Forum	Title	Content	Member	Sex	Country	Date/Time
Canada	Police Check Expiry	I just took my Packet 3 checklist in to the RCMP detachment by my work, showed it to them, and they knew exactly what I needed - a Canada-wide name check report. Edited by HeatDeath, 10 May 2012 - 07:23 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-10 19:22:00
Canada	Police Check Expiry	Mine said on it that it was good for 6 months, which could have been cutting it fairly close to my interview date, but when I emailed Vancouver about it they said they considered them valid for a year regardless of what was printed on it.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-09 22:33:00
Canada	Vaccines.. ugh	I did MMR and Varicella titers tests, and did TDap at the travel clinic in Vancouver on the day of my medical. Those were the only ones I needed.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-11 22:49:00
Canada	What is an overstay exactly?	Unless they informed you specifically otherwise (and they most likely would have provided documentation as well), Canadian tourists are admitted for 180 days. Changing your arrival date a few days from what you told the CBP officer is not going to be considered an overstay unless it takes you past 180 days, or a date stamped in your passport or written on an I-94. You're fine.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-21 23:03:00
Canada	K1 Fiance visa and work visa	You may be thinking of the TN visa. A TN visa, as you say, is handed out at the border if you show up with a job offer letter and proof of a relevant university degree. TN visas are only good for a very specific list of professional, university-degree REQUIRED, jobs listed in the NAFTA act, and anyways, you don't want to use a TN visa to enter for marriage because TN visas are strictly non-immigrant and temporary. They get you in for 3 years at a time, and can only be renewed once or twice. Moreover, if they find out you have an American fiance and that you intend to marry and adjust status, they simply won't give you a TN visa. TN visas are only for people who intend to work temporarily in the US and return to Canada when their work term is done. And even if you do manage to get through the TN interview at the border without mentioning your existing K-1 application or impending marriage, USCIS may just consider that big an omission to be material misrepresentation when you go to file AOS after the wedding. So it's a bad idea. Best just to wait for the fiance visa to finish processing. Trying to game the system by switching tracks to the TN midstream will enormously complicate things.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-29 09:39:00
Canada	Amtrak Maple Leaf	I did Amtrak from NY to Montreal about, oh... 25 years ago. Great, now I feel all old and stuff.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-05-31 21:20:00
Canada	Kind of an unusual question..	You should look at the California DMV website, and call them to confirm, but if you're just going to have to redo a road test anyways, there is no point at all in rushing to get the license before you move. Utah made me redo the road test, and I'd been driving for 15 years. Funnily, I almost failed the road test for driving too cautiously.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-06-26 01:35:00
Canada	Kinder Eggs	I was always a little disappointed by Kinder Eggs. I'd always get the stupid cardboard jigsaw puzzle while everyone else got the cool little plastic cars or animals. Also I was never a huge fan of their chocolate -it always seemed a little plastic-y to me.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-07-19 19:04:00
Canada	Record of Employment for Employment Insurance	You don't want them to enter "Quit". If you quit voluntarily, without them having done something wrong, you aren't eligible for EI. You definitely want the RoE to reflect "Relocated for Marriage".	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-01 09:47:00
Canada	Last check and signing off from Canada for the last time!	They won't recognize the phrase "activating my visa". It will momentarily confuse them. Say instead that you want to enter the US with your visa. Also, it can be a good idea to call ahead a day or two in advance to tell them you're coming in with a K-1 visa. You may be more likely to get someone more familiar with them and things may go more smoothly than they might otherwise. Also, know the approximate blue-book value of the car you are importing, you'll need it for the import form. If you have to guess, you may want to lowball it a little - some states use the value of the car as the basis of a 1-2% import fee when you go to register it. There is a US$6-US$7 I-94 fee you have to pay when you drive in, but that can be paid using a Canadian credit card, so don't worry too much about that. Check all of the information on your I-94 (which should read single-entry) before you leave the PoE. Correcting stuff on it later can be a pain in the rear. Bring a book. Sometimes PoEing by car is done in 15 minutes, sometimes it takes over an hour, it just depends on the officers you get. Have a vague list (Box1 - Books, Box2 - Clothes, etc) of your belongings. They won't want to see your chest x-ray, but you should probably have it easily accessible anyways. Good luck and Congratulations!	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-01 09:55:00
Canada	What to send for AOS re: medical	I was able to get a complete copy of the medical report from Woking at PoE. [The clerk at the consulate told me to ask for one of them (there are 3 in your consulate sealed envelope) and the CBP officer (I drove in) was relatively unfamiliar with the process and gave it to me. This is apparently quite unusual, other people have tried what I did and been told no.] Anyways, no: the form in the sealed envelope is not an I-693 or a replacement for it. You should still send an I-693, with the immunizations transcribed onto it by a civil surgeon in the US. Where the extra envelope from Woking will be handy is if USCIS lose your whole medical and issue an RFE for a brand new medical, which, while rare, is not unheard of [I think it is less common than it used to be]. That is when you would send them your extra Woking envelope. Keep it, and keep it sealed, until they ask for it, or your GC is in your hands. Edited by HeatDeath, 08 August 2012 - 02:09 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-08 14:06:00
