Prepping for Interview tomorrow....

[Tithen 4]

Simple questions... or I think they are. lol

We submitted a copy of his divorce decree when we filed. We are taking the original with us. I don't have to copy it again do I? The amount of stuff we are taking with us tomorrow is getting a little out of hand. LOL. Trying to cover our butts since we have very little in our combined names (basically just our leases's and our apartment insurance) Every single utility we have has denied our request to put it in both names and since we're 500 miles away from his bank we can't even add me on that.

Second, we are unsure of how to explain my overstay. Anyone who we talk to assumes I came to get married. Which isn't true, since we were under the understanding that we coudln't get married until March, and I was going home in Sept. Then we found out that we COULD get married as soon as his divorce was final, just not in our home state. Our original plan had been for us to file for the K visa in in March of this year or for me to go back for another long visit once I could go back to the US and get Married in Canada this summer and file that way. But to admit that the lawyer showed us a loophole kinda seems... wrong? I could care less if she gets in trouble, but I don't want to!

If we do get RFE's for them wanting more evidence of our relationship being real.. what's the best way to do that? I've already printed every single photo that we have together. I've seen people say they've had people send notarized letters... who exactly are the best people to do that? We don't have a lot of friends except for the lady who stood for us at our wedding.

I'm already suspecting we'll get an RFE for no long form birth certificate. I can't wait to go home and ask the lawyer for a refund of 75% of what we paid her...she insisted that she's never had a Canadian client be rejected for a short form.. now I know why, she doesn't really deal with them after the initial meeting! argh.

[sheeshkabelle 153]

Simple questions... or I think they are. lol

We submitted a copy of his divorce decree when we filed. We are taking the original with us. I don't have to copy it again do I? The amount of stuff we are taking with us tomorrow is getting a little out of hand. LOL. Trying to cover our butts since we have very little in our combined names (basically just our leases's and our apartment insurance) Every single utility we have has denied our request to put it in both names and since we're 500 miles away from his bank we can't even add me on that.

Second, we are unsure of how to explain my overstay. Anyone who we talk to assumes I came to get married. Which isn't true, since we were under the understanding that we coudln't get married until March, and I was going home in Sept. Then we found out that we COULD get married as soon as his divorce was final, just not in our home state. Our original plan had been for us to file for the K visa in in March of this year or for me to go back for another long visit once I could go back to the US and get Married in Canada this summer and file that way. But to admit that the lawyer showed us a loophole kinda seems... wrong? I could care less if she gets in trouble, but I don't want to!

If we do get RFE's for them wanting more evidence of our relationship being real.. what's the best way to do that? I've already printed every single photo that we have together. I've seen people say they've had people send notarized letters... who exactly are the best people to do that? We don't have a lot of friends except for the lady who stood for us at our wedding.

I'm already suspecting we'll get an RFE for no long form birth certificate. I can't wait to go home and ask the lawyer for a refund of 75% of what we paid her...she insisted that she's never had a Canadian client be rejected for a short form.. now I know why, she doesn't really deal with them after the initial meeting! argh.

I would make another copy just in case. You never know what happened to the first copy.

Just explain, that you didn't intend to come here to get married, but it happened, here you are. They might grill you over 'visiting' while he was technically still married. It may look like you just hung out waiting on the divorce to be finalized. Explain it the best way you know how. (I'd be sweating bullets!)

The lawyer telling you there's a 'loop hole' is unprofessional. She's basically telling her clients to commit immigration fraud by misrepresentation. Stupid attorneys.

You probably will get an RFE for the birth certificate thing. Most provinces are pretty quick at getting them to you, even in the US. I'd definitely tell that lawyer where to go and how to get there after she gives you a refund.

Edited April 23, 2012 by sheeshkabelle

[Tithen 4]

Thanks!

I'm seriously ready to kill the lawyer. I'm tired of delays because of her!

He filed for divorce in January. I came in April. Divorce finalized in August (before my stay was technically over)... however, we're stupid people and were waiting for a "certificate" to show up in the mail... we didn't realize that a divorce certificate is just a stamped copy of the papers we had... they'd been sitting on our table for two weeks. We got married exactly 30 days after his divorce finalized.

and yes, I am sweating bullets!

Edited April 23, 2012 by Tithen

[jdh 103]

I would make another copy just in case. You never know what happened to the first copy.

Just explain, that you didn't intend to come here to get married, but it happened, here you are. They might grill you over 'visiting' while he was technically still married. It may look like you just hung out waiting on the divorce to be finalized. Explain it the best way you know how. (I'd be sweating bullets!)

The lawyer telling you there's a 'loop hole' is unprofessional. She's basically telling her clients to commit immigration fraud by misrepresentation. Stupid attorneys.

You probably will get an RFE for the birth certificate thing. Most provinces are pretty quick at getting them to you, even in the US. I'd definitely tell that lawyer where to go and how to get there after she gives you a refund.

Just to be clear, the lawyer is not telling clients to commit immigration fraud by mispresentation.

