Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Canada	IR1 / CR1 - Montreal Timeline to Interview	Poor Trailmix lol i do not envy you with fixing that	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-03-15 18:49:00
Canada	IR1 / CR1 - Montreal Timeline to Interview	"A 'B' may be fine in school, but if you don't get the 'A' at the Embassy, you might as well just stay in Canada!"	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-02-28 19:59:00
Canada	IR1 / CR1 - Montreal Timeline to Interview	I'm sure it will all be ok mal and sdw. You guys have lots of evidence etc. We are all crossing our fingers and toes for you this week. Just try and relax (i know easier said than done) and remember we are all praying for you.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-02-28 19:31:00
Canada	when should i officially freak out?	Congrats Val!! its about damn time. Better get the soon to be hubby packing! lol Hope the poe and wedding are painless after this treck of yours!	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-22 10:30:00
Canada	when should i officially freak out?	i had to call canada post, and they told me their tracking system was screwed up. i got it before they even knew it was picked up. and yes 2 weeks is the norm usually. they from what i saw around my time, send them out on friday and canada post records it on the monday then a week or so to get to you. i was in ontario as well.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-14 09:26:00
Canada	when should i officially freak out?	kind of a let down, right? get all pumped like, "finally an interview!!!" go to the interview and she's all "you're PROBABLY approved" and then...crickets ps flames: i was born in falls church, lived there till third grade. little house on lily pond drive. did they give you a welcome to the usa letter? or a k1 faq letter? i got both when i was there, thats how you know your approved, they tell you the what to do at poe and after you marry bit.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-01 12:56:00
Canada	Well, I just don't know what happened	woot congrats on the ROC Approval!	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-03 13:08:00
Canada	Explain how to pay interview fee at Scotiabank?	well this is a direct copy of the p4 i linked previous page: http://montreal.usco...ument=visa_pkt4 Schedule your visa interview appointment Please visit CSC VISA INFORMATION SERVICES, http://canada.usvisa-info.com/ to obtain information online or via telephone concerning scheduling an interview appointment for you and those family members included in the petition. If you have not previously registered your information and selected a DHL courier location on this website, please do so now. You must have the Passport Number, Date of Birth, Nationality, MTL case number, and visa category for each applicant (principal applicant and all family members, including children) ready in order to access the website. When prompted to select "Trip Purpose", you must choose 'Permanently Immigrate to the US.' After entering your information, you will be prompted to select an appointment time for you and your family. i've bolded the part that you said you did, and from all the info on the consulate site, that seems to be the appropriate option. just bring the other stuff with you. Edited by Kimbear, 22 September 2010 - 11:38 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-22 11:36:00
Canada	Explain how to pay interview fee at Scotiabank?	This is all so confusing......... Our packet 4 letter states to pay the visa fee at the consulate; it makes no mention of paying for it online nor was i even prompted to pay for it online. There are a few of us that have successfully booked interviews without having to do so. Are they sending out the wrong letters to people? I can't figure it out....I thought only CR1's paid before hand? According to the montreal consulate website which has been redesigned here: http://www.consular....fees_canada.asp it states all application fee payments are now being made at time of sceduling your interview? Also now like vancouver you can get your p3 and p4 online here: http://montreal.usco...&document=index Seems they are tryign to make ppl contact the consulate even less for questions now. However it does state directly on the copy of the P4 that you pay at the consulate: Fees If you have previously paid all fees due to the National Visa Center, there will be no additional fees to pay on the day of the interview. If you have not paid fees at the National Visa Center, please be prepared to pay the following fees on the day of your interview. I-130 immigrant petitions filed in Canada: $404.00 US for each applicant For each family member (spouse/children) added to a petition: $404.00 US for family based applications and $794 US for Employment based. SIV cases: $379 US. K (fiancé/e) visas: $350.00 US cash only All fees may be paid in US dollars or the Canadian dollar equivalent. We accept cash and credit cards only. Please note if a person is found ineligible to receive a visa, the application fee cannot be refunded.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-22 10:25:00
Canada	Explain how to pay interview fee at Scotiabank?	I would just be careful carrying the cash with you to the consulate if you so choose to do it that way. The building really is in a sketchy looking area. LOL you obviously have never lived in or around Montreal The are is fine and safe. And there are guards there and the taxi service has an area right beside where they wait for their next calls for pickups. Mostly grad students living in that area.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-22 10:16:00
Canada	I-485 for AOS - Mistake in Example Form?	shoudl be same number on your noa2. always use that one., should also be on the visa	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-23 14:58:00
Canada	What are you watching?	i dont really watch tv that much, right now all i watch is true blood, other than that hubby and i like supernatural and dexter. i gave up on 24 2 seasons back..i just could not get into it anymore. usually we just buy certain series on dvd like csi ncis and watch them when we want with no rush. true blood..took me til the 3rd season to get into it, and even now, it's just an excuse to go visit the sister in law	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-09 14:33:00
