Canadian DCFs Waiting for Interview in Montreal

[bscobrown 0]

I am also in the same situation. It costs over $600 to go from Vancouver to Montreal for our interview. The only thing I have found is the following:

http://travel.state.gov/pdf/supplements/MTL-SUP-ENGL-0704.pdf

The only thing I am not sure about is whether the child is the beneficiary. I have read in other locations (I'm not sure where) that the only time a child under 14 years needs to attend is if they are the sole beneficiary (only an I-130 for the child).

It really pays to send a letter to your senator. They have a direct line to the consulate. As of now, they are looking for more info on this for me and should have a response back to me on this situation by the end of the week.

Here is another great link for when you do end up in the United States. Due to the child citizen act of 2000, your children will be citizens the moment the stamp is placed in their passport. You can go as soon as you like and get an American passport for them.

http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html

Speaking of them being an American citizen, you don't need to file an I-864 for them. If you file an I-864W I don't think you need to include them in the calculation of family size. The whole reason for the affadavit of support is to make sure that the new immigrants do not immediately apply for welfare. My understanding is, since they will be American citizens they are eligible for state welfare, etc.

Hi Sean214 - has your American wife lived down in the States for at least 5 years? If she has, your kids can claim their US Citizenships, and then they don't have to go through the whole Immigration process. We did this for my son (my husband is a US Citizen). It's MUCH easier than dragging them through the whole Immigration process. Getting his US Citizenship was fairly straightforward. My husband had to provide his birth cert and proof that he lived down there for at least 5 consecutive years (things like high school or University transcripts and tax returns are good proof). You need to have originals of your kids birth certs, and they'll want to have a look at your Canadian passport. We took all of it down to the Consulate in Vancouver and they looked after it all there. The whole process didn't take more than a few weeks for us. I can't remember the exact website we went to to find all the info, but if you Google "claiming US Citizenship for children" or something of that sort, you should find the info. If you run into a problem let me know and I can look back through our files to get more info for you. If you get moving on it quickly I bet your kids could have their US Passports before you get your process completed!!

Good luck - and I hope you don't have to drag all those kids to Montreal!! I'm VERY grateful my parents will be able to look after my son while I go out for my Interview in November... A 5 hour plane trip each way with a toddler is NOT my idea of a good time!

[Sweetcheeksss 91]

Due to the child citizen act of 2000, your children will be citizens the moment the stamp is placed in their passport. You can go as soon as you like and get an American passport for them.

That only applies if:

"What Are the Requirements of the Child Citizenship Act of 2000?

The child must meet the following requirements:

Have at least one American citizen parent by birth or naturalization;

Be under 18 years of age;

Live in the legal and physical custody of the American citizen parent; and

Be admitted as an immigrant for lawful permanent residence.

In addition, if the child is adopted, the adoption must be full and final."

*EDIT* - sorry, I should have looked back to your 1st post and realized your child does have a USC parent.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Sweetcheeksss

[aimal 0]

Ok, here is a more in-depth review of my interview:

Arrived at the embassy 45 minutes early and there were already about 10 people in front of me. The embassy opened at 7.30am. It took about 15 minutes to get through security. There were 2 queues - one for US citizens and one for everyone else. After security we sat in a downstairs waiting room before being escorted into an an elevator to go up to the consulate. Once we were in the consulate we queued for a number (note that this appeared to be a bit of a free-for-all - to be number 1 in the queue you need to be 1st out of the lift upstairs, not 1st in the line outside the embassy!).

After waiting for about an hour, the immigrant visas started being called (around 9am). I was called up to a window where a woman asked me for a few forms - basically the ones listed on the interview letter. She then sent me to go pay (used a credit card as I thought the fee was $350 US but was actually $404 - didn't have enough US cash).

I was then called to a private window inside a small room for the interview. I was aksed a bunch of fairly standard questions (where do you live, what is your job etc). The interviewer spent a fair amount of time going through the financial support docs, then disappeared for about 15 minutes. They they returned, they went over domicile. The questions were essentially "You need to prove you are serious about moving to the USA". I had all the docs that people on here have listed lease agreement with family, voter reg, drivers licence, bank statements etc, pretty standard stuff. We are selling our place in Vancouver so I had the MLS listing - if you are currently renting a place in Canada I guess a letter to your landlord saying when you will leave would be good. We are moving to the US for family reasons so I explained what they were, and also what we were doing in Canada (I am not a Canadian citizen or permenant resident). After the questioning the interview said "Welcome to the USA" and handed me the letter.

I was done by around 10.15am I think.

Now just waiting for my passport to be mailed back and we can plan the final part of our move.

Some advice - label all your forms with tabs at the top. I seperated mine into 3 stacks with bulldog clips - one with the copies of my passport etc, one for financial support docs, and another for evidence of domicle. Made it easy to locate docs when they were requested. At one point they asked for copies of my partner's US passport (which I didn't have) - luckily they found a copy in our file with the I-130 docs - it may be worth taking a copy of your partner's docs with you just in case.

Also, Montreal is a fantastic city to visit if you haven't been, so try to make a mini-vacation of it if you have to travel to the interview from out of province.

