How to pay i-130 fee from Canada?

[Mad Dash 0]

My wife and I currently live in Canada and are filing form i-130. The instructions included with the visa indicate that either (a) payment must be received by check or money order from a US bank account or (b) to contract your closest consulate for instructions. Unfortunately I do not have a US bank account. Attempting to call the consulate resulted in an automated message telling me they do not accept visa related inquiries via phone and I was redirected to their email address. An automatic reply from the email address told me they hoped they would be able to reply within 10 business days. I would prefer not to wait this long. Does anyone have experience paying the i-130 filing fee from Canada without a US bank account?

[arken 4,197]

You can ask for Money Order from banks in Canada. They will make money order to be withdrawn from US banks. 

[jskibo 588]

G-1450 form and pay by credit / debit card?

[Mad Dash 0]

12 minutes ago, jskibo said:

G-1450 form and pay by credit / debit card?

This looks promising! Does anyone have experience using a Canadian card for this? The form seems aimed at those already in the US, asking for State and Zipcode.

[NikLR 13,227]

5 hours ago, arken said:

You can ask for Money Order from banks in Canada. They will make money order to be withdrawn from US banks. 

^^^^

And after you send it take a look at the domicile thread in the Canada forum. 

[Mad Dash 0]

On 7/17/2019 at 11:51 AM, arken said:

You can ask for Money Order from banks in Canada. They will make money order to be withdrawn from US banks. 

Can anyone confirm this is true? I called up TD and the girl I had on the phone seemed clueless about this. She recommended I open a USD checking account and use that to pay. Am I correct in assuming her suggestion wouldn't work since it still would not be coming from a US financial institution?

[NikLR 13,227]

1 hour ago, Mad Dash said:

Can anyone confirm this is true? I called up TD and the girl I had on the phone seemed clueless about this. She recommended I open a USD checking account and use that to pay. Am I correct in assuming her suggestion wouldn't work since it still would not be coming from a US financial institution?

You can do that.  I have a US and Canadian account with RBC.  TD and BMO also do cross boarder banking.  The girl is obviously clueless but yes, a USD money order in Canada will work.  However at the same time I do recommend the cross boarder banking for collecting EI after immigration until a job is found. EI has to be paid into a Canadian account. 

[NikLR 13,227]

Don't complicate the question.  I have a habit of asking overly complicated questions myself when a simple question would do. 

[canadavisa22 202]

I racked my brain over this one for awhile and ended up having my brother-in-law pay for the fee with his US credit card and then paid him back in cash when I saw him next. I know many people said that a money order in USD from a Canadian bank would be fine, but I just was overly cautious. What will definitely work is opening a US bank account and credit card and paying for it that way. I opened an RBC Bank account for future cross border banking. This is not like going to RBC and opening a USD account. RBC Bank is a US-based financial institution. All the others, like TD, have the same thing. That's what I'd recommend you do as well since you'll need it in the future anyways.

 

Now, whenever I need to make a USD purchase, I use the CC to help build some credit. As well, we are able to transfer funds from our Canadian account to the US account and then over to our other Chase account in the US. 

[Mad Dash 0]

Thank you all for the help. I purchased a USD money order from TD, and it will be drawn from Wells Fargo in the US.

[Romans13 130]

I used my RBC US visa debit / credit card, filled in the appropriate boxes with my Canadian address, and added the 3 digit code on the back of the card. Payment went through without a problem.

My brother in law used his Dutch credit card, and that worked for him.

[Mad Dash 0]

43 minutes ago, Romans13 said:

I used my RBC US visa debit / credit card, filled in the appropriate boxes with my Canadian address, and added the 3 digit code on the back of the card. Payment went through without a problem.

My brother in law used his Dutch credit card, and that worked for him.

Good to know this works!

[PKCAINUS 0]

@Mad Dash could you please confirm your solution to get a Money Order from TD worked? I have to submit my application this week and am currently stuck in toronto due to the pandemic unable to go back to the US before my visa expires.

Also, do you have a TD canada or TD US account? Did that matter?

 

Thank you!! 

[Mad Dash 0]

14 hours ago, PKCAINUS said:

@Mad Dash could you please confirm your solution to get a Money Order from TD worked? I have to submit my application this week and am currently stuck in toronto due to the pandemic unable to go back to the US before my visa expires.

Also, do you have a TD canada or TD US account? Did that matter?

 

Thank you!! 

Yes, it worked :).

[ClemsonC 62]

I’m pretty sure when we applied in March we just entered our regular TD bank Visa card and it went through.