URGENT: Visiting Spouse with I-130

[scotiadallas 0]

Hi All,

It's my first post but I've been reading a lot about my wife starting a DCF petition for myself.

BACKGROUND:

She is a USC who has been in Canada for the last 17 years. I am a Canadian citizen. We were married 6 years ago but have been together for 10.

She signed a contract for a USA job that starts on December 1, 2012. I was originally going to stay in Canada and sell our house and wrap up our life here, but now it looks like I don't have much choice (with the Visa situation).

We are going to send our DCF filing to the Chicago lockbox in the next week. I was reading a few threads about DCF's from abroad being "fast-tracked" and taking between 5 - 15 days. I know that there is no such thing as fast tracking but maybe, because we are filing from abroad and my wife is clearly a PR of Canada and she is clearly moving back to the USA to start work (a very specialized type of physician) that maybe it would be completed faster? We are going to include this information in our cover letter.

MY QUESTION:

Once my I-130 gets approved, can I then move to the USA with my wife and finish the paperwork there? Is it viewed any differently if there are kids involved? I can't imagine that USA immigration will keep children away from their mother for 4-10 months while paperwork is being shuffled? Maybe I'm naive?

Any thoughts or opinions on how I should go about this would be helpful...

D

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

The auto expedite if filing from abroad is real, but 5-15 days is unrealistic, especially in Canada as they have a waitinglist for interview; you are still looking at a few months.

You cannot move to the USA without a visa. You CAN visit your wife; as a Canadian citizen, you can visit her for up to 6 months without a visa, but you cannot work during that time, and you will need to return to Canada for the medical and visa interview.

Are the kids US citizens? If yes, they can travel with their mom if you as a family so choose. I know this sounds callous, but it is YOUR choice as a family for her to move now for this job, not the US governments.

Edited October 28, 2012 by Penguin_ie

[GlobeHopperMama 95]

Hi All,

It's my first post but I've been reading a lot about my wife starting a DCF petition for myself.

BACKGROUND:

She is a USC who has been in Canada for the last 17 years. I am a Canadian citizen. We were married 6 years ago but have been together for 10.

She signed a contract for a USA job that starts on December 1, 2012. I was originally going to stay in Canada and sell our house and wrap up our life here, but now it looks like I don't have much choice (with the Visa situation).

We are going to send our DCF filing to the Chicago lockbox in the next week. I was reading a few threads about DCF's from abroad being "fast-tracked" and taking between 5 - 15 days. I know that there is no such thing as fast tracking but maybe, because we are filing from abroad and my wife is clearly a PR of Canada and she is clearly moving back to the USA to start work (a very specialized type of physician) that maybe it would be completed faster? We are going to include this information in our cover letter.

MY QUESTION:

Once my I-130 gets approved, can I then move to the USA with my wife and finish the paperwork there? Is it viewed any differently if there are kids involved? I can't imagine that USA immigration will keep children away from their mother for 4-10 months while paperwork is being shuffled? Maybe I'm naive?

Any thoughts or opinions on how I should go about this would be helpful...

D

I would echo penguin - even if the petition is expedited, you still have to clear the NVC process and await interview scheduling, and generally the kind of expedites you mention are reserved for either spouses of active-duty US military members preparing to deploy or cases where the US citizen is facing a severe medical emergency. As far as immigration caring about children separated from parents...I have a lot to say about the subject but I'll keep it to this: my newborn son didn't meet his father until he was 4 1/2 months old due to difficulties getting his passport, and then didn't get to live with him until he was 2 1/2, and that's only because it took us that long to get a living situation outside the US arranged while we battle out the immigration process. We definitely have to arrange our lives the best we can, and in the best interests of our whole families, with or without the help of US immigration, and it's really not the bureacracy's responsibility to help, as much as we wish they could. Kids mean something in certain contexts, but they certainly don't guarantee any kind of special treatment in these kinds of situations, unfortunately.

[scotiadallas 0]

The auto expedite if filing from abroad is real, but 5-15 days is unrealistic, especially in Canada as they have a waitinglist for interview; you are still looking at a few months.

