Technicalglitch

Our filing date was August 30, 2023. Today we got a notice that our case is being actively reviewed. It says that estimated time until decision is 4 months (!), but I am guessing that is a canned reply that doesn't mean much, from what others on this forum have said? Fingers crossed that it's within the next few days.

We're August 30 too, nothing has budged for months. Fingers crossed that we will be approved by mid-November?

I don't understand how some people do concurrent filing then. What situation puts someone as living in the states legally but not having started the spousal paperwork yet? Even the USCIS website seems to lean towards explaining the process for spouses as people who are already in the States. I'm just curious as I try to wrap my brain around understanding the process.

Thanks for the informative reply. I don't understand what it means when you say: "Pay close attention to US domicile for your USC spouse, and required US based income to sponsor you, Montreal is very strict on domicile. If your USC spouse has a valid job offer in the US, ask the Montreal US Consulate if they will accept the I-130, DCF (direct consular filing), which is much faster than the regular process." My husband is self-employed and his business has always been US-based, currently in Nevada, so adequate US income with decades of history of earning it that way, so we should be OK with that. What is Montreal very strict about about domicile, can you explain what they are strict about? We live in Canada currently. We are considering buying a property in the US, but we know we can't live there until I get my paperwork done, but would visit as a vacation property in the meantime. Would that worry them? I never had a problem visiting the US during my K-1 process, is there something I should be more concerned about with this process? Also, I should mention that I am retired (I'm in my 50's) and not a job-seeker in the states (I never did work there, I kept doing contract work in Canada when I had my green card). I'm assuming that will have no bearing on anything bureaucratically, but should be seen as less of a threat by border security (when I first started visiting in my 40's, they were a little more high-strung and worried that I was going to be job-seeking and stay, but they have lightened up considerably for the past decade, partially I think border security culture has just become less abusive, especially since the Covid years, they are much more reasonable. I also have a long history now of never over-staying, and they would see that in their records) Thanks again for the info, it really helps.

So are you moving to the US now, does the approved I-130 give you that right, and then you do I-485 once you get there? Sorry for being so clueless, I find the process very confusing, the bureaucratese on the USCIS site is hard to decipher, everything is so jargony and seems to have gaps in what I need to know. Glad to hear the I-130 went that quickly for you! I was hopeful about that, since the marriage is obviously real for those of us who had PR status before and are still with the same spouse. Fingers crossed that it will be fast for us too, although we're in no particular rush really, we know it happens when it happens and we can't do much about it.

We tried to properly relinquish the card, although we didn't know about that form (this is the first I have heard of it). We went to the US border folks at the airport in Canada and finally found and talked to a guy (we'd looked it up and it said we could surrender the green card this way, and my husband wanted to do everything by the book as we knew we'd probably return in the future). The guy couldn't do it though (actually wouldn't, forget why, he seemed busy), and he told us to go to the check-in counter and go past the ticket desk and pick up a dedicated phone on the wall, and if anyone answered (he warned us that they often don't) then we could surrender it there if he answered. He didn't tell us about a form. He didn't seem too concerned about the situation at all. We didn't go to the terminal to try the phone thing as we had already been there and the method seemed hopeless. The card was expiring imminently anyway, and eventually I got a letter from the US gov't acknowledging that and saying I didn't have PR status any more, which we already knew. We don't live at a land border so we didn't make the drive to try it there. Did we screw something up by not doing that form? It was going to expire anyway. It felt like we were the only people in the world to have ever left the US and were trying to relinquish the card like we knew we were supposed to, from the way he was talking, but we did try.

Hi all, In 2014 I got married in the USA on a K-1 visa. I got the 2-year green card after this, but in 2017 we relocated to Canada (where I am from) before I got the 10 year, so was unable to renew as we had taken up residence in Canada. Now we would like to return to live in the USA. We have filled out and submitted the I-130. 1) Is there any part of the process that is made easier or will be skipped as I was already thoroughly vetted the last time and previously held a green card? 2) Once the I-130 is approved, is that when I can take up residence and apply for the adjustment of status with the I-485? Am I able to move to the USA before this and add my I-485 as a concurrent filing? I'm confused by the fact that those that entered the country legally can file both concurrently, when we thought I needed permission through the I-130 to move there in the first place. Are people just entering as visitors and then staying and applying? Thanks for any help with these questions! I still find these processes difficult to figure out and navigate, despite the fact that we did it successfully once before.