Interview. Our interview was this morning, and we're chilling for a bit so I thought I'd post before we forget anything (you know block it out and move to the next step... lol).

Anyway, we booked a hotel on hotwire.com, and ended up at the Maritime. It's decent, and we certainly can't complain for what we paid for it. It's a 13 block walk down Boulvard Rene-Levesque. We left the hotel at 6:30 and walked. My only complaint was how cold and windy it was, but otherwise it was a nice walk.

We arrived at the consulate about 6:50-6:55. We were first in line, and it was only a few minutes before Bern and JohnD were behind us. If there is one piece of advice we took for granted, it was how important it is to be there early. Being one of the first five in line made this process so much less stressful.

We chatted amongst ourselves and made some new friends who understand this process. The consulate opened the doors between 7:45 and 8 (we didn't have a watch). We had arranged everything in a binder. No belts, no phones, no bags. We took our binder, a book, his x-ray, and his wallet. We were called through the door, and into security where they gave us the letter "A" and took us through the metal detector. We were told to go down the stairs and wait, so we did.

Shortly after that, the first five in line (including Bern and johnD) were waiting in the waiting room. In reading the letter they gave us, we realized we hadn't written my fiance's name on the back of his pictures. So we added that, and the guard asked all of us to get on the elevator.

The door opened and he told us to sit under the sign that said "US Citizen Services." Seemed like the wrong sign, but hey we weren't questioning anything. We were called back first to window 11. She asked us for his passport and a copy of the first page, his long form birth certificate and a copy, his original police record, his medical, my affidavit of support with a copy of the evidence, and my new letter of intent. They showed us the 156 form we submitted with packet 3 and asked us if any information had changed. We told her his employment status and his last visit. She made notes on the side of the form reflecting the changes, and handed us a payment form. She told us to go to window 14 and pay the $131 fee.

The cashier was the most nerve wracking part. We tried to eliminate taking anything extra to the consulate, which meant we took the cash we needed. When we got to the window one of the watermarks on a US $5 bill wouldn't show up on the scanner. The woman behind the counter looked through a shot glass at it, held it up the light, put it under the scanner. This went on for what felt like an eternity, and finally she said it's ok and printed our receipt.

We went back to the waiting area and were called back to the window for fingerprints. Once his fingerprints were scanned, we went back to sit down until they called us to an interview room.

We were called to room 7 about 5 minutes later. The gentleman asking us questions was very nice. He asked us how we met, how long we had known each other, when we were getting married, if it was the first marriage, if we had any children together or from previous relationships, and some background questions about how we met. I think the latter questions were pure curiosity because he was by then already printing our "K1 what to know" sheet.

He told us that he was happy to say welcome to the USA and gave us the original birth certificate back. We had the wrong Xpresspost envelope, so know that you need a 12X15, prepaid envelope. I didn't know the size when I went to the post office in Fort Erie, and they insisted that all they had was a much smaller envelope. The consular officer told us there was a pharmacy with a Canada Post at the end of the block, and gave us a ticket to allow re-entry. We thanked him, stopped and talked for a moment with our new friends, and had to figure out how to get out of there (the elevator is the obvious answer, but the arrows don't point for leaving that way). We ran to the pharmacy and picked up the right envelope.

The consulate let us back in immediately, and in less than 5 minutes they had our envelope. We walked back and stopped for breakfast at Tim Hortons.

Our advice -
1) have the right size Xpresspost envelope (12X15 minimum, prepaid)
2) write your name on your pictures before you get there (even though they didn't take our pictures)
3) Have everything organized in a binder/folder that you know right where it is, so when they ask you, it's easy to find.
4) MOST IMPORTANT, be there at 7... being early in the line was key. We left the hotel at 6:30, were approved, had breakfast, went to the bank, and we back at the hotel by 9:45.

Thanks for the support all - this forum has been key background research for us. For those of you next week, best of luck!

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-26 09:44:00

Approved!!!!!!!

Congrats. Here's hoping to being able to post something similar on Friday.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-23 19:49:00

Expressport Envelope!

As we discovered at the Consulate this morning, it needs to be 12X15 minimum. We had the wrong size - the post office in Fort Erie swore to me that they only had a smaller size, and I should have known better. There is a Pharmacy right down the street from the Consulate that we were able to go to and take back to the consulate.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-26 09:13:00

k1 POE windsor / detroit

Must have been something with Tuesday. It took us over two hours at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo, and the actual immigration/k-1 part of that was like 20-30 minutes total. The rest of the time, we just sat there.