Canada	Medical in Toronto	What others said above. His chronic medical condition will not cause him to fail the medical, as long as he brings in a letter from his current physician documenting it. At the consulate, the IO's biggest concern will be that he continues to have access to medical care/insurance when he arrives in the US. They are legally obligated to be reasonably sure that the intending immigrant will not become a public charge, so they will want to make sure that he is protected against the possibility of a sudden six digit hospital bill followed by bankruptcy.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-10 10:56:00
Canada	Question Regarding Border Crossing	It's good to check these things. Most Canadians, remember, don't need to show ties to the US - their claims to be temporary visitors are, in the vast vast majority of cases, accepted at face value. It's just those of us with USC significant others and future immigrant intent that need to show ties to Canada.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-16 11:05:00
Canada	We're FINALLY home!!	I PoE'd through Pembina/Emerson with my K-1 back in 2009. I feel for you - they don't seem to have a real good grasp on visa processes [or customer service!] there. I didn't get as many questions as you did, but the ones I got were quite pointed. On top of that they didn't want to import my car - no reason not to, they just didn't want to be bothered. There's no feeling in the world quite like the relief you get having cleared the border after a long sit at the PoE, is there? Welcome to the US!	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-16 11:01:00
Canada	Crossing border as a teacher during summer	For 4 years prior to getting engaged to MY USC now-wife, I drove down to Salt Lake City from Winnipeg every summer and spent at least a month there. The only time it was even close to trouble was the last time prior to starting the K-1 process, and my wife was with me. The officer was very gruff and "doing things RIGHT", and I think he wasn't going to let me in until we stated an intent to do a fiance visa. When I was alone, it was no problem. I just told them I was visiting friends/girlfriend for 4-6 weeks, and that I was a teacher and had to be back by late-August/whenever to start school.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-06-04 09:55:00
Canada	Taxes to import your car?	Some states use the value of the car you declare on the import form as the basis for a 1-2% import tax, depending on the car's age. Most places will charge you a fee of some sort to register the car and get local plates. It can vary immensely from state to state. The PoE itself will not charge you to do up the import paperwork. The charges come later when you bring the import forms the PoE stamped for you to the local DMV to register the car.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-29 01:42:00
Canada	Importing Vehicle	Hi, I was planning on importing my car to the US, however decided against it because I was worried we would run into trouble at the border and it would have been too far to turn back around if that did happen. I believe you will have to contact Hyundai AMERICA to make sure that it meets all AMERICAN standards... not Canadian because remember you are importing to the US... Hope that helps! The fax you posted means your car is fine to be imported. The FMVSS line is the important part. the trouble you would run in to, if any were likely, and it isn't, would be later, when you go to register the car with the Illinois DMV. But as long as you have a proper import form, that normally goes very smoothly. Regarding emissions, California is a world of its own. I am virtually certain that Illinois does not require cars to be compliant with California emissions standards to be registered. A call to the Illinois DMV will confirm that. All any car needs to be imported is to be compliant with what the regulations were at the time of manufacture. that's why the compliance letters are worded that way. They do not intend to obligate owners to keep up with changing regulations and keep an aging car compliant. In some cases that would even be impossible - changing regulations sometimes effect things as basic as the structure of the monobody. They can't very well be expecting people to replace that with an aftermarket upgrade! Edited by HeatDeath, 10 April 2012 - 12:58 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-04-10 12:57:00
Canada	What Are You Reading?	Currently Reading: Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid, by Douglas Hofstadter The Last Temptation of Christ, by Nikos Kazantzakis The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkein Next Up: Eternal Security, by Charles Stanley Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand If you have any interest in computers, mathematics, or how thinking works, GEB is one of the best books ever written, by anybody, ever.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-07-19 11:09:00
Canada	Woking Medical is CLOSING	If you are AOSing within a year of your K-1 medical [very likely], you do NOT need another medical in the US. What you will need to do is find a local civil surgeon, once you arrive in the US, to transcribe your vaccination information onto a USCIS form I-693. They seal this in an envelope which you include in your AOS packet. The only reason you would need a second copy of your full medical results would be if USCIS lost your medical somewhere between your PoE and your AOS adjudication and issued you an RFE for the full medical. This used to be somewhat more common than it is now, but was always quite rare. Woking did not offer this when I went through (in Spring 2009) and it was always insurance against a fairly rare occurrence.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-19 22:53:00