The OP claims she did not come here with the intent of getting married. She got married and the lawyer instructed her that she did not have to go back to Canada but that she could AOS within the country. That is not committing fraud. If you call USCIS they give the same instruction - they did for my wife and I. AoS is designed for exactly this kind of situation.

They also likely will not grill you about overstay - it is forgiven for the spouse of US citizens. Don't stress over it.

Hopefully you won't get RFE'd for the short form certificate...why are you so sure you will - some people don't. A lot of Canadians don't even realize there is a such thing as long form and there are some cases that do not get RFE'd for it.

[grrrrreat 109]

Just to be clear, the lawyer is not telling clients to commit immigration fraud by mispresentation.

The OP claims she did not come here with the intent of getting married. She got married and the lawyer instructed her that she did not have to go back to Canada but that she could AOS within the country. That is not committing fraud. If you call USCIS they give the same instruction - they did for my wife and I. AoS is designed for exactly this kind of situation.

They also likely will not grill you about overstay - it is forgiven for the spouse of US citizens. Don't stress over it.

Hopefully you won't get RFE'd for the short form certificate...why are you so sure you will - some people don't. A lot of Canadians don't even realize there is a such thing as long form and there are some cases that do not get RFE'd for it.

I agree about the lawyer. People on this forum overreact to immigrant intent issues. If you thought you would have to go home before you were able to get married, but then realized, with the lawyer's help, that you were eligible to get married right away after the divorce and adjust status, by definition you did not have immigrant intent (since you had no idea you would even be eligible to stay). A lawyer pointing this out is not immigration fraud, it's the opposite of immigration fraud and it's an example of a lawyer giving good advice.

I agree it could come up in the interview and you need to be able to explain it, but if what you're saying here is true there was no fraud and the lawyer was not advocating fraud.

[Tithen 4]

No, we consulted the lawyer BEFORE we got married, and she gave us all the options that were out there that her clients have used. They included the K visa's. Getting married in Canada and adjusting from there. And getting married within the USA as soon as his divorce finalized and adjusting from there. She even said that was the most common and by far the easiest (and cheapest). We had actually gone in to see if there were any ways for me to come back to the US with out us getting married, and were told we'd have to take our chances with the border and it would be hit or miss (I'd have been in the US about 4.5 months).

Then 2 days before we were set to leave for Canada I called the Bride from the wedding we were attending and spoke with her, and she told me not to come home, to stay and start my new life, I could come home in 2012. So.. I did it. lol. Thanks to technology I still got to attend, from the comfort of my bedroom with a laptop. suddenly I wish I had a paper invitation for her wedding, and it's too early in the morning to get someone to scan one.... ####### (was my cousin, I was just told when to be there lol).

I guess it could be argued a few ways. When I crossed the border I did intend on immigrating just not on that specific trip. I told the border guy outright what my plans were. I was going to spend the spring and summer with my boyfriend, who would probably become my fiance while I was there, and would immigrate in 2012. Now that I think of it, the border guy asked me why I didn't just stay and get married and immigrate while I was there. I was under the impression that was the biggest taboo there was, and would guarantee my being deported and us being separated.

4.5hrs until we leave for the City... *so nervous*

[Little_My 464]

OP - It is HIGHLY unlikely they will ask you about the intent issue, and even if they do, it his highly unlikely it will become a problem. And as has been established on these forums many times, intent alone cannot be used as grounds for denying an AOS application, the IO would need to have something in addition to that. I was also freaking out about intent issues before my interview and when we filed, and for absolutely no reason. Just relax and take a deep breath - as long as your relationship is genuine, and you have proof of that and your paperwork in order, chances are you will be perfectly fine.

I agree about the lawyer. People on this forum overreact to immigrant intent issues. If you thought you would have to go home before you were able to get married, but then realized, with the lawyer's help, that you were eligible to get married right away after the divorce and adjust status, by definition you did not have immigrant intent (since you had no idea you would even be eligible to stay). A lawyer pointing this out is not immigration fraud, it's the opposite of immigration fraud and it's an example of a lawyer giving good advice.

I agree it could come up in the interview and you need to be able to explain it, but if what you're saying here is true there was no fraud and the lawyer was not advocating fraud.

People don't overreact to intent issues - the thing is, that though everyone on these forums know how easy it is to come here on a non-immigrant visa with intent to immigrate, but never have that come out and proceed to AOS without any problems whatsoever, this is still not a legal way to go about it. People on this forum are just very careful to in any way advice people to take that route, or say anything that could be interpreted as advising someone to take that route, because that would be against the TOS and also visa fraud. I am not saying you have done this, but this is why we are careful with the intent-topic - not because we think the chances of it becoming an issue are great, because they are not. But, on the other hand, the risks one takes by using a non-immigrant visa to enter with immigrant intent are also pretty big, which is why I personally think it is always very important to make sure the couple in question is aware of the issues before they make a decision.

Once the person is in the country, intent often becomes a moot point - unless the foreigner was directly asked about intent when crossing back, and his/her response went on record, it is very unlikely the intent issue will even be raised in the interview. This is the case with OP - she is in the US, and by the looks of it was never asked about intent when she came originally. I'm sure their interview will go just fine.