We also were told we were not entitled to a copy of anything from the packet.

The only part of our experience that differs much from Kimbear's was our initial border guard. He was insistent that we did not need to go to secondary and just needed some form 3--- (not sure what number now, 3925, 3295, something like that). As a result, I had to be insistent that we did need to go to secondary and that the form he was referring to was not part of our process. Border guards don't like it much and are certainly not pleasant when they think you think they're wrong, but in our case, he was wrong.

I didn't get grilled at any point like Kimbear's fiance, but the immigrations officer did want to know who my brother was (he's a USC commercial driver, so we brought him to drive the moving truck we rented).

In the end, our only mistake was expecting it to be shorter than it was. Our POE date had gotten moved because of a delay with Canada Post, and we needed to fit in the whole move on Tuesday because of some other plans for the next two weeks. We had been delayed because of the QEW shutdown for a tractor trailer fire and we were tired enough when we got to the border that we just wanted to get home - that made the wait seem like an eternity.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-04-08 08:37:00

We got it We got it!!

We moved last night too. I'm not going to post a POE, but I may tag onto the end of yours when you post it. We had a delay in the Canada Post, and didn't end up with our visa until yesterday morning. We're both exhausted but it does feel great to have that step completed.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-04-07 09:25:00

So how did we fair as a group? When is everyone's POE? Marriage? intended AOS filing date? Curious as to how many different plans we have and whether some of us will be on the same timeline enough to continue this thread talking about the next steps. Does it make sense to copy the list and add our details after our name? I did that below. Our tracking number says it is not in the system yet... let's hope it's today.

Power house couple - March 8th

L&S - March 9th

bv2116 - March 16th

usmcfiance - March 19th

toronto nonie - March 22nd

Kayla*Mathew - March 23rd

jmd77 - March 26th (Approved, POE Peace Bridge 4/3/10, civil ceremony 4/23/10, AOS filing between 4/24 and 4/30 depending on county clerk and certified marriage license.)
johnd - March 26th

Kimbear - March 30th
KnR aka slider100 - March 30th
Steflovesbran - March 30th
Lilmermaid - March 30th
Colleens - March 30th
cookingzombies - March 30th

Maggie-Kennyth - April 8th

Amanda2020 - April 16th

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-31 08:14:00

I'm not telling you to eliminate something you think you need, because I recognize much of what we all bring to the consulate is helpful with peace of mind. Based on what we went through today, your 7 tab accordian folder is enough. I broke ours up like this: (1) prior submissions and correspondence in chronological order, (2) passports and birth certificate, (3) medical, (4) new letter of intent, (5) domicile evidence, (6) affidavit of support with evidence, (7) miscellaneous (money, xpresspost, pictures as proof of ongoing relationship, passport photos).

We gambled on proof of an ongoing relationship, because honestly I thought that me standing next to him wearing an engagement ring and taking an oath should be proof enough. We brought 15 photos of us taken since the 129 was filed. I can't say that was right or wrong - they never asked to see our evidence, so it worked for us. I copied/brought my deed, my voter's registration card, and my utility bills to prove domicile - they never asked about it. In fact, once I (the USC) got upstairs, they never asked me to even identify myself - not even when I took the oath in the interview.

My point is take anything you think you need, but don't break your back carrying it because you'll spend 50X more time organizing/gathering it than they'll spend looking at it.

One more point for March 30th interviews - one thing we didn't expect was how tired we would be today after the interview. We were done so early that I thought we'd get a full day of sightseeing in, not so much because we were both exhausted.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-26 21:52:00

WE GOT APPROVED!!!!!! I'll post a review separately.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-26 09:17:00

Congrats on the approval! Hope all goes well during today's interviews.

As an update, we decided to play it safe. Essentially it's a week, and we've been at this a long time - our I-129 peition was filed last May. There is virtually nothing that is worth the risk of screwing it up. So he is headed back to Ontario when I head back to NY for work.

Our interview is Friday, and we're spending the weekend. We booked him a Via Rail pass for much cheaper than it costs to take Amtrak about the same distance. Hopefully his visa will come in the mail that week. If it does, he will be moving on Saturday, April 3.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-23 09:18:00

Thanks for the opinions. I'm leaning towards playing it safe - come to far not to at this point.

