DS 230 Question #35

[iampatricias 17]

Hello all,

I'm living near the US/Canadian border and often make casual trips into the States for shopping, work dinners, or dropping friends off at the airport in Buffalo.

Question 35 on the DS 230 says "List dates of all previous visits to or residence in the United States. (If never, write "never").

I've compiled all my overnight stays in the States, including all my visits to my fiance, but to what extent should I write all the day trips I've ever made? I fear that I am going to forget quite a lot of visits, and that I'm really just guessing vague dates for the ones I can recall. How precise do I need to be for this question and how far back should I go?

[Inky 1,110]

I have made MANY shopping trips from Ottawa to NYC. When I filled out the trips portion I had to attach a page to get all the trips in. On the attached page I put " Many trips through out the years to NYC for shopping and sight seeing. "

You could always put something like " many shopping trips/dinners/day trips to the USA. "

The interviewer said it was fine what I wrote because I couldn't remember all the trips but that I was accounting for the fact that I had made quite a few trips. He made a funny comment about how the shopping in the US is much better than Canada but that Montreal shopping was like shopping in Paris.

I would just write a couple of sentences explain vaguely the numerous trips and if they have to ask you about it they will.

[iampatricias 17]

Well that is certainly reassuring! My overnight trip list already requires an attachment so I will add something underneath to the effect of "many day trips for shopping etc.".

Thanks Inky

[HeatDeath 430]

That was what I put. There was a line in my list-of-trips attachment that said "Numerous trips to Grand Forks between 1984 and 2005, all under 24 hours", or something very close to that.

The US consulates in Canada know that many Canadians go down to the US for daytrips on a regular basis and that no documentation is likely to exist. I wouldn't try this if I was from anywhere else, though.

Edited February 9, 2011 by HeatDeath

[lovetimhortons 1]

i did the same as inky & heatdeath. i wrote "numerous day trips and short stays to various cities in the US for visiting friends, shopping, and sightseeing." before i met my fiance, i was traveling to the US quite frequently for shopping (i lived in the toronto area), attend occasional conferences (for work), family trips (we went on a few cruises through american ports), shopping trips to NYC/ visits to various cities in the US. they ask what type of visa, so i just put "visitor" (although i think over the last 3 years before i applied for K1, my passport was only stamped B2 on one occasion." no one asked me any further questions about it, so I'm assuming it was fine.

the other thing i did do, however, was list each visit to the US to visit my then-fiance (dates, location) on that list. (that ended up being at least 12 visits!) good luck!

Edited February 9, 2011 by lovetimhortons