Canada	Children's Programming?	Do any Canadians (or Americans who know what I'm talking about) know where I can buy or obtain several hundred hours of The Friendly Giant, Mr. Dressup, or early 80's Canadian Sesame Street? [I'll settle for Reading Rainbow in a pinch.] I've got a 7-month old who's going to need children's entertainment and NickInc, The Disney Channel and the Elmo Show just aren't going to cut it, I'm afraid. Edited by HeatDeath, 16 February 2013 - 12:07 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-02-16 12:07:00
Canada	Do I still have to file Canadian taxes if I don't live in Canada?	Sorry, I don't understand the point you are trying to make. Could you please elaborate? Apparently, it has been the experience of some people that CRA can, in some cases, be overly conservative when considering, based on remaining property and ties to Canada, whether or not a person is still a resident of Canada for tax purposes. Some of these people feel, and write rather convincingly, that CRA, given the opportunity to choose, have and will tend to rule that people are residents of Canada, even if the remaining ties to Canada are fairly thin (a few remaining bank accounts, RRSPs, maybe a cottage somewhere), in order to [somewhat self-servingly] maximize their own tax revenue. These authors make a case, in my opinion a not-unreasonable one, that it is better not to give CRA the opportunity to authoritatively rule on your Canadian residence, given any reasonable alternative. Clearly, if CRA request and require you to fill out an NR73, you have no option. But it is the considered opinion of these authors that this is not a course of action you should undertake willingly. They hold that the normal course of action - filling out a leaving-Canada tax return and then not filing any more - is perfectly in accordance with Canadian tax law and that voluntarily filing an unsolicited NR73 invites additional attention - almost certainly unwanted attention - from a government agency who's interests do not necessarily (or even likely) correspond with your own.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-04-09 22:49:00
Canada	Do I still have to file Canadian taxes if I don't live in Canada?	Ack! NO! Do NOT file an NR73 unless you are basically ordered to by CRA! If you give CRA the opportunity to deny your non-resident status, they are, apparently, according to several sources I've read, much more likely to do so than if you simply leave, declare that you have left Canada on your last tax return, and file no further returns. You are not legally required to fill out the NR73, so don't unless they tell you to. And even at that, do not fill it out without professional help.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-04-08 14:16:00
Canada	US Consulates in Canada	I'm from Winnipeg originally as well. Yeah, you'll be going through Vancouver. Start saving for that trip now. I was able to do the medical and interview in one 2-day trip, but they've changed which medical clinic you can use and apparently synchronizing medicals with interviews is harder than it used to be. Edited by HeatDeath, 19 April 2013 - 06:37 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-04-19 18:37:00
Canada	Travel to Canada with Green Card	Your list of documents is fine. GC, passport, and marriage license is sufficient to cross the border both ways.   Check with your health insurance company - they may already have basic travel coverage included.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-06-17 23:26:00
Canada	Why did you pick K1 vs CR1? (for Canadian beneficiaries)	My trip to Vancouver was $1200 all in for consulate fees, medical fees, flights, hotel and food, although part of that is that I was able to find a very cheap hotel next door to the location of the former medical clinic, and I was able to fit everything into 2 days.   It's probably a win, particularly if you factor in inconvenience and time off work.  Edited by HeatDeath, 18 June 2013 - 12:46 AM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-06-18 00:45:00
Canada	Why did you pick K1 vs CR1? (for Canadian beneficiaries)	We picked K1 primarily because we didn't want to be separated after the wedding. One additional advantage with the K1 for us was that the K1 let us go through Vancouver, which was noticeably quicker and easier than Montreal at the time.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-06-17 23:24:00
Canada	Options, if any, available to help bring extended family members to US	There are no niece/nephew family visas unfortunately. They aren't considered immediate relatives.   Some people consider adoption in circumstances like these but adoption doesn't create a relationship for the purposes of immigration unless both parents are deceased.   The easiest option might be student visas, which can in principle be arranged for school-aged kids. I don't know any of the details on that though.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-06-25 12:58:00
Canada	Vaccination Records	I assume you meant tetanus not tuberculosis. Lol. Oops. Yeah.   I think my point got across though.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-07-01 16:24:00