And Bern, 6:45 is close to our plan as well. We booked a hotel that is about 10 blocks down Boulevard Rene-Levesque, so our plan is to leave the hotel at 6:30 and walk to the consulate.

I know this is such a girlie question, but what do people wear to the Consulate? For those of you USC's that have been there already, do you sit and wait or do they let you be present for the interview so long as you're quiet? Sorry if those have been answered - have had limited time today to read for answers to questions that pop into my head.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-18 15:28:00

Hey all. I've been so MIA lately trying to work on a bunch of other things, and now that it's a week away, it's back to being all I can think about.

I have a question that has come up this week. Our interview is next Friday in Montreal (Yay!!!). My fiance is visiting some friends in the southern US this week and then headed back to our house to wait for his interview. We're going to drive MTL together (lucky for us only a 6 hour drive). Our original plan was that I would take him to his mom's to wait out the week or so until his visa arrives, and I'll head home until we can return with a truck to move him. I thought that was a good plan, BUT my work interfered. I now unexpectedly have to be in the NYC area for most of the week after the interview. So since it's closer to go to NYC from Montreal than it is from home, I'm thinking I'll just drive down from there sometime during the weekend after the interview, which means his mom's house is way out of the way (like 6 hours one way the wrong direction).

SO my question... can he come to NYC with me instead of going to his mom's? I can put him on a flight, train, or even bus and have her pick him up, but if he can come with me, it'd be nice to have the company in NYC. I know they take his passport at the interview, but we both have NEXUS cards (which all of you should invest in - best $100 we ever spent), so he doesn't need his passport to get across the border. And he wouldn't be crossing with any ill intent - he would return to Canada after we return from NYC and wait for his packet to arrive.

But I feel like I'm missing some information that should stop this from being the plan, but I'm not sure what it is.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-03-18 07:35:00

March 26, 2010 at 8 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Packet 4 mailed Friday.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-25 12:08:00

Visa Arrived

Our interview was March 26, and we got our xpresspost yesterday. We had a small issue with Canada Post, but it was resolved. In the end, they delivered our package at 6 am yesterday morning, and it worked out fine. Like Kimbear, we moved last night.

We had a difficult POE experience at the Peace Bridge, but the immigration officer was very nice and that part was super easy. We did not have to go through a search of his belongings. I read a post awhile back where the agent in the booth was insistent that the people activating the visa did not have to go into secondary, and I thought how could that happen? Well, it happened to us. In the end, it was a good thing we knew what we were doing, because the border agent was insistent that we didn't need to go inside, scan his fingerprint, get an I-94, or "activate his visa."

But we're through and he's here officially! what a relief!!

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-04-07 13:00:00

DS-3025

I read a lot of threads on this when we were preparing our AOS package, and there are a ton of threads and opinions out there. There are lots of people that have submitted the vaccination sheet from Dr. Seiden and gotten approved with it without any problem. There were a few people who had gotten RFEs, but that looked rare and there could be a million underlying unknown reasons.

We wavered on whether to submit the vaccination supplement or to do the 693 supplement, because we filed our K-1 a year ago, we're tired, and the thought of an RFE that could delay us made us nauseous (I know we're all in the same boat). When we were deciding which to do, I called the civil surgeon's office to ask cost, how long it would take, what they needed, and if the USC could drop off/pick up the Canadian spouse's info. With those details, we made the decision to send in our packet with the vaccination supplement we got from Dr. Seiden, because we knew that if we had an RFE on this issue, we could get it taken care of in less than a day for $40 with the papers from Dr. Seiden. Plus, I (the USC) could drop off the papers in the morning and pick them up on my lunch hour - the CS is less than 5 minutes from my office - to get the RFE sent out that same day.

That was our decision, until our marriage certificate got delayed due to a vacation of the marriage cert. clerk (can't get a certified copy without the original certified certificate). That delay of only a few days made us think that having the vaccinations transcribed by the civil surgeon wasn't expensive, didn't require us to travel, and wouldn't risk any delay. So we changed our minds, and had the vaccination supplement transcribed onto the 693. I dropped off the papers in the morning, picked the sealed envelope up at lunch, changed our cover letter that night, and then we still waited another two days for our marriage certificate.

