misa

Congrats on the marriage! A good start to the new year.

I agree with the others to wire it over, do NOT walk around with your savings in cash! Anything could happen from here to there. Good luck!

Also I checked the US customs form, I grabbed two the last time I was at the airport and kept one in my bag and the others are right about not having to declaring cash or other monetary instruments if it is under $10,000 USD.

You're almost there!

The wheels are in motion, the countdown is clicking, and nothing can make me feel down, including the neighbour upstairs who wants to have me evicted for snoring, or the "senior graphic designer" at work who's threatened by a writer with a Mac who can lay out a page. I dare any New Jersey nutbar to stand in the way of a woman who's in the home stretch of a visa journey!

This part made me laugh because I worked in the design industry for 8 years and I know exactly the kind of ego you are talking about with the "senior designer". It's one main reason that I left the industry -- to many freaking design divas and egos.

Glad you got it!

What's interesting is that it ends up back at the VSC anyway. Out of curiosity, what is the address on your NOA1? Chicago or Missouri or Vermont?

well guys and ladies!!

mine was transf to V SC too and... yea NOHTING nada... so i called... and umm this lady at VSC told me that they didnt know how to do them!! how stupid! why send my stuff to somewhere thats in training??? sghes like.. i think we JUSST now... being.. decem 20, started processing them... we hav enever done them here.. and we dont know how to.. soo yea.. that was my hopes for ahving an approval...... anytime...... this YEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Maybe your petition is caught up in security checks since your spouse was arrested previously by ICE?

Thanks for writing up that review and again, congratulations!

Here's information and forms for Canadian immigration:

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/applications/fc.html

You'll need to request them to generate a specific form for Nigeria as well (there are region specific ones).

Could you expand on this? I'm self-employed; I work from home at my computer for various clients. When I was visiting my fiance in the US, I continued working as I do at home. After my K-1 visa is approved and I can join him permanently, is there any reason that I couldn't continue doing the same work without any interruption?

You're in the same situation as me then. What I gather from the other thread is that you can keep doing it but just put your money aside for taxes. If you declare all your income from when you entered the country, the IRS will still getting 100% of what you put aside. I don't see what difference it makes as long as all the income is declared at the end of the year, because I will either be putting the money in my US account when my invoices to clients are paid or let the cheques pile up until EAD and then deposit it at the same time. It makes no difference in the end to the IRS as far as I can tell since I'll still be declaring it all at the end of the taxation year.

Maybe I'm missing something too?

There have been a couple K3s approved from VSC in the past month. I hope they approve yours soon! And how can they not know how to process them? They're almost the same as K1s (which I've noticed get approved sooooooo much faster).

Eli, thanks for the bank info. I'll check with my husband's bank (a credit union) next time I am there to see if I can open an account prior to SSN. He knows the bank manager well since he used to work there a few years ago. If I can get some sort of account set up now, that would be one less thing to worry about.

Thanks for the info. Looks like I'll have to either let those cheques pile up before EAD or talk to my accountant about the possibility of having them deposited into my Canadian bank account until then (and I'd be prepared to file both Cdn & US tax returns, etc., etc.).

Oh... I found a thread that talks about this too: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=46849

Necrotica, I'm sooooo sorry to hear about all the troubles recently. I also read your thread in the K1 forum re: missing originals. The bags will most likely show up but if they don't, bring the copies along with the baggage claim ticket/paperwork he filled out.

*hugs*

Like I said, I do plan on having a chat with an accountant about this but wanted to hear from people from Canada who have been in a similar situation and whether they kept their business here in Canada or not, etc., etc.

Good to know that I can't technically be self-employed until EAD though.

Hey all,

I'm fortunate enough to have freelance work (from Canadian clients) lined up already when I quit my job here in Toronto and move to the U.S. (whenever my petition is approved, interview granted & passed, etc.).

Has anyone else been in the same situation of being self-employed prior to receiving an EAD or AOS? I no longer have a personal GST number (used previously to declare business income) but I still have a corporation and GST number for that. I've never used the corporation though for freelance/consulting work since it was way more complicated tax-wise.

I'm going to talk to my accountant here about it but I'd like to talk to you about how you handled it as far as where the money was deposited (Canada or US), etc. and whether you set up a business in the U.S. or just did it like here in Canadian where you declare it as business income along with your personal taxes (does it work that way there?).

Oh one more question: Can you get a US bank account before receiving a SSN?

What does the next paragraph say? It should say something like:

The I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E) that was transferred to our __________ SERVICE CENTER location is now pending there. You will be notified by mail when a decision is made, or if the office needs something from you. If you move while this case is pending, call customer service. We process cases in the order we receive them. You can use our processing dates to estimate when this case will be done, counting from when USCIS received it. This case is at our __________ SERVICE CENTER location. Follow the link below to check processing dates. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

If it does, where "CALIFORNIA" is in the blank spot. It means it is there.

Does your online status just say that it was transferred on X date? I don't know, I don't have any advice in that matter.

Oh, I'm not sure. I got my receipt from VSC both in email and hardcopy. If your case is already at CSC then there shouldn't be a problem since they received it.

No worries. I think this process makes everyone a little worried at each stage.

If it was touched yesterday they are probably getting it ready for transfer. Shouldn't be too much longer before you receive a notice of transfer (then after a notice of receipt from CSC).

The message is probably from the same message on your NOA1 which pretty much says the same thing.

Mine was transferred to VSC, take a look at my timeline. It took a little while for VSC to receive it and I do believe the petitioner will get the notice of transfer and notice of receipt at the service centre through snail mail as well. My NOA1 has the address of Chicago, not the National Benefits Centre (not sure if this makes a difference) but I got a notice when NBC received it and when they transferred it.

I just checked your timeline and your NOA1 date was on the Friday just before the holidays so I wouldn't really worry about it yet.

Have you signed up for online status? Check the date of your I-129F to see if it was touched within the past few days.

Yay!!!! Congrats! See, didn't we all tell you you'd be fine?

Oh, good to know about the clarification.

Have you tried entering in the number without any dashes? Also does the number on your NOA1 match the one on the back of your cashed cheque?

I don't know what the official word is, but I am assuming that the priority date changes to when the service centre receives it and acknowledges it. Processing doesn't really happen until they get it. That's how I've been looking at my case, at the date of receipt at the service centre, not with the NOA1 date or the transfer date.

I'm sending good vibes over to you in the west!