You cannot move to the USA without a visa. You CAN visit your wife; as a Canadian citizen, you can visit her for up to 6 months without a visa, but you cannot work during that time, and you will need to return to Canada for the medical and visa interview.

Are the kids US citizens? If yes, they can travel with their mom if you as a family so choose. I know this sounds callous, but it is YOUR choice as a family for her to move now for this job, not the US governments.

Excellent answers and I thank you very much. I have no problem with any of this and I totally understand the "callous" answer - we don't have children but I was wondering if families with children would also wait. I suspected that it will be a while before I can move to the USA, even with an expedite is activated in our particular case.

THANKS AGAIN!

D

[scotiadallas 0]

I would echo penguin - even if the petition is expedited, you still have to clear the NVC process and await interview scheduling, and generally the kind of expedites you mention are reserved for either spouses of active-duty US military members preparing to deploy or cases where the US citizen is facing a severe medical emergency. As far as immigration caring about children separated from parents...I have a lot to say about the subject but I'll keep it to this: my newborn son didn't meet his father until he was 4 1/2 months old due to difficulties getting his passport, and then didn't get to live with him until he was 2 1/2, and that's only because it took us that long to get a living situation outside the US arranged while we battle out the immigration process. We definitely have to arrange our lives the best we can, and in the best interests of our whole families, with or without the help of US immigration, and it's really not the bureacracy's responsibility to help, as much as we wish they could. Kids mean something in certain contexts, but they certainly don't guarantee any kind of special treatment in these kinds of situations, unfortunately.

Thanks GLOBE HOPPER. Like I mentioned above, I we don't have children but I wanted to see (mostly out of curiosity) if there was consideration given to families with children. I thought that immigration may be a bit more forgiving if the USC had children.

It's great to hear that visitation is ok. I'm going to check into this more. I will actually post another question below.

[scotiadallas 0]

Thanks for the answers above.

Now that I know that I can visit, I'm wondering how realistic it will be to visit for extended periods. Here is my hypothetical situation, please feel free to poke holes in it.

SITUATION:

My wife starts work on Dec. 1. I was going to put all of her household items into our truck and trailer (both are in her name and both would stay with her in New Mexico) and drive it from Ottawa, Canada to New Mexico and set her up in a house that she was going to rent until I come down to live with her. I was just going to stay for a week or two, and then go back to Canada to clean up our lives here - we own a house, I have work in Canada, and business to attend to, etc.

My plan was to go back and forth and visit her in New Mexico - probably for a few weeks at a time. During my time in Canada, my application would be grinding along and I wouldn't cross over permanently until I get my paperwork completed. We truly want to do this correctly and legally but I also want to see my wife in the months that we will be apart.

QUESTION:

If I pull up to a land border crossing with a truck and trailer, with wife and pets, will they even let me in?

There are several variations of this:

just me and my father driving (wife was going to fly),

or just my father driving, which removes me from the equation.

How will the border patrol see these situations and can anyone suggest how I could move my wifes household belongings and beloved pets (the pets are her children!!!)?

Edited October 29, 2012 by scotiadallas

[Penguin_ie 5,996]

It depends on who you get on the day, to be honest. Having a CR-1 application in the works will help because it shows you want to do things the legal way. But yeah, if you and your wife turn up with all (or seemingly all) of your worldly posessions in a U-haul they border agent will likely suspect you wanting to stay and may not let you in.

[scotiadallas 0]

It depends on who you get on the day, to be honest. Having a CR-1 application in the works will help because it shows you want to do things the legal way. But yeah, if you and your wife turn up with all (or seemingly all) of your worldly posessions in a U-haul they border agent will likely suspect you wanting to stay and may not let you in.

That's what I'm thinking as well. My plan was to book a return airline ticket, bring my i-130 paperwork, a letter from my employer and my house ownership info to prove that I am coming back out of the USA once I have her set up.

Maybe we'll try that approach but leave enough time for a backup (her fly down) if they don't let us across the border.

D