Montreal Consulate response -- can someone comprehend this?

[TrueNorth 0]

Hi!

My Canadian hubby is currently here in the US and we've been visiting. We usually live just outside Montreal. He used to have a green card for the USA but gave it up because his father offered him a job etc. up there. So off we went (me kicking and screaming). So here we are wanting to redo the whole thing and of course the costs have gone up quite a lot since we did ours in 2008.

We went to Homeland Security and they handed me the forms to adjust him here. We also talked to the Border and Customs officers at the airport who also said we can adjust from here (which we actually did successfully last time.) We entered as visitors in December for Christmas since we had not been down to see my Mom and relatives for 3 years. We ended up staying because there was a polar winter and we put off our return to avoid it (my friend in Quebec told me it was - 58 degrees Fahrenheit!) My mom had a health scare (she's 80) so we stayed longer to get her to doctors (she doesn't drive or have help, one reason I didn't want to move to Canada in the first place.)

Ok all that aside, I am trying to figure out which is the best thing to do: go back to Canada and apply for the IR from there, or stay and do it from here.

The biggest question is, can we do a Direct Consular Filing through the Montreal Consulate? I emailed them (they don't allow calls for this issue) and here's their response:

Hello,

Thank you for your inquiry.

Previous regulations permitted individuals overseas, who comprise about 5 percent of all I-130 petitioners, to file with USCIS or their local U.S. Embassy or consulate. Under the new process, USCIS may authorize the Department of State to adjudicate their case in certain emergency situations, including when:

· A U.S. service member stationed overseas becomes aware of a new deployment or transfer with very little notice.

· A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an urgent medical emergency that requires immediate travel.

· A petitioner or beneficiary is facing an imminent threat to personal safety.

· A beneficiary is within a few months of aging out of eligibility.

· The petitioner and family have traveled for the immigrant visa interview, but the petitioner has naturalized and the family member(s) require a new, stand-alone petition.

· The petitioner adopted a child and there is an imminent need to leave the country.

Individuals who must file Form I-130 at the Chicago lockbox should use the addresses provided in the revised form instructions, also available on www.uscis.gov/I-130:

For U.S. Postal Service:

USCIS
P.O. Box 804625
Chicago, IL 60680-4107

For express mail and courier deliveries:

USCIS
Attn: I-130
131 South Dearborn – 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60603-5517

This new process was published in the Federal Register on May 17, 2011. Additional details are available in the related interim Policy Memoranda, issued Aug. 10, 2011. Individuals with questions or concerns should contact the USCIS National Customer Service Center at 1-800-375-5283.

You may refer to the links below for more information regarding the filling of an I-130 petition abroad.

http://www.uscis.gov/i-130#

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/types/family/immediate-relative.html

http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/immigrant-process/petition/file/filing-immigrant-petitions-outside-the-u-s.html

http://www.uscis.gov/news/alerts/uscis-centralizes-filing-form-i-130

We hope this information is helpful in guiding you in the processing of your immigrant visa application.

Thank You

Sincerely,

OP19

Correspondence Unit

U.S. Consulate General in Montreal

-----------------------

It's looking like the answer to filing directly is NO. Did I read it right?

So my option is filing the IR-1 from Canada or filing the...what? from here. Do I need to send in the I-130 and the I-485 together at the same time? The price for those together is currently how much? I think I read the I-? (adjustment of status) is now $900 something dollars? (It was I think $585 or something when we did it last. HUGE hike!)

Other option is sending hubby back and I stay with our daughter with my mom until he's approved. I have to have a domicile established here, anyway. Mom is also my co sponsor for him, like last time. (Figures that in those 3 years I had much better finances and could sponsor him myself but things have taken a downturn.)

Also, do I even file the I-130 if he's already present in the country? Isn't that for permission to enter? Sorry, the homeland security people were really no help and this is very confusing. I don't know if I can afford to send both at the same time if it's going to cost like 1700 dollars. I can afford about $1000 right now, maybe $1200.

[Krikit 1,165]

Hi there. They did away with DCF from Canada a few years ago. Since he is already here you will want to do an Adjustment of Status. I am going to transfer your thread over to that forum so you can get started.

[TrueNorth 0]

Thank you Krilkit.

I'm bummed about the DCF for Canada. Ugh. We have issues with a house up there half owned by hubby's parents that they're desperate to sell and we need to get our stuff out of it ASAP but there's no one up there to get it done (or we trust to do it!) Ha ha evidence we sure didn't intend to stay, even our marriage cert is up there. I will have to do some spry ordering and overnighting of stuff and I'm cutting it really close money wise.