That's what we did and the explanation as to why - that was the right choice for us for our situation. It may not be the right choice for anyone else.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-05-26 08:17:00

DS-3025

We didn't have a 3025 either. When we were doing the AOS, it took about a week, but we were able to get in contact with Dr. Seiden's office in Toronto by leaving voicemails and sending emails. They were able to fax the vaccination information, which they said was the 3025 necessary to have the vaccination supplement done. For the 693, the civil surgeon did not need the x-ray. It cost us $40 to have the 693, and it was done in an afternoon. I know we could have submitted the information Dr. Seiden faxed us, but we had the time to do the 693 while waiting for our marriage cert.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-05-25 21:34:00

Any Canadian K-1ers going to Buffalo?

I'm the USC as well, but I work in downtown Buffalo and we live about half hour south of the city. Hubby is from Barrie, ON.

You can see our times in our signature, but he crossed at the Peace Bridge April 6 late in the evening (same day we got the passport delivered in Canada Post). A judge in downtown Buffalo did our civil ceremony for us in her chambers at Old County Hall in Buffalo on a Friday afternoon a few weeks later. It was super easy to get the marriage license at City Hall, and they gave us a certified copy for our AOS really quickly - we just asked that she expedite it and explained why when we applied for it. The Social Security Office on Union Road in West Seneca is the quickest one in the area, and go to the DMV early in the morning if you're switching your driver's license. I have been told the Buffalo City DMV knows what they are doing with transfering your license. We went to one in Cattauragus County (I thought the line would be shorter) and it took forever for them to figure out how to transfer his Canadian license. Any other Buffalo specific, feel free to ask - we'll share what we can.

To answer your other question, we filed AOS/EAD beginnning of May and got the EAD Monday (july 26), so about three months. We haven't heard about AOS yet, but are pending in California. Hoping August is the month for that!

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-07-30 14:21:00

Wedding Details

Your worried about bringing the shower gifts back to the US? I woudln't really worry about it. You don't have to pay duty for gifts i believe and if people give you money, you're allowed to bring a few thousand over the border I believe.

Before we had our shower and wedding, since we had one in Canada and the other on the other side of the states, we politely asked people to give money or gift cards. Everyone understood we'd be flying or travelling pretty far and were very accommodating.

That was my concern yes. I'm hoping that most people understand that we're going to have to cross a border, and just give us cash. There is a traditional shower to start with, and I think there will be gifts to that. I only bring it up because it's the first time we have ever traveled into the US with gifts. For Christmas's past, we have bought all the gifts in the US, and then traveled to Canada with the gifts for his family after spending Christmas with my family. We've had trouble every year at the border trying to cross into Canada with gifts for his family, so I imagined a similar experience here. Combining it with using his green card for the first time, it was making me a little anxious. I suppose though we just get to the border and see what happens. If they give us a hard time, it wouldn't be the first time (we had a pretty negative POE with the K-1).

As for the civil ceremony, I wore a gray suit and he wore dress pants and a button down. I had been at work in the morning and we were going out to a nice dinner just the two of us to celebrate. I toyed with wearing a cocktail type white dress, but decided against it because I wanted to save the white dress for our religious ceremony.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-09-08 07:58:00

Wedding Details

Ok, so since we got his green card last month, I have been trying to ignore the two country thing for a few weeks (after 14 months of fiance visa and AOS, we kind of needed that break). Our religious ceremony is here in the US in a few weeks, and I thought I had done really well considering all the international aspects until now. I'm swamped at work this week so I'm hoping this thread can help with some information, since I don't have time to do any amount of substantial research.

His family is throwing a couples shower in Canada. I'm not quite sure what we do about bringing gifts back with us? What do I need to consider? Has anyone done this? They aren't really personal effects, because they're new? It's the first time we're using his green card to cross, so I'm a little sensitive about how that goes anyway but add bringing things back with us raises my level of concern.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-09-07 10:39:00

Thanks for these posts. We need to be in Ontario the weekend of September 11, and we didn't file an AP because I thought we should be ok without one. Now given this discussion, I think we are going to send the paperwork for the AP this weekend to be safe that we have no problems. Kind of a problem for his family to throw a party for us and not have him be able to be there...

