Visiting my american spouse

[AstroCanada 206]

Do make a plan for how long it will take for the CR-1 to be approved.  You should budget on a full year, but it might go faster (ours was faster).  I'd suggest that you take the opportunity now to start getting paperwork prepared and organized.  It very much helped to have things ready to go once our marriage was official.  I'm not sure what province you're in, but you might want to look into expediting the marriage certificate as some provinces can be very slow with standard processing.  The Canada forum is a good one to start reading.

 

Good luck!

[EandS2019 389]

I personally wouldn't quit my job. When my Visa was pending my fiance visited me twice instead. Can I please suggest you keep your job and visit more frequently but in shorter visits? Having ties to home is so important. One time I was coming to visit for 2 months and I got a lot of questioning about my job and studies. I was able to answer the questions so they had no problem, but I could only imagine what it would have been like if I didn't have a job/ties to my country. 

[Dashinka 24,492]

18 hours ago, Nitas_man said:

Nah but if you are tactical about it you should be able to visit during processing.  

 

I’d caution about long term visits.  You’ll get one, but they probably won’t let you repeat it.  Good luck to both of you

Or come back at all until the visa is issued.

[Cp192019 20]

I hear what you all are saying. I will stick to the short visits more frequently. The main issue with my job is that I'm relatively new so I don't think I'll get much time off to see my fiancee. But I guess we'll just have to deal with that.

[Daphne . 1,853]

3 minutes ago, Cpanio said:

I hear what you all are saying. I will stick to the short visits more frequently. The main issue with my job is that I'm relatively new so I don't think I'll get much time off to see my fiancee. But I guess we'll just have to deal with that.

Hopefully your fiancee and you can take turns in visiting..

 

I understand it is a tough reality to have to deal with but you will settle into this after some time. At first you just get so angry and frustrated and you experience disbelief that this is how it has to be, but you will be able to deal with it a little better after some time.. It is almost like all the stages of a grieving process (as crazy as it might sound..). 

[Cp192019 20]

8 minutes ago, Daphne K said:

Hopefully your fiancee and you can take turns in visiting..

 

I understand it is a tough reality to have to deal with but you will settle into this after some time. At first you just get so angry and frustrated and you experience disbelief that this is how it has to be, but you will be able to deal with it a little better after some time.. It is almost like all the stages of a grieving process (as crazy as it might sound..). 

You are such a wonderful person to talk to about this! That's exactly how I've been feeling. It's so frustrating because all we want to do is build our lives together and it seems so far out of reach right now.

[Crazy Cat 41,845]

10 minutes ago, Daphne K said:

It is almost like all the stages of a grieving process (as crazy as it might sound..). 

Doesn't sound crazy at all......this is an extremely stressful and agonizing process for most of us.

[AstroCanada 206]

6 hours ago, missileman said:

Doesn't sound crazy at all......this is an extremely stressful and agonizing process for most of us.

Immigration is expensive and not just in terms of money.  Lots of time and stress go into it as well.  This is a good, supportive site with mostly helpful advice. 

[Cp192019 20]

18 minutes ago, AstroCanada said:

Immigration is expensive and not just in terms of money.  Lots of time and stress go into it as well.  This is a good, supportive site with mostly helpful advice. 

I agree! I've only been using the site for 2 days and I already feel more support and a lot of my questions have been answered.

[NikLR 13,227]

I used to visit my husband in the USA for about 7-10 days every 3 months until I was granted my CR1 and immigrated.  I had time to say good bye to family and friends; go through my belongings and decide what I didn't need and what I did; get a final check up and my medical history as needed; change my passport to my married name; do a bunch of things I haven't been able to do since I've moved.  We talked daily on skype, it pretty much was on from home time until work time.  We played co-op games together on the computer to help time go by.  But yeah, by 3 months, you miss that touch.  I kept working to keep busy.  I think because my trips were never very long (I simply packed a carry on only) and I flew, I never had issues with the CBP when I said I was visiting my husband.  Being without work will make visiting much harder, they do tend to ask where you work. 

[Cp192019 20]

1 hour ago, NikLR said:

I used to visit my husband in the USA for about 7-10 days every 3 months until I was granted my CR1 and immigrated.  I had time to say good bye to family and friends; go through my belongings and decide what I didn't need and what I did; get a final check up and my medical history as needed; change my passport to my married name; do a bunch of things I haven't been able to do since I've moved.  We talked daily on skype, it pretty much was on from home time until work time.  We played co-op games together on the computer to help time go by.  But yeah, by 3 months, you miss that touch.  I kept working to keep busy.  I think because my trips were never very long (I simply packed a carry on only) and I flew, I never had issues with the CBP when I said I was visiting my husband.  Being without work will make visiting much harder, they do tend to ask where you work. 

These are all good tips, and similar to what my fiancee and I do now! We love to play online games together. We're used to seeing each other at least once a month, for a couple days. Thank you for the advice! It is much appreciated.

[Kacey8361 87]

Quick question: if my interview is late Sept (assuming) would it be ok to visit the USA early Sept and just go to my interview in Canada straight from the USA, the. Return to USA once approved? 

 

Thank you in advance for all your insights!! 

[Kacey8361 87]

21 minutes ago, Kacey8361 said:

Quick question: if my interview is late Sept (assuming) would it be ok to visit the USA early Sept and just go to my interview in Canada straight from the USA, then Return to USA once approved? 

 

Thank you in advance for all your insights!!