Can I file the AOS without the I-130 or split them up somehow so I get a chance to get another paycheck? I just need two weeks time but he has to have something filed before the 17th, that's his 180th day here. ACK.

(I honestly can't recall everything I did in 2008 and as it is allll my copies of that paperwork are you guessed it, up in Canada.)

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You aren't forced to AOS, he can go back and you two can pursue a spousal visa.

In fact, when did he leave the US? Did you guys remove conditions?

[TrueNorth 0]

I don't think we have conditions as we have been married 7 years in July. We did the removal of conditions last time as we were less than 2 years married.

The guy at Homeland Security told me to AOS with him here and handed me the stack of paperwork to fill out (with the neat holes at the top and all).

I just don't know if I can skip doing the I-130 because isn't that one pertaining to bringing him across the border? Can I just the I-485 along with the others listed here:

http://www.visajourney.com/content/adjustmentforms

It doesn't have the I-130. I have already printed the Affadavit of Support contract between household member and sponsor as I know I do need that one.

I wish they had kept all this stuff at USCIS and not had us go through all of it again, I mean our past information has not changed. I can see paying the fee and updating address, income, photos. I have to get proof he has had his vaccines and last time we didn't have the proof with us (it was in Canada) so he got vaxed like mad. Now the clinic that did the vaccines on him is trying to get us to pay them another $100+ to get more. I find that wrong as they have the record of what he got in 2008 (seems they don't want to give it to us!) and he does not need to be dosed that much. He had childhood vaxes and another full round in 2008.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

If he abandoned his residence, then you absolutely need the I-130 too. You seem to be reading something for a K-1 AOS, which you are not.

When did you move to Canada?

This is the AOS guide for someone who did not enter on a K visa. http://www.visajourney.com/content/i130guide2

Edited June 5, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[TrueNorth 0]

We moved up there in December of 2010. We didn't know about the form you can send in before you leave which gives you 2 years without losing your PR status in the USA so he voluntarily gave it up after a few months. We always wanted to come back but didn't know how soon, like if it would be a year or two or more.

Thanks for the directions, I will go check it out!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

All right. So you can AOS now, or he can go home and pursue a spousal visa, if you need to deal with things in Canada right now.

The good news is that AOS faster now, just a few months. But he will be "stuck" in the US for a few months. Good luck.

[TrueNorth 0]

Can I possibly file the I-130 or the AOS separately by about 2 weeks time? I am short by less than $200 on the money because I have to pay to have my car imported, inspected, registered and just got new car insurance for Texas since the Canadian one expires tomorrow. So I'm a bit short for the fees. Is it possible to not file both together and still have them be ok as part of the same petition? I just need 2 weeks, maybe less if I can borrow the money. It would change where I file, right? Not the Chicago lockbox, but somewhere else?

Thanks!

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

You can send the I-130 first, but there is no point to it. Sending a I-130 by itself does not protect your husband from deportation in any way, or put him in any authorized stay.

The I-485 does that, but it must go with a I-130.

Just wait two weeks or borrow some money.

He will need a new medical exam too; that is about $200.

Edited June 5, 2014 by Harpa Timsah

[TrueNorth 0]

I don't think I can wait the two weeks, can I? He'd be considered having overstayed after June 17th, no? I get paid June 20th.

[TrueNorth 0]

--Answered my own question. I must have missed that in the list the first time. It just gets worse every minute:(

Edited June 5, 2014 by TrueNorth

[Krikit 1,165]

Canadians are unique in that they are not considered an overstay until an immigration judge has deemed it so.

[Harpa Timsah 13,258]

Overstay is irrelevant for spouses of USCs who adjust in-country.

[TrueNorth 0]

Wow, really? That would solve alllll my problems in a heartbeat! I could get everything to them within the next 2 weeks and we would not have to worry about any overstay. That's why I have been going bonkers with trepidation, I thought he'd get deported or something and banned if he overstayed by even a day. (This was also extremely worrying to me back in 2008 when I was pregnant and putting together the package, I thought he would not get to stay and see his child born. talk about stress!)

I had no idea Canada was treated differently that way; I did find out that they don't give stamps in your passport a lot of the time coming into the states from Canada and also we don't get that entry document (something 94?). They kept saying we were supposed to get one but I found online that they don't bother with that for Canadians.

I have been to a lot of immigration lawyers here in Texas but I have to be honest and say that they really have no idea how to handle Canada. They're experts in Mexico, but Canada is probably very rarely seen by any of them, which is why I ended up doing the whole thing myself.