Canada	Vaccination Records	As a 30ish male in April 2009, I needed 3 vaccines: Varicella, MMR, and TDap (and it had to be specifically TDap. No other TD vaccine would do). I couldn't get my immunization records easily, and of course my paper copies were buried or long gone, so I got the titers blood tests for Varicella and MMR, free from the province. The immigration medical clinic accepts those blood tests with no problem at all.   Unfortunately, there is no blood test for TDap. I tried to get it from my Manitoba Health doctor, but he wouldn't give it to me because A ) Manitoba uses a different Tuberculosis/Diptheria shot, and B ) because I was out of the age range for it. I notified the immigration medical clinic of this. they said they see this situation all the time, and arranged for me to be able to get TDAp at a travel medical clinic in downtown Vancouver on the morning of my immigration medical, for an extra $50 or so. Edited by HeatDeath, 30 June 2013 - 09:55 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2013-06-30 21:54:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	An I-551 is a Green card. I Googled it You aren't renewing your green card, you are filling to remove conditions on your residency which gets you a 10 year card. When that expires in 10 years if you choose not to become a US citizen, then you would file an I-90 to renew your card. Oh, derp. I should have remembered that. Oh well. Despite it being classified internally by USCIS as a "Form", you can't fill one out or file one with USCIS. So the general point stands.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-11-20 10:57:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	Thanks for the help HB, just to make sure the I-751 is the form I use to renew my GC for the first time? I've heard ppl mention you need to file form I-551 to renew your GC? Which is correct? If you look at the USCIS website, under "Forms", there isn't actually any such thing as an I-551.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-11-18 12:20:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	You need to fill out a USCIS Form I-751, put it in an envelope with a stack of supporting evidence, and mail it to USCIS. They need to receive it at least a week or so before your green card expires, but they must not receive it more than 90 days before your green card expires. You will need to include a cheque written to the US Department of Homeland Security for $590. Full instructions, including the address to send it to, can be found here: http://www.uscis.gov/i-751 If you search in the Removal of Conditions forums, you will find many people's sample evidence lists, and some sample cover letters. Mine is here: http://www.visajourn...etter-and-list/ Your evidence will vary, but a set of similar variety and size should cover all the bases. Edited by HeatDeath, 17 November 2012 - 07:32 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-11-17 19:22:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	Got approved today!!!! Woohoooo! 3 weeks after the RFE. I put a new thread out there about it but I'm so relieved! Good luck guys! : ) Congrats Igg! You too, Darkchilde. Wow, VSC is murder, isn't it? Apparently, naturalization is much quicker.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-11-08 14:59:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	The November 2011 Vermont RoC filers are being processed now. December 2011 should start seeing VSC approvals within the next 2-3 weeks.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-08-10 20:47:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	Quick update: I was approved on March 28th, and received my card 5 days ago! Yay!	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2012-04-09 14:29:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	Awesome! Congratulations!	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-12-07 23:26:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	That's what we did. My mother in law wrote it. I tweaked it. We printed out another one and both my in-laws signed and dated it.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-11-27 20:05:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	My mother-in-law did a first draft based on the I-751 instructions, which I tweaked to make sure it hit all the points in the USCIS instructions PDF.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-11-27 18:23:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	Nothing i sent was notarized. Its not required ! We had like 4 pictures in there thats all. I' m freaking out because i have heard nothing since the biometrics letter and i'm scared of not getting an RFE or something lol Also scared im going to be one of the people not approved after 10 months and hear nothing at all and be stuck applying for citizenship in a " forced " way. Also my husband is active military and could be PCS to another country or state at any day/time so pretty much live on the edge of my seat every day waiting for this stupid approval =/ I structured the one affidavit we sent by just carefully parsing the description in the I-751 instructions. They don't mention notarization, so I didn't do that. They don't mention SSNs, so I didn't include that. I think the I-751 sample cover letter and affidavit here need to be reworked. I tried to use them as a base and found the tone and content was a very poor fit to the USCIS instructions and the sample cover letters for previous filings provided here. I ended up building mine basically from scratch, with a little bit of verbiage pulled back out of (of all things) the I-129F cover letter (which remains excellent). ... I think that, for RoC, not hearing anything for months and months once you get your bio appointment is pretty normal. My AOS was the same way too: bio appointment, a touch a day after that, then nothing for a couple of months, then a Card Production Ordered email. I'm praying RoC is exactly the same, except I know RoC will be even longer, even at the CSC.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-11-23 11:12:00
Canada	Fellow Canadian VJers removing Conditions..	My first post here in...like...forever! But yes, I'm in the same boat now too. I've got the instructions printed out and am fretting, of course, over making sure I've got enough support information to file this thing. I'm a tad confused about the affidavits -- are they written first, then notarized...or do they have to be written AT the notary (or BY the notary, for that matter)? I don't want to overthink it, but being in USCIS' thrall again worries me. Hope y'all are well! My take on affidavits: http://www.visajourn...n-and-response/ My cover letter and list: http://www.visajourn...etter-and-list/ Edited by HeatDeath, 15 November 2011 - 10:25 PM.	HeatDeath	Male	Canada	2011-11-15 22:25:00