Entry into US from Canada after NOA1?

[Like mice in a maze 0]

You see, our NOA1 was dated April 1. On the 7th of April, my fiancee crossed the border, no hassles, just for the weekend. She's planning a longer visit in May. Spoke to an immigration lawyer specializing in Canada to US immigration today, she said that it's very likely that since we've filed for our K1 that Tamara will be turned back if she tries to visit. Yikes! This was not in the plan -- I don't remember reading it anywhere on this site or in the documentation. Anybody have any experience in this area?

Thanks for any advice!

Joe

[silverbutterfly228 0]

This topic is very much talked about on this site. Lots of people have done it. Make sure she has a letter of employment stating she is returning to her job and if she pays rent a letter saying she will continue to do so would also help. Anything proving she has strong ties to Canada and will not be staying permanently. I am leaving next week from Ontario, Canada to visit my fiance in Connecticut. I'll post on here how mine went. I pray I get a good POE officer and make it across.

[SENKA 0]

We've received NOA2 in January, and I visited my fiance in February even after receiving a Packet 3 from the consulate as I wasn't even aware this might be a problem. It went o.k. at the POE.

I also think it's a good idea to take something to prove your fiance is going back to Canada.

Good Luck

Senka

[Like mice in a maze 0]

Thanks for the advice Senka and Silverbutterfly. I have searched the site here and found lots of useful information. One thing I haven't seen though -- any thoughts on whether it's safer for the fiancee to travel alone through customs or for us to go together? We have a plane ticket together but I imagine it might raise more questions from the customs official if we're going through customs together. On the other hand, going through separately and saying we're travelling alone would not be the truth, and that could present a problem too? Any thoughts here, experienced ones?

Thanks again,

Joe

[elizaxyz 0]

We'll be trying this next week; after reading all the posts here I've advised him to have plenty of paperwork to prove he's going back to the UK-- letter from his boss, copy of the deed to the house, the chit from the parking garage at the airport where he's leaving his car! I'm a little nervous, but I'm pretty confident he'll be ok.

[Tex'n'Brit 0]

Hi there,

I have been told by more than one POE officer that once a visa application has gone in one is not supposed to return to the USA. However, in reality it seems to be in the lap of the gods and the whim of the particular US POE officer you deal with. I'm sorry to say I have read a few horror stories from Canadian VJ'ers in the past - driving across seems particularly unpredictable.

Before we applied for my K1 visa I had some grief trying to visit my USC from the UK, in fact I thought I was going to get turned around the last time I visited him. Needless to say I was very worried about trying to visit while the application was going through, but then I found such a cheap flight that I thought it was worth the risk (I'd get the airmiles whatever happened and I wanted to start doing some wedding planning!)

In the end I landed in Chicago and pitched up quivering at the POE desks wondering if it was going to be one ot the shortest transatlantic turnarounds on record. I struck lucky though - the USCIS guy was a sweetheart - I took him the truth about it being a wedding planning trip and he wished us both the best and good luck with the visa too ... He had jumped through all the very same immigration hoops for his Mongolian fiancee, now wife ... and somewhat ironically, all her citizenship application paperwork had gone missing in the system recently, so it shows that immigration workers aren't immune to delays and bugs in the system either!

All the best and let us know how the POE goes won't you!

Sheila