Canada	Edmonton POE	Congratulations!! Hope you have a wonderful wedding!	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-24 15:30:00
Canada	How did you assemble you AOS package?	little tip for you, each separate app gets pulled apart and sent to diff locations. so i assembled mine with big clips each one as a section with supporting evidence,	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-23 14:56:00
Canada	Anyone feel like they've made a huge mistake?	Jus' continuing the hijack... Bagels? Obviously none of you were raised in Montreal! Hmph. The only true bagels are from Montreal, and maybe NYC. http://www.stviateurbagel.com FTW and omg you can order them hubby promised me sometime this year we can order them..i'm almost drooling just thinking of them...sigh	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-05 10:14:00
Canada	Anyone feel like they've made a huge mistake?	Gemmie, can you put a lock on the door? that was one of my issues as well..we got the " its our house" thing a few times /sigh. we wanted our own phone line, for internet, or to add a cable connection, we were going to pay for it, a proper install and everytying, and all we got told was "its out house we dont want holes etc"....like wth..and we wanted the lock for privacy too, but alas...like they said..it was their house...	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-03 08:35:00
Canada	Anyone feel like they've made a huge mistake?	Today is one of those days. My best friend back home has moved into her new apartment with her boyfriend, who just got a new job. Incidentally, he was barely looking, just scanning ads for months, until she finally told him how important it was, and then bang - he's employed. I saw on Facebook that an old friend just had her baby and is talking about how her life is complete, and she asked me "so when are you having a baba then?". And someone that moved to the US and got her work permit a fortnight ago has just landed a job. I feel like I'm behind some tinted window that can see everyone else living life, but they can't see me. I feel like I don't exist over here. Having to be alone everyday and browse search engines to send off the same stuff is absolutely draining. I'm just running on auto-pilot. Sometimes I feel like I'll never get a job or move out of his parents, or have that life of our own that we dream of. My husband spent the weekend telling me that we're going to have all of these things, and a little part of me believed it. But today is... one of those days. Gemmie, i know how you feel. i barely check my facebook anymore. I'm 36 and time is ticking away for us for a family as well. Living with the in-laws as nice as it was sometimes, i always had someone to talk to whether i wanted to or not lol, but it did get draining after a while, espeically when i keep getting asked about looking for jobs etc. and how much longer for me to get my green card. David does his best to calm my fears of the future, he managed to find us a place to live that albeit is from paycheck to paycheck, but it's our own place, it's near his work and friends, and we have our privacy back again, which was a big issue before. It will work out for us both, it may take its sweet a$$ time, but it will happen. Just gotta remember that once this is all over, we can only go back up from here. Now if only i could figure out how to fix my resume and make it look good after not working since december 2008...ugh.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-02 14:59:00
Canada	Anyone feel like they've made a huge mistake?	oh god...i forgot what Nostalgia feels like.....lol And those two used to scare me LOL. jeez..and they are still around doing their thing..man i feel old now..lol.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-02 14:51:00
Canada	Anyone feel like they've made a huge mistake?	The cess pool of Canada ha ha. Maybe you really don't want to go over there if you can help it or at least find a better place beyond Windsor. Only reason I go there once every year or two is to see all my friends and college buddies from the UofW. City wise the place has gone into a wasteland... The only reason i moved to windsor was to be closer to David in chicago during our K1, ugh. no offence..but i really disliked the ppl there and the area overall. i rarely if ever even left my apartment unless i had to. shudder. then again, i was right near all the boarded up houses on the side of the bridge. blech. Sometimes i really miss the quiet and the clean air of vankleek hill ontario. living in des plaines with the noise from the airport, sirens etc, i go out with my dogs, and my head just wants to explode from all the ramdom noises and loudness even the cicadas are too damn noisy. i know eventually i'll get used to it. but every time i complain my husband thinks that i think it was a mistake to come down here. we finally talked this weekend about why i seem sad lately, and i told him i am happy to be with him, but that i'm just having a hard time adjusting. And just like huggles, i occasionaly let the "but in canada...." slip out too. but i've only been here for 3 months, so that is normal. i dont miss canada due to family, because well, i dont really have any family. or anyone i would consider family, which i discussed in another thread. to be honest, i think it's just the fact that i am still getting used to the area, where stuff is, and sometimes i feel like a kid in a shopping mall that wandered away from her parents. As for friends, well even the ones i have kept in touch with via facebook, rarely if ever ask me how things are, they are all too wrapped up in their own lives to remember why we were friends it seems, and that saddens me as these are ppl i have known for 20 plus years. oh well I have met a few people here, mostly the gf's / wives of davids friends, but we dont really have too much in common, and more often then not when we