mam521

Agree 100%. I don't know if the OP realizes that this man may not even be able to travel to meet in person to begin with due to the nature of his charges. When other countries won't let you in, that has to be a flashing neon sign to turn the other way.

Day 2 of Kid2 being reasonably unwell. Monday evening, he came downstairs and said he felt dizzy. He'd already been complaining that he figured he was getting sick. Told him to go take his temperature. So, he rooted around, found the thermometer and sure enough, he had a fever. He was pretty defeated sounding so we were pretty sure yesterday was going to be a write off. We weren't wrong. We had to go to work, but he still had the fever in the AM with the added bonus of snotty nose and that good ole truck hit me feeling. The problem for Kid2 is he won't blow his nose. I don't know why, but neurodivergent kids have weird hangups and this continues to be his. So, we get home from work and I go to take something into the kitchen and hear "drip, drip, drip". Look up and see water dripping from the ceiling. Ahhh 💩! Get the ladder, punch a hole, water's coming out. It's warm. Ok, so is it a hot water line or something else. Has to be something else because the water lines in the bathroom right above the sopping wet ceiling come in through the upstairs roof. Talk to Kid2 - he'd just had a shower but clearly did NOT have the shower curtain in the tub properly. Wonderful. So, we made a bigger hole to let the water out and so it can dry. Luckily, we haven't yet renovated the kitchen/breakfast area and planned to change the roof in there anyway, but yeah... teenagers REALLY forget to insert their brains when unwell. Anyway, he just got up. Still sounds like #######. Declared he was too sick yesterday to even consider going on his computer. Doesn't sound like he will much, if at all, again today. His old cat doesn't mind. It just means they lay in bed together and watch TV, which definitely appeases the old fur man.

Montreal is strict about proving domicile in addition to the affidavit of support. I know you don't want to be apart, but you may NEED to be apart for your immigration journey to work if you cannot find a legitimate joint sponsor. Honestly, it's a small blip in time relative to a lifetime together and Canadians are pretty lucky because they can typically visit during the process - a luxury most other couples don't have due to distance and visit visa restrictions. If you've already gotten through the I-130 process, you're super close to making it to the end. If the US is where you want to be, I wouldn't give up this far into the game because you might have to spend a couple of months apart.

No reason he can't visit you unless he's not able to cross the Canadian border for some other reason. If not, then good to go.

18-24 months to get through consular processing is pretty much the norm. You won't like this, but if you do get your interview before your 2 year anniversary, if you wait until the day after your 2 year anniversary to enter the US, you will get a 10 year greencard and not have to worry about removing conditions. Big time and cost savings. Might be worth it so you guys can spend the cash on a visit or 2 in the meantime. You can visit one another. There's nothing stopping you from visiting him, either. You will just need to have evidence proving strong ties to Canada - employment letter, mortgage or lease agreement, things evidencing that you couldn't just drop everything and not return to Canada.

6 months is pretty average for Montreal. As you've probably figured out, it's a slow consulate. In the meantime, you can make sure you have all of your required vaccines done and paperwork organized.

It's not really a progress bar...more like crushing hopes and dreams bar or comedy hour bar. Anything but accurate.

How old were you when you moved to Canada and how come no US income tax returns have been filed?

I didn't try it myself, but I would assume so. IIRC, the kids' passport cards came in the mail, not with the passports. For rush passports, they print them on site; the cards aren't rush and I am pretty sure they are treated more like GC's in that they are printed at specific facilities.

It wasn't my idea of time well spent, let's put it that way. Luckily, getting my kids' passports was much less eventful. We went to the post office and did it there. The biggest "challenge" was I needed a DS-3053 for Kid2. The biggest annoyance was and still is that the post office agent stapled my naturalization certificate to their applications. It's not supposed to be stapled. Or folded. I'm sure @OldUser can empathize if their certificate was returned folded and stapled! We applied right before Christmas (Dec. 23 or 24) and had them back Dec. 29 and Jan 3 I think it was. Very fast turnaround. We weren't traveling imminently, so it was a pleasant surprise to get them back quickly. From there, a month or 2 later I applied for the kids' N-600's.

Is DoS giving you options? You're very lucky! In Houston when I needed mine rush (FYI - it may not be same day, it may be next day or 2 day, depends on the office and your travel date), I was told I might not even be able to get an appointment at the Houston office and might have to travel for an urgent passport. I was lucky enough to get a Houston appointment, though, but it was essentially 2 days spent sitting in the passport office. The salt in the wound was when they printed my passport, they spelled my name wrong, so they had to reprint which added a couple of more hours to the second day. Luckily, I was seated next to a friendly municipal utility district lawyer who'd naturalized and he was a total riot. We chatted it up and it definitely helped pass the time. Good luck! Don't forget to update your trusted traveller information if you have NEXUS/GE! You may need to stop into an office to do so.

Unfortunately, the good schools in this state are where there are HOA's. I have school aged kids so yeah.. HOA's are weird to me. Back home, we didn't have em. You don't mow your lawn and it ends up chest high? The city comes out and does it and fines you for it. Prefer that over this ridiculous can't do this and can't do that.

Do you have a ridiculous HOA that has to approve your color choices? We are supposed to get permission, even if we repaint the exact same color! Overreach IMO.

We did window replacement in 2021. They came and measured each window months before and made all the windows. The day they came to replace them, they did them all in one day (yes, 36 windows in a day). We had to move everything about 4ft from the windows. They laid down tarps inside and out and kept it reasonably clean. If you're doing the whole shebang, a proper contractor should provide you with the necessary recommendations and board up and section off areas, as necessary. Miu will be the challenge because she'll be scared of the noise and then she'll be nosey when the workers aren't there.

Make sure to consult your accountant before doing this. The minute you activate that visa, you become a permanent resident of the US and are responsible for taxes in both countries. Additionally, if you own and sell a property, you may be subject to capital gains taxes from the US side. Same goes on TFSA. There's a good number of intricacies that must be considered. If you plan to move in 2 months and the visa is still good in 2 months (typically they are good for 6 months from the date of the medical or 6 months from the date of issuance, whichever came first), activate it when you ACTUALLY plan to move.