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-07-01 11:37:00

We got the notification that our AOS was transferred to California today in the mail. We hadn't gotten any texts or emails, and there was no update on uscis.gov, so it was quite a surprise when we opened the mailbox today. :lol:

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-06-05 12:44:00

Congrats Colleen. So funny you mention the postal service, because when we tried to send ours on a Saturday, Fedex said they couldn't even receive it until Monday/get it there until Tuesday. We went to the post office, and the postman said they could have it there Monday by 3 for one price and Monday by 10am for another slightly higher price. I can't remember which we picked, but we commented that we were so happy they could get it there by Monday because Fedex said Tuesday. The postman laughed and said people say that all the time, and it is funny to him because Fedex has a contract with USPS to handle all overnight packages.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-06-03 11:20:00

Anyone know anyone that did a walk-in for their biometrics in Buffalo? The Buffalo office is telling me they don't do them, but the reasoning about security fraud and identity theft makes no sense to me.

Missa - the AOS/EAD papers got to Chicago on May 3, it was logged May 7, and the money showed up missing from our account on the 8th.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-05-17 15:21:00

We overnight mailed his AOS and EAD on Saturday, so it should be to Chicago today by 3 pm. Here's hoping that we end up with a timeline like Spoom's - two months from filing, we could handle that. Fingers crossed.

We applied for his SSN on April 21, and got it on April 28. They said two weeks, but we got it in a week. We had only a little trouble, but we had the regulations that the VJ guide suggests taking. As soon as we showed the regulations to them, it went very quickly. Driver's license is the next hurdle. Hopefully we can get that taken care of this week.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-05-03 08:25:00

Well you can give them an overnight envelope (Xpresspost), that's what most of us did.

I'll tell you, my interview was on a Friday and I had my Passport and documents back by the next Thursday.

Thanks Peachey! Looks like overnight mail and crossed fingers that it returns as quickly as yours did.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-26 13:07:00

I hadn't given much thought yet to the pick up visa/mail visa thing. Can we give them an overnight envelope to mail it to us? Our interview is on a Friday so unless they'll let us pick it up the same day, we will have to go with mail. I was hoping a week though so we could get him moved over the Easter holiday. Hmmm... just when you think an interview date will help plan the next step...

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-26 12:07:00

we called dos first thing this am. they also said that the p4 aka interview letter was mailed out friday. just keep trying to call if you want to know in advance the date.

congratulations to all the interviewees! Hopefully more post some good news!

Thanks. I'm in the "wait time is 10 minutes" part, which is further than I have gotten all morning. My fiance is here visiting this week before I leave to go out of town on Thursday, and I think the P4 goes to his address in ON as opposed to my address here in NY, which is why I'm frantic to find out over the phone. I'll post the date in the March Interview forums if (I stumbled over the word "if" as opposed to "when" there) they tell me we have been scheduled. Thanks for the help and info.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-25 12:00:00

I can't get through to the DOS - just keep getting that message about how all the specialists are busy try again later. Did you all get a letter, an email, or just talk to the DOS?

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-25 11:33:00

Congrats to all who got interviews today! The listing for the CR-1 shows that there are lots of dates unaccounted for in March. Since they have scheduled all the CR-1s through December, crossing my fingers that they are going to work on the K1s from at least the same time frame next. Fingers crossed for all K-1s. Hopefully, we'll have some idea in the next week or so.

Edited by jmd77, 22 January 2010 - 10:39 PM.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-22 22:35:00

Thanks all for your advice. I hate having to wait longer, but this is the path we chose I suppose. We originally didn't want two ceremonies if possible (the legal and then ceremony for family), but I need to be able to plan, especially since we're having a destination wedding in San Francisco. So I think we may have a quickie, just the two of us (and the officiant) ceremony, and then plan our big wedding ceremony in front of our family and friends for August 9th, 2010. We'd celebrate our anniversary in August. I know many couples do something similar, I'm just having a difficult time wrapping my mind around having two. Won't already exchanging vows deminish the ceremony we'd like to recognize as "our wedding day"? I don't know...just thoughts. If we don't have any photographic evedince of our "legal" ceremony when he comes after he receives his visa (*fingers crossed*), will this hurt AOS? I haven't done too much research on AOS just yet, but will begin nosing around soon.

I know exactly what you're going through, because been through that same thought process. When we got engaged, we tried to figure out a way to qualify for any visa but the K-1, because I did not want to have two ceremonies. When we figured out that this is visa type that was our option, we agreed to two ceremonies with some conditions. We picked a date for our religious ceremony, and will celebrate our anniversary at that time. I was worried about the vows thing too, but found out that you don't necessarily have to say vows to be married. In most states, all you have to say is "I do" or "I will", so we are saving the "to have and to hold" vows for our ceremony with our families. We also are not exchanging rings at our civil ceremony, and I'm not changing my name. We are going to try to have our maid of honor and best man as witnesses to the civil ceremony, because they'd be our people signing the certificate at the religious ceremony. Other than that, we don't want people to associate our wedding with the civil ceremony - that's essentially between us and the government, so no other family or friends.