are with them i end up sitting alone in the corner not knowing what to say. then there is the shopping, trying to find brands items to replace what i'm used to in canada, trying to figure out why one brand is not the same in both countries, trying to remember that temps are in F not C, and converting gas prices so that i can understand them lol, like 3$ for gas a gallon when i'm used to 1$ litre, i'll be like omg thats so expensive, and david reminds me to convert it and then i figure out its cheaper lol. Or if i see him doing 80 in town i have to remember miles not KM, hehe, But it's little things like that which just add up some days, and make me miss canada ya know? You realize that you're comparing Windsor with someone that lives just outside Detroit right? i'll never forget the time david drove down from chicago, had to get off the hwy in detroit due to construction, got lost and called me in windsor in a panic, cuz every gas station he passed had cops with sirens LOL. poor guy was scared so bad.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-08-02 09:25:00
Canada	Crossing the border with a border ...collie!	Just be warned, depending on how long your in secondary, you may come back to a mess! lol they got into the dog food and it was ripped open and everywhere, they ate teh entire bag of liver treats i had just bought, they chewed up the shifter between the two front seats, and had wondeful gas for the net 5 hours!!! And they slobbered over each and every window..i had to stop and by windex cuz we could literally almost not see out them.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-28 11:48:00
Canada	Eating Differences	i put mayo on just about everyting, hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches. ketchup i dont use on sandwiches but i do add it to the mayo on same items. most meat like roast beef etc its' mustard. lately i've been putting bbq sauce on most of my stuff...i have no idea why. lol. maybe it's been too long since i had a bbq meal? although what i miss..is good old HP Sauce... A1 just is not the same. Edited by Kimbear, 28 September 2010 - 11:44 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-09-28 11:43:00
Canada	I-864 Tax Return Question	oops my bad i'm terribly sorry ! thought the op was talking bout canadian taxes. and if i had of had my coffee i would have realized my reply did not make sense!!! d'oh! just ignore me lol	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:40:00
Canada	I-864 Tax Return Question	Errrrrr, even if you had no income you should file. you still get GST and provincial tax refunds etc. i have not worked since 2008 and i always filed, and always got money back. you can still file for the years that you did not. just download a copy of those years and fill it out and send it in. It's also one of the only ways for the gov't to update your info for Elections Canada. Edited by Kimbear, 01 October 2010 - 08:32 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 08:31:00
Canada	Civil Surgeon for Med Docs	Like huggles and Colleens said, i just did a letter and sent off a copy of the medical worksheet for the vacinations. i have a letter posted in a thread for vero to show what i wrote in mine. quite a few of us did not bother with the i-693, and so far it worked out fine UNLESS you get the bad luck of the POE losing you bloody medical like poor Ashen went though.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:51:00
Canada	Mving... where to begin!?!?!	i chose the downsizing / spring cleaning method LOL. and was left with a carful of stuff. and i bought new once i moved.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:54:00
Canada	Evidence of I-864	haha i submitted more than we needed as well just in case But like Inky said you don't need that much, unless your sponsor doesn't make as much. we just sent the irs transcripts, few months worth of pay stubs and a letter from employer. that was it.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 09:01:00
Canada	Montreal interview 25 Sept	congrats..wow you got there that early and it took that long to get out? things must be very busy there now. i was out by 9ish. guess the new system they are using takes longer or they are still learning how to do stuff	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:57:00
Canada	What's the best bank?	Bank of America is not that great. The overdraft fees are $35 per transaction. If you have more than one outstanding transaction, they will apply them so as to maximize the overdraft fees. If you track your account line, transactions disappear for a while between pending and being committed. This means your balance can be radically different than what shows. Some transactions will take days to move from a placeholder amount ($1) until the real amount shows up. Restaurant tips can take up to 2 weeks to show up. They put unreasonable holds on cheques that are clearly valid (student loans, etc.). I will be looking for an alternative upon my arrival--maybe a credit union. that can be an issue with ANY bank, its not the banks fault, that is the store or gas station who only proccesses transactions once a day or more. we had that issue with a range rover gas station, it was because they only post the transactions ONCE A WEEK..needless to say we stopped going to that gas station. and anyways, you should be monitoring this with your check book and balance it if you want to stay current. Every bank has overdraft fees, however you can set it up so that they will never authorize an overdraft, and well if you bounce a check that is yer own fault lol. you can go here to check / compare bank rates etc with most banks: http://www.bankrate.com/	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:30:00