At this point I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone here on the visa journey website who have helped massively with the myriad of forms that are required and helping to keep me sane the past few months

Special thanks to birdnerd for starting this thread to get all the Canadian DCF's together in 1 place

[tauruslady 0]

That was a Great Review.Thanks for the tip on who's the First line and what not...

For those who are looking forward for their interviews including me... lets wish each other Good Luck and with matching prayer we can get our Visas done.

In preparation for the Interview, What I did with mine is that I bought a ready-made plastic binder from Dollar store.

I separated my docs from my daughter's personal docs

With Embassy checklist provided,

Each plastic on the binder contains individual docs ( Passport, photos, police clearance, marriage, Birth cert)and labeled them with a sticky on the side

I also have a separate plastic binder for I-184 and I-134 ( Affidavit of Support) as well as separate plastic binder for Domicile

Each supporting docs under these Affidavits are also labeled ( job, Drivers license, bank, car insurance, etc)

Then one last binder for Miscellaneous ( anything like my US petitioner's information, passport, etc)

I still have to comply with other more docs.

Hope this helps

[choles 0]

Thanks for the organization suggestions taurus and superspur.

Congrats superspur!!! You must be so excited and relieved!

Thanks for the detailed review, that is really helpful for us.

Would you mind sharing exactly what you had as proof of domicile? This is the one area we're really worried about - I, the USC (choles's wife) won't be getting a job, so there's no job offer to show, we'll likely be staying with family to start out with (what did you use for your family lease agreement), and I don't have school age kids - those seem like the main proofs of domicile, so I'm wondering what in the world we should do now?

Anyone else who has ideas for us, please share!!! We have the basics like my driver's license, voter reg, I have a bank account there, but that doesn't seem like enough at all.

Thanks everyone, and congratulations again superspur! Adichiwa we're waiting to hear from you!

[superspur 0]

Would you mind sharing exactly what you had as proof of domicile? This is the one area we're really worried about - I, the USC (choles's wife) won't be getting a job, so there's no job offer to show, we'll likely be staying with family to start out with (what did you use for your family lease agreement), and I don't have school age kids - those seem like the main proofs of domicile, so I'm wondering what in the world we should do now?

I was very concerned about domicile as well, especially after reading on here about how strict Montreal are on this. I went into it expecting to be denied until further proof was provided (we tend to prepare for the every possibility to ensure we have a plan).

For domicile we had a standard lease with family, drivers licence, voter reg card, bank statements, moving quote, MLS listing of our place in Canada, and an application for a professional licence in the USA. Essentially all the docs that other posters have suggested.

The lease was a standard lease for the state we are moving to - just google lease agreement for the state you are moving to and draw one up between you and your family who you plan to stay with.

I can't say what was the main factor they considered for our proof of domicile - we don't have kids and don't have jobs in the US either. I don't know whether it was the documentation we had or our personal circumstances (age, wealth, status in Canada, education, qualifications, family, reasons for moving).

[housewife 1]

Can't wait for DH and mine. (I'm the american). I'm so ready to move.

Good luck to all and congrats to superspur

[canok 0]

If they've mailed you a P4, that means you're eligible for interview, so you are fine to go ahead and book a date. Once you've booked your date, then you can book a medical. You will want to bring your P4 letter to that, so give it another week or so, and if you haven't received it yet, then ask them to send it again. But there's nothing in it that you need to book an interview.

Watch out for the glitch, though, it takes you to a 'login' page for CSC. Ignore this, press 'back', and try again. If that doesn't work, call your local access number. These are found a page or two back in the thread.

Hi birdnerd,

I have gone ahead and booked my interview for December 3rd In your last reply to me, you mentioned asking "them" to send my package again, if I have not received it... well I am at that point now, where I have not received my package and I have contacted the DOS and they mentioned that they do not have copies of any of the letters that go out, so do you have any idea who I should contact now? I'm getting somewhat frustrated and I don't know how to get in touch with these people.

[choles 0]

I was very concerned about domicile as well, especially after reading on here about how strict Montreal are on this. I went into it expecting to be denied until further proof was provided (we tend to prepare for the every possibility to ensure we have a plan).

For domicile we had a standard lease with family, drivers licence, voter reg card, bank statements, moving quote, MLS listing of our place in Canada, and an application for a professional licence in the USA. Essentially all the docs that other posters have suggested.

The lease was a standard lease for the state we are moving to - just google lease agreement for the state you are moving to and draw one up between you and your family who you plan to stay with.

I can't say what was the main factor they considered for our proof of domicile - we don't have kids and don't have jobs in the US either. I don't know whether it was the documentation we had or our personal circumstances (age, wealth, status in Canada, education, qualifications, family, reasons for moving).

Thanks for sharing the details superspur, I really appreciate it. I'm just worried since we don't have any of the big domicile proofs for me (the USC) and even my husband likely will move first and then get a job, so we're going on like no proof at all.

Did they ask why you're moving? Is it enough to say I'm tired of Canada and miss my family?? Seriously though, our main reason is to be with my family again for family support with our kids, etc - I hope they'll find that to be a good enough reason!!

