IR-1/CR-1 Montreal DQ'd private message group goes public CONTINUED

[Coco Beau 39]

1 hour ago, bort_s said:

With my interview next week I hope I have similar luck when my passport comes back to me in southern Alberta as well.  

It did take a little longer than others but we are pretty remote. Good luck to you, I’m sure you will do great. 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Coco Beau

[i5love 42]

On 2/22/2021 at 8:40 AM, legendqueue said:

I'm home.

 

Arrived at Peace Arch around 5:45pm on Thursday Feb 18.  Day was sort of an avalanche of delays and minor things going wrong but nothing really major, so showing up at the crossing was a few hours behind schedule.  I rolled up in a 10 foot uhaul towing my car. 

 

 

I'm planning to do exactly the same route when my interview is over and passport arrives. Really appreciated hearing your experience and confirmed a lot of what I expected. Also gave me lots of feels. Best of luck and welcome home!

[legendqueue 163]

22 minutes ago, i5love said:

 

I'm planning to do exactly the same route when my interview is over and passport arrives. Really appreciated hearing your experience and confirmed a lot of what I expected. Also gave me lots of feels. Best of luck and welcome home!

Thanks!  It's a good feeling to not need luck with any of this process anymore -- I'm not in a huge hurry for my SSN or GC.

 

Uhaul is kind of a weird company.  They won't confirm your truck until the day before because their model means that they're never 100% sure where trucks and accessories are gonna be.  For me, they confirmed my truck the day before on King George, but the closest tow dolly was in Langley and not available until after noon, and they changed my tow dolly dropoff point as well for whatever reason.  The truck pickup was at a proper uhaul location and went fine.  Then I got to the tow dolly pickup place that afternoon to find that it was some sort of repair shop and that the guy wasn't there, and it took him 20 minutes to arrive after I called him.  Then they took like 45 minutes to find and attach the dolly which involved jury-rigging wires between the truck and dolly for the turn signals (no joke, like electrical tape and wire off a spool was involved).  Finally the dolly actually died somehow, like a wheel locked up entirely, *after I pulled into my driveway*, like in the last 30 yards of the journey.  Just some examples of those small things that went wrong haha.  

 

Anyway allow some extra time for anything uhaul-related.

[fjxs 133]

Hey, I haven't really been following, but just wanted to update on receiving green cards & SSN after entering the US on CR1, along with my son (age 18) who entered with me on CR2. 

 

We entered the US on Jan 1, 2021 at a land crossing, BC to WA. The crossing was easy (had to wait inside for a bit, but they were nice & didn't ask many questions), and we were both given our I-551 stamps in our passports. 

 

We received both of our green cards in the mail today (Feb 23), in separate envelopes. I was able to see when they were produced & mailed through the My USCIS account, and was given tracking numbers (submitted Jan 5th, produced Feb 13th, mailed Feb 17th). https://my.uscis.gov

 

We had both checked the box on the DS-260 to receive the SSN. I received my social security card Jan 11th, but my son never received one. We called the local social security office (found here: https://www.ssa.gov/locator/) about my son's SSN, and they said he will have to apply for one. 

 

Since my son is over 12, he has to attend an in-person interview, and since he is 18 he has to talk to them himself & fill everything out himself & also go to the appointment alone (I can't go inside at all because of covid). He has to fill out the SS-5 form (available online), bring ID, proof of immigration status, his birth certificate, plus documents to "prove" that he wouldn't already have an SSN - one per decade he has been alive, showing that he was residing outside of the US. (This seems silly to me - he has a Canadian birth certificate & JUST immigrated to the US less than 2 months ago. Why does he need to prove foreign residence?) The person on the phone said that school records will work for that. Once he has filled out the form and gathered all the documents, he has to call back to make an appointment. (Also, because of covid, you can't have been outside of the country in the 14 days before your appointment.) 

 

Another thing I have found really useful for all of this is the USPS informed delivery (which I'm pretty sure I learned about on here, but just letting people know incase they weren't aware!). They email you each morning with scans of the mail you should be receiving that day, so you know when things are coming, and will know right away if something was mis-delivered. They also email me the tracking numbers for packages a few days before they arrive (they did this with the green cards, which were tracked priority mail).  https://informeddelivery.usps.com

[CrystalNeufeld 39]

Can anyone advise on best hotels to stay near Dr. Cheema in Surrey for the medical?

Thanks in advance!

[bort_s 63]

12 minutes ago, CrystalNeufeld said:

Can anyone advise on best hotels to stay near Dr. Cheema in Surrey for the medical?

Thanks in advance!

I stayed at the Best Western on King George last week, hotel was clean and the hotel was accommodating as they held my bag for me till I returned from the appointments.   

 

Was a short Uber ride from hotel to Dr. Chemma's office

Edited February 24, 2021 by bort_s

[Hawk Riders 814]

On 2/17/2021 at 3:15 PM, JACHA said:

My Interview was Feb 10, and I've still yet to receive an email with a tracking number. It's been 1 week. The status updated on Tuesday to the Issued - "Final Processing...."  I chose the courier option as well.

 

Not a happy camper right now...

any updates?

[DGF 730]

19 hours ago, Balpreet said:

Thanks but i travelled to india for one month so do i need that too

Yes you will need another PCC from India. 

[fxch3 28]

On 2/17/2021 at 9:48 PM, fxch3 said:

Hi everyone - just had my interview today (Feb 17, 2021) and I was APPROVED. Extremely happy after this long long journey!

 

My interview was at 10:00, I got to the door at 9:55am but the officer at the door said to come back in 20 mins since they were at capacity. 

