raphael7546

Female

washington Terrace, Utah

Trying to be with the love of my life. <br>Spending time with my daughter<br>Antique shopping<br>Architecture & Design

K-1 Visa

Nebraska Service Center

Salt Lake City UT

Canada

Hello, My name is Lily. I am a Canadian Citizen engaged to an American in the US Air Force. His name is Jim (Sid is his nickname)
I live in British Columbia and he lives in Utah.
We have been together ( if you can call it that) almost 4yrs.
We met online and I visited him with my daughter almost every month up until February 10th.2003.
I was married before and have a 8 yr old daughter. I have joint/primary custody of her. Our court records don't allow her to stay in the states for more then a week at a time. I'm in the process of changing this. This is a huge battle to move her to the states.

My fiance has been in the Air Force for 20yrs .
When we became engaged in Sept 2002 , we booked a beautiful site for our Feb 13th 2003 wedding in Utah. I paid over 17 thousand US dollars for a dream wedding.
One month prior to our wedding, I flew down to get the marriage certificate application with him. We recieved that no problem. I asked the clerk if there was ANYTHING else we needed ,making sure she knew I was Canadian and he was American. She said We didn't need anything else. That our wedding was all set. We left happy ,knowing I would be his wife the following month.
We had decided that I would not move to Utah immediatly as he was going to be deployed to Iraq and I still had to get the clause taken off on my custody order to move my daughter. We only wanted to be married before he went to war. We figured I would go back to Canada 2 weeks after the wedding and then he would need to file some sort of papework (Visa) to move me to Utah.

February came and my daughter & myself went to cross the border 3 days before our intended wedding. I had made plans that she would come down with me, and leave with my parents a week later . I would stay one more week and then fly home. We had our tickets and everything with us.

When we got to the border, the customs guy asked where we were going and the purpose of our trip. I told him to Utah for the wedding and to visit friends. He then asked for the wedding invitation. I handed it to him . He looked at it and said"This is YOUR name on here!" I said smiling , "Of course, Its my wedding ! " He then asked me for a Fiance Visa. I told him I had no idea what that was. (we werent told we needed a visa to marry) We had just assumed we could marry anywhere.

The customs agent then sneered at me and said "No Visa!! No Entry!!" Then he told us to come with him. He said I had lied to him about the wedding. ( where did I lie??? When he asked what the purpose of our trip was, I told him I was going to a wedding ! All he had to do was look in my luggage and see that wedding attire was in there. I had one small suitcase for my daughter & myself.)
He passed my invitation around to all the other men in there and they all had a good laugh. ( My fiance's lastname and my first name are quite comical together. ) I stood up and said that I didn't think it was very nice of him to pass my Wedding invitation around like it was a joke.
He said "Sit your ass down !" So I did. At this time my little girl was crying hysterically for my fiance. She was scared. The customs agent said " Shut her the F**k Up or I will throw your ass in Jail!" I calmed her down as best I could. I couldn't believe how mean this person was. And the language he used in front of my daughter.
He then handed back my passport and invitation and said" Don't come back until you have a Fiance Visa . Don't even try to cross the border as your name is now flagged. He then put us in a patrol car and sent us back to the Canadian Border. I felt like I was treated like a crimminal.
I called my parents to come get us and went home.

I called the US Embassy and explained what happened. I asked why no one had told us we needed a Fiance Visa to marry. They said We didn't need one !! They said, You only need one IF your going to move to the states IMMEDIATLEY after the wedding. We weren't! She asked what border we went to and said she would call them and then call me back.

She called back and said she had talked to this guys supervisor and he told her it wasn't a Visa problem, it was a "Ties to Canada" problem. She said that if I brought a letter from my apartment manager that I hadn't given notice to vacate, 6 mos. recepts for rent, hydro, electric,phone, a letter from my daughters school and court papers, I could go thru.

I gathered that stuff up and went back to the border, only to get the same guy!
He sneered at me and said "So, do you have a fiance visa or did ya break up with your boyfriend and cancel your wedding? "
I said No, that the Embassy said if I brought these documents with me that I could go thru.
He yelled "I Don't care WHO told you that, I AM THE BOSS here and I say no visa ,NO ENTRY!" I left in tears and never went back.
Its been over 2 yrs. now since I saw my Fiance. Because of the War in Iraq ,He can't get leave to come here. We found out that if he can come here , he can marry me without a visa in Canada and then apply for a spousal Visa. I haven't even tried to go across the border for fear it will hurt my Visa Case.
This Customs officer has ruined my Life!

Were hoping one day we will get to see each other again!
~~~~~~~~~~

AN UPDATE:

I got my Visa, moved June 30th/05 to Utah and married August 4th./05
HA HA Customs officer ! Ya may have screwed up my life for 2 n a half years but WE won in the end ! NEVER UNDER-ESTIMATE THE LOVE OF A CANADIAN WOMAN & HER AMERICAN AIR FORCE HERO !