Thanks again

[birdnerd 5]

Hi birdnerd,

I have gone ahead and booked my interview for December 3rd In your last reply to me, you mentioned asking "them" to send my package again, if I have not received it... well I am at that point now, where I have not received my package and I have contacted the DOS and they mentioned that they do not have copies of any of the letters that go out, so do you have any idea who I should contact now? I'm getting somewhat frustrated and I don't know how to get in touch with these people.

Hi canok,

I believe you mentioned that DoS told you a P4 had been mailed to you, correct? It might take a while to get to you. Mine was 'sent'/dated Sept 9, arrived at my house Sept 17. If you haven't received anything by mid-October, you can send an email to Montreal asking them to re-send any documentation, let them know you never got it. I don' think the P4 is as huge a deal as it used to be, when it had your interview date in it - the medical clinics required this before you could book. That's not the case now.

[birdnerd 5]

At this point I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone here on the visa journey website who have helped massively with the myriad of forms that are required and helping to keep me sane the past few months

Special thanks to birdnerd for starting this thread to get all the Canadian DCF's together in 1 place

Awesometastic, superspur! Congrats, and thanks for the great review.

Please keep us posted on how long it takes to get your passport/visa back.

Thanks for the props. It felt a bit lonely when I thought it was just me doing this process.

[birdnerd 5]

Further to the above, did you need the Xpresspost envelope, or are they sending your passport back DHL?

[birdnerd 5]

Please remember to create/update your own VJ user timeline!

Name...............................I-130 Filed.........................DS-230 Returned..........................Interview Date......................DTI

tauruslady.......................May -- 2009..............................Oct -- 2009................................Oct 26 2010.....................390* (resched from Jan 2010)

dawnlinnet .....................Oct 27 2009..............................Feb 15 2010..............................Sep 29 2010....................226

superspur.......................Nov 21 2009..............................Feb 15 2010..............................Sep 24 2010.....................221......APPROVED

pinguino_41....................Jan -- 2010................................Mar -- 2010...............................Sep 29 2010..................~212

birdnerd..........................Jan 25 2010...............................Mar 26 2010..............................Oct 20 2010....................208

Adichiwa.........................Jan 5 2010................................Mar 27 2010...............................Sep 24 2010....................181

choles.............................Mar 1 2010 (?)..........................Apr 23 2010.................................Nov 2 2010.....................193

heatherd29.....................Mar 5 2010..................................??????????...............................Nov 19 2010...................???

leonsgal70......................Mar 18 2010..............................Apr 26 2010

kimberlyk21....................Mar 19 2010..............................May 10 2010...............................Oct 27 2010.....................170

bscobrown......................Mar -- 2010...............................May -- 2010

aimal.............................Apr -- 2010.................................Jun 2010.....................................Nov 30 2010...................182

canok.............................Mar -- 2010...............................Jun 28 2010.................................Dec 3 2010....................158

dabigbass.......................May 18 2010..............................Jul 12 2010................................Nov 15 2010.....................126

Shimmer4554..................????????...................................Jul -- 2010

sammy060382................Feb -- 2010................................Aug 5 2010

blackjasmine......................Apr 23 2010..................................Aug 6 2010.............................Nov 9 2010......................95

housewife...........................Jul 13 2010.................................Sep 21 2010

AMERICAN/CANADIAN........Jul 8 2010..................................Sep 21 2010

Sean214..............................????????........................................?????????

Still to come:

Abike...................................Sept 2009

Saad & Sumera.....................Mar 2010

tablespin...............................May 2010

digoman..............................May 27 2010

mllover................................Jun 11 2010

Erdestino............................Jul 21 2010

Stephen&Kim

Edited September 29, 2010 by birdnerd

[OBX 51]

Thanks for sharing the details superspur, I really appreciate it. I'm just worried since we don't have any of the big domicile proofs for me (the USC) and even my husband likely will move first and then get a job, so we're going on like no proof at all.

Did they ask why you're moving? Is it enough to say I'm tired of Canada and miss my family?? Seriously though, our main reason is to be with my family again for family support with our kids, etc - I hope they'll find that to be a good enough reason!!

Thanks again

While I did not go through via DCF I believe that the rule is that the non-USC must enter the US at the same time or later than the USC spouse. You might want to double check on that if you were planning on having your husband move down first. Good luck !

[superspur 0]

Thanks for sharing the details superspur, I really appreciate it. I'm just worried since we don't have any of the big domicile proofs for me (the USC) and even my husband likely will move first and then get a job, so we're going on like no proof at all.

Did they ask why you're moving? Is it enough to say I'm tired of Canada and miss my family?? Seriously though, our main reason is to be with my family again for family support with our kids, etc - I hope they'll find that to be a good enough reason!!

Thanks again

Yes, they did ask why we were moving - our reasons were for family as well, similar to yours. Also as mentioned by OBX, the US citizen has to move first or at the same time as the beneficiary.

Further to the above, did you need the Xpresspost envelope, or are they sending your passport back DHL?

I took an expresspost envelope with me - the letter they handed me said something about DHL but I was told to ignore it as I had the envelope. I guess they are switching to a new system or something.