Canada	What's the best bank?	based on my and hubby's experience, he was with chase and charter one. he always had issues getting things fixed, getting a ton of service charges for nothing, getting any money back. the best was when the machine up in canada ate his card, and he was scrwed for a month cuz they wont issue a new pin number. it was not like in canada where we just go in and change it. now we are with bank of america. it's one of the big banks so it wont go kaput like the smaller ones. i find they are very friendly on phone and in bank, i can always get an answer to my question, and i absolutely love the online system for bill payments etc, i also love the keep the change program. it's where you make purchases, and they round the amount up to the next dollar, and put the difference in your savings account. great for me as i have a hard time saving. they will also contribute a max of 250$ each year to your account, they match whatever you put in and already we have saved up 200$ since may just by using out debit card. we have checking savings with them, and no fees or anything, was super easy to get the join account too. OH and they have no issue taking your Canadian checks Edited by Kimbear, 01 October 2010 - 08:50 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 08:49:00
Canada	Montreal Consulate	OH yeah..nothing like asking a question in JEST and people taking it seriously..PEOPLE CHILL!!!!!!! I know it's a long wait, I know lots of others have been waiting a lot longer than we have. The reason I asked was that I had read people contacting a senator or congress person to look into the case at the USCIS level and some having some success, others not so much. So, it was a curiosity question and totally trying to be light hearted..I guess some people here have thin skin here and probably have no sense of humour...carry on VJ'ers... Sorry to say but this is not the place for a jest question. People's lives are on hold. If you expected half, if not all of the community to NOT take this seriously, then you might want to think before posting this type of question.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 18:03:00
Canada	Montreal Consulate	el oh el..talk about a loaded question. uscis states that if due to an error on their part they will expedite the petition. they DO NOT even practice their own rules, if they did i would not have waited well over a year for my interview. and not even my congressman could do anything about it. this is a touchy subject, as there have been military couple who did not get much of an expedite. i would tread carefully and do not be surprised by the replies you have received. honestly, if you are only in the noa1 stage, sorry to say, but "suck it up" and wait like everyone else has to for the NOA2. getting expedited is nearly impossible. maybe you should go read the requirements on the govt site. Edited by Kimbear, 01 October 2010 - 10:38 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-01 10:36:00
Canada	Received welcome letter and SSN	congrats Brocku00! wow 2 weeks..nice!	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-03-18 10:27:00
Canada	Starting to panic	I know how you feel Leslie, my interview was near the end of the month and my landlord had already rented my place and kept asking me when ni was moving out. i asked him for 2 weeks til the 10th or so of april just in case and every day he kept calling me asking me if i got my visa yet. I was so worried i'd have to stay at a hotel or something to wait for my visa. and it took a while with the holidays too with can post being closed and the consulate so i was going nuts lol. then i found out canada post had a glitch and could not track my passport so i was extra freaked! but i did get it! i had a really nice post lady and post office near my place and i called them and they called me back when they had it to let me know it was out for delivery! so hang in there i'm sure you will get it!	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-05 08:27:00
Canada	How long does the mail take?	i live in chicago and mail takes almost 2 weeks for me and that's just bank statements etc. from ontario to here. mail time is major suckage here sending it back is almost worse.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-12 11:03:00
Canada	HEINZ ketchup!!	They have it a Kroger too, I was shocked Most of the stores in chicagoland have had it for a few months now..i did a Happy dace in the store when i saw it! LOL. my husband is not fond of ketchup and doesn't understand my "obsession" with it	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-10-23 10:26:00
Canada	HEINZ ketchup!!	ya that is just wrong..you do not put it on timbits!! lol	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-05-17 15:23:00
Canada	HEINZ ketchup!!	we just bought a low sodium ketchup made with Alsosalt it's called, i guess it's like the salt version of Splenda. it was heinz too. found it at a kroger in rockford illnois. not bad. i never use ketchup on my fries..i love mayo on em instead. mustard i reserve for roast beef sandwiches etc.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-05-17 11:08:00
Canada	HEINZ ketchup!!	My husband never thought to mix ketchup in to KD. I find that weird OMG i tried to do that last night..and david wanted to puke..	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-05-17 11:04:00
Canada	Mysterious Medical Forms	I got a call from Dr. Seidon's office today. They save scanned copies of all of the forms. They are going to fax them to me, but they will be photocopies not originals obviously. I am going to send those in and see if they will accept them. oh thats fantastic! when was your medical? just wondering as they told me they do not keep copies and mine was back in January. wondering if they changed things since. oops nvm i see seans was in november. at least if you get them you'll have copies for his immigration file at home now! Edited by Kimbear, 03 November 2010 - 07:42 AM.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-11-03 07:41:00
Canada	Mysterious Medical Forms	from what i have read, this basically means they lost your medical somewhere between POE and UScis. however how we prove this i have no idea, as there is no signature required when we hand over the paperwork at the border, but it is a requirement for us to process our k1, for them to let us in the states. this is sooo frustrating and i'm so sorry for this. but it is a worry i've thought about for a while with me and colleens delay as well.	Kimbear	Female	Canada	2010-11-01 22:35:00