As for AOS, you'll have a certified marriage license filed with a state. From what I can tell from the research I've done, that's what they want for proof anyway. I also know two couples who did the same thing, and they did not exchange rings or change names or have people at their ceremonies.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-15 23:42:00

Thank you so much! The only thing I am worried about is that I need to send in my documents before they even schedule an interview for me. So I feel like this will delay the process since I will have to wait for an interview date after they receive the documents. And it's only 5 months 5 months yesterday! lol. I have a little countdown going!

Steflovesbran - if your packet was logged, I believe that means they have all the proper paperwork and you're just waiting on an interview. I might be wrong, but I'd call DOS at the number in your letter and ask them "do I need to send anything else prior to my interview being scheduled." I suspect they will say no, your packet has been logged, and that your letter was mailed before Montreal knew that you had forwarded the necessary Packet 3 paperwork. Which would mean you should still be ok on a June wedding.

All - I called today on a whim - I'd already called on Monday, but something in my brain was saying to call today. I got a very helpful DOS agent on the phone who said she remembered talking to me in the past. She said again that we were ready for an interview, but no date had been assigned. She asked if I "knew the problems that Montreal was having." I told her I understood there was a substantial backlog due to staffing issues, and she said I was well informed. I asked if she knew if it was true that Montreal had hired new people. She confirmed that Montreal had been building up their staff. She said they do not know how long the backlog will take to catch up, and that she had no way of knowing whether they are done scheduling for February interviews. She encouraged me to call back once or twice a week until I got an interview. I know it only tracks what others have posted, but thought it was one more confirmation of what we know.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-13 13:06:00

yeah I noticed Vermont sped up after I went through...yours took 28 days...mine took 156. Even if I was done in 28 days back then it wouldn't have mattered....I still would have waited till November for an interview. People waited from June/July till October to hear about their interview date.

I WISH our NOA2 had taken 28 days, we could have had an interview by the end of the 2009 and been married to qualify for tax credits I don't qualify for alone. That was our original plan, and I held out hope for much of November that it could still happen. But I guess one of the things we all have in common is that our plans have gone through several versions. Congrats to those of you that got an NOA2 that quickly - happy for you, just wish it wouldn't have taken 4 months for us.

No interview yet. Maybe next week. I saw they have scheduled some other types of visa interviews through the end of February, so here's holding out hope that they aren't done yet.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-12 10:50:00

Toronto Nonie's and our dates are almost exactly the same. I was frustrated when they told me in December that despite our P3 being delivered the first week of November, it was not logged until November 25.

I keep hearing the same thing from DOS - Montreal is very backlogged and they are doing their best to make it move more efficiently. I did have one phone call in December where the agent told me that there was expectation that Montreal would start to reduce the backlog after the new year. I asked if she could tell me what that meant, but she made some comment about "false hope" and reverted to the standard - there is a substantial backlog and that I should know they are doing everything they can to try to reduce the backlog as quickly as possible.

I've started calling on Mondays only, because like someone posted on an earlier page, it's too much of a disappointment to hear "no interview yet" more than once a week.

I feel for all of you that can't see your fiance often during this process. Makes me realize how fortunate we have been.

Here's hoping for good news soon!

jmd77

Female

Canada

2010-01-07 18:15:00

QUOTE (Colleens @ Nov 20 2009, 10:34 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I have been calling weekly asking the dreaded "any interview yet" question

Still waiting!! The waiting definitley is most difficult the closer you get to the end.

Any word on your interview ColleenS? Our packet 3 was only a couple days behind you, so we may be close together on the interview. Last Friday, DoS told me everything looked perfect but that Montreal had not assigned a date yet. This waiting/no control is the worst.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2009-11-30 09:39:00

QUOTE (ScooterMac @ Nov 20 2009, 07:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

QUOTE (Peachey @ Nov 19 2009, 08:56 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

202-663-1225

Press 1, then 0. Don't listen to the menu, it's super long.

Make sure to have your consulate case # ready.

Oh thank goodness I haven't had to dial that number in almost a month!

Thanks. That was very helpful, even if she didn't have any information for me.

jmd77

Female

Canada

2009-11-20 08:31:00