My Wife (Canadian Citizen)'s Situation Help & Advice Please!

[s4837 0]

<-- Sigh --> a very long, long time ago I was once a Canadian permanent resident as a teenager. Came back to the U.S. after high school. Maybe I should consider the DCF route... The approval of the app may be quick but the wait time for the interview appears to be easily 6 to 8 months as well. Don't think I am a Canadian permanent resident at this point though. That was some 19 or 20 years ago.

I am, needlessly to say, very sad at the moment...

[Marilyn. 340]

<-- Sigh --> a very long, long time ago I was once a Canadian permanent resident as a teenager. Came back to the U.S. after high school. Maybe I should consider the DCF route... The approval of the app may be quick but the wait time for the interview appears to be easily 6 to 8 months as well. Don't think I am a Canadian permanent resident at this point though. That was some 19 or 20 years ago.

I am, needlessly to say, very sad at the moment...

yeah I just found this,,,

Keeping your permanent resident status

Your permanent resident status allows you to live in Canada, but there is also a time limit on how long you can live outside the country. To keep your status as a permanent resident, you must live in Canada for at least two years within a five-year period.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/newcomers/about-pr.asp#keep_status

[Flames9_RN 358]

<-- Sigh --> a very long, long time ago I was once a Canadian permanent resident as a teenager. Came back to the U.S. after high school. Maybe I should consider the DCF route... The approval of the app may be quick but the wait time for the interview appears to be easily 6 to 8 months as well. Don't think I am a Canadian permanent resident at this point though. That was some 19 or 20 years ago.

I am, needlessly to say, very sad at the moment...

Doesn't appear u are a permanent resident any longer--nor are you in canada. This may be 1 of the situations and contact a lawyer for a 1 time visit for info!! Personally i would contact 2 or 3 lawyers and see what info they give you----as there are people on here that have gotten terrible info from a lawyer--which did more harm than good!

Could she try and re-enter the USA?? Sure why not--but be prepared to be turned around again!! But bring concrete evidence that she wil return to canada or Taiwan (letter from employer stating when she is expected back to work, apartment lease, return airfare) But even with 100% concrete evidence, they can still say no----All boils down to the POE officer. My advice on visiting the USA is down below in my signature!!

Start investigating the cr-1 and k3 visas , there are + and - of each : http://www.visajourney.com/content/compare

for the majority, the CR-1 is the better way to go as it is a superior visa than the k3 (read the + and - of above link) BUT if she lives in western canada, the K3 may be a bit better if speed is more of a concern for you!! vancouver does K3(but NOT cr-1) Montreal is the only consulate in Canada to do Cr-1!! But Vancouver is usually much faster than Montreal (they do k3 as well for ontario and eastward)

NJ tends to be slow on the weekends, so responses may slow down!! read the guides (cr-1,k3) and review the process! The paperwork isnt that bad----its the waiting that sucks! Probably around a year of it!! Its at the interview where one would file the Waiver--if required! many that think they may have to file a waiver--bring the info with them! Nope, it doesn't get approved on the spot (sorry) but saves you a postage stamp!! And others have been denied entry and didn't cause a problem! But I guess your problem is more of the overstay! But ask a few lawyers for their time and see what they have to say! have ur questions written out, as time is $$$. Best of luck

[s4837 0]

Thank you. I reviewed the Canadian residency info and after coming back to the U.S., she and I have been together almost all the time so that might quality me as a resident on technicality (you can be outside of the Canada with a Canadian citizen who is a partner/spouse). However, that is an extremely long shot as I don't have ANY of my Canadian PR info any more. Just too long ago, so I will look into it, but don't anticipate any progress with that approach.

I understand that for most people, the issue with K3 is the hassle and the inability to start working immediately. Not that we are wealthy or anything, but she would not have to start working any time soon at all so the biggest downside of K3 would simply be having to kind of go through the process twice.

(I am in the process of looking into K3 process time in Vancouver <-- where we met some 19 years ago... going back to looking for that info).

Edited October 23, 2010 by s4837

[Flames9_RN 358]

Didnt realize you had been with her all that time, maybe that wil be to your benefit--and still a CDn PR, I have no clue,lol.

If you can do the k3 thru vancouver, it "may" shave soem time off, or it may not!! The process is not always cut and dry! back in 2004 we did the k3 and cr-1 at same time (not sure if 1 can stil do that????) and in a perfect world, the k3 should have finished well ahead of the cr-1, but nope!! I was already in the USA on my CR-1, before the k3 had been approved,lol

At least with the k3---you would be together. EAD takes around 3 months. There are cr-1//k3 timelines in the cdn forum! Hopefully things will speed up

[s4837 0]

My sister just told me when we moved back to the U.S., we "officially" gave up the Canadian PR in an effort to do everything properly so definitely not a Canadian PR at this point. I am sure she is correct. It was a long shot to begin with and might not be any faster anyhow, so that option is now officially closed - Unless I move to Canada to become a Canadian PR, which I looked at their score calculator, and I received 87+ out of 100 on the score card (You need 67 to "qualify".). Still, that's neither here nor there, and I was looking at every option.

And, indeed I was with her most of the time. She was on a student visa and TN with a couple of companies but we did whatever we could to be at the same place geographically (which was the reason she moved to Oregon with me and gave up her TN with the previous employer).

[Flames9_RN 358]

I guess your prob may be that u were not married to her when you were a Cdn PR, or where you??? There used to be members that knew a fair bit about CDN PR, but they have departed! You may want to search ou the VJ member trailmix and send her a PM about Cdn PR stuff. No clue if she will respond, as she no longer posts here. But one gets a lot of "family member" says this--which turns out to be wrong!! many constantly hear "ur married to an American, you automatically get US citizenship!!" NOT!! lol

[s4837 0]

It looks like a temp waiver may not be out of the question after all while I file CR-1. Here is the CBP document explaining it.

Of course, this would completely depend on the CBP. I hope I am not reading it incorrectly.

[s4837 0]

Oops, I gave the wrong link above. This is the document that explains temp waiver for Canadians who have overstayed. Again, hopefully I am not reading it wrong and it will be up to the discretion of the CBP.

Edited October 23, 2010 by s4837

[Flames9_RN 358]

Not much help from me--most I have read on VJ is people submitting the waiver at the time of the interview. Do a search on VJ for "-I-192"

As well check out http://britishexpats.com/forum/ I believe there were some very knowledgeable people on their that knew a fair bit about waivers

[amykathleen2005 441]

The K-3 will not work, they have been cancelling the applications and forcing people to do CR-1 instead.

[Flames9_RN 358]

The K-3 will not work, they have been cancelling the applications and forcing people to do CR-1 instead.

Do you have any proof of that?? There have been Cdn lately

[amykathleen2005 441]

Check out the important notice: here

[Flames9_RN 358]

The K3 still exists according to that link---but gets nullified if the I-130 beats it or its tied!! For most the Cr-1 is the far better visa anyways!

[s4837 0]

The K3 still exists according to that link---but gets nullified if the I-130 beats it or its tied!! For most the Cr-1 is the far better visa anyways!

My wife and I have been combing through the documents on that. That is our understanding after reading the official docs. Wouldn't that also mean that we should just go ahead and file for BOTH, and see whichever one comes through first?

Edited October 24, 2010 by s4837