 

I went back at 10:20am;

    - Officer asked: Name - time of appointment - passport

    - Just like an airport you drop everything in the bin and walk through a scanner. I headed to the 1st floor, window 6

 

Window 6: 

   - Dropped off my passport and took a seat

 

After 20 mins or so:

   - Got called up and asked to see the following documents:

          1. Birth Certificate(If you have a pakistani birth certificate just note your mothers name is not on it. Try to have another proof where your mothers name is on it. They will want to see that. I had my original marriage certificate form we filled out that had my moms name. She was very impressed that I had everything and organized)

          2. Marriage certificate

          3. Name change document - made it easier to validate my birth certificate(at a young age, my family added an additional last name so I had this uploaded to CEAC) *please note - I heard a few people have a bit of issue with name changes on their documents. If you have officially changed your name PLEASE bring this. Will make it a lot easier*

          4. Husband's 2020 W2 - which I uploaded

          5. Police record check (I did this May 2020 so it didn't expire. She did ask me if I needed a Pakistan criminal check but I explained I came to Canada at the age of 3)

          6. My recent passport picture

          7. Husbands address 

          8. Husbands phone number 

          9. What does he do 

          10. Did a finger print scan (they do not wipe these)

      - I was told thank you for all of this and an officer will call me soon

 

 

Window 11: 

    - Got called after 10 mins to the window to meet an officer for questionnaire

      1. Asked to take an oath to tell the truth

      2. Finger print scan

      3. My name, current address

      4. Who is the petitoner (A: my husband)

      5. Where does he live (A: They want to know state, city)

      6. How did you meet / when did you meet / when did you first see each other in person and how often

      7. When was the wedding and who attended

      8. What does your husband do?

   - He said I had everything in order and he's approving me for my green card. He mentioned it will take 2 weeks to get my passport and I can check the status. I got out at 11:30am (it took about 1 hr which isn't bad at all) 

 

If you have everything organized, uploaded all documents (even extra or new ones), answer everything confidently and have all documents and backup ready, you should easily get through this process. They try to see if you are nervous and unable to answer simple questions (phone number, address). They did ask some trick questions to some people (q: does your husband make good coffee, who else lives in the house with you, are you going to work when you get there)

 

Best of luck everyone Will keep you posted on the next step - Green Card + SSN. 

 

 

 

      

 

 

 

 

Hi everyone - update my interview was Feb 17, 2021 and I got my passport back Feb 23, 2021. 

 

My POE will be Mar 5, 2021 - I am travelling with my cat so will let everyone know the process if anyone is planning to travel with their pet. 

[JACHA 42]

44 minutes ago, Hawk Riders said:

any updates?

Yes - Received my Passport in hand on Monday! (Feb 22)

 

Did a COVID Test on Monday

Flying out today.

[CrystalNeufeld 39]

1 hour ago, bort_s said:

I stayed at the Best Western on King George last week, hotel was clean and the hotel was accommodating as they held my bag for me till I returned from the appointments.   

 

Was a short Uber ride from hotel to Dr. Chemma's office

Thank you!

[Travelingpharm 33]

Congratulations to all that have been recently approved and entered the US.

 

I just wanted to update everyone on my husband’s POE.

 

First, our timeline:

 

Jan 29:  interview (approved)

Jan 30:  refused

Feb 9:  updated to issued

Feb 11:  passport mailed

Feb 15:  passport received

 

My husband entered the US via the Peace Bridge into Buffalo on February 22.  He used a 15 foot UHaul truck and trailer to transport his car.  Cost altogether was approximately US$130.  

 

After initially being yelled at by the CBP officer for using the wrong lane (which he wasn’t, by the way), the officer told him to write down the license plate numbers for the truck, trailer and his car.  

 

He was then directed to secondary.  The officers were not terribly accommodating or understanding regarding his inability to maneuver a large truck and trailer easily.  

 

Fortunately, his experience at secondary was brief and uneventful.  He was literally there for less than 10 minutes while the officer processed his visa.  The officer said that the government is backed up and processing his Green Card could take some time.  I hope that as evidenced by the other posters here that will not be the case.  He had a 3395 Customs Declaration form completed and was not asked for it and the officer did not look at the contents of his truck.  Also, there was no mention of any sort of quarantine.

 

I am grateful to finally have him with me and glad this phase is over.  From the time we filed our initial petition until he received his visa in hand was 790 days.  It is an incredibly long road, but I want to give hope to all others that it will be over eventually and to be patient.  You will get there!

[Adaab 5]

2 hours ago, fxch3 said:

Hi everyone - update my interview was Feb 17, 2021 and I got my passport back Feb 23, 2021. 

 

My POE will be Mar 5, 2021 - I am travelling with my cat so will let everyone know the process if anyone is planning to travel with their pet. 

Congratulations. Will it be okay if I provide a copy of w2 and tax return from last year?

[VIR CHAMP 25]

On 2/22/2021 at 1:31 PM, Mzamour said:

 

Note: I am a Canada PR with a different nationality and I have only lived in Canada for about 2.5years. Based on my experience,  I don't think it's standard practice that all PR holders are placed in administrative processing. Prior to this journey, I got a B1/B2 visa when I first moved here and I received the visa in regular time - No administrative processing.

I just thought to mention the above as I have read some comments here that it's practice that PR holders are subject to further checks. I hope this helps someone.

 

Thanks again everyone and Goodluck to us all in remaining part of our journeys.

Did you submit the PCC from the country of your nationality ?
If yes, was it within one year of issue date at the time of interview ?

[VIR CHAMP 25]

On 2/23/2021 at 4:03 PM, Jay&Sid said:

For Canada yes. They are only valid for 1yr. 

If you have not traveled to India since the last pcc issuance date then you don’t need it. Expired one is ok. 

This was helpful to me. Thank you.