mam521

If you have imminent, required travel, you need your naturalization certificate in hand before you can call DOS and request an urgent passport service. The travel has to be in less than 3-5 weeks. You need to have proof of international travel - itinerary and confirmation number with the airline, hotel accommodation, etc. Be prepared - you could have to travel to somewhere in the US to attend the appointment and stay a day or 2 until you can pick the passport up after printing. There are no guarantees the appointment will be local. Expedited passports are taking 3-5 weeks these days, regular passports about 10 weeks. Requesting urgent service shouldn't be done unless you actually have confirmed travel plans that must be attended to. Just wanting a passport for the sake of having it in hand doesn't qualify. I had urgent travel for work which allowed me to obtain and urgent passport, but it wasted essentially 2 days of my life sitting in the passport offices. We planned my kids' travel so I will be applying for their passports now that they are finished travel for the year. https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/passports/get-fast.html

Until the immigrant puts in 40 quarters of work or until they become a citizen. So, last I checked 40 quarters is typically 10 years.

My question is do you fully understand the financial commitment of the joint sponsor? I suspect anyone who understands isn't going to simply accept a fee to take on financial responsibility for an immigrant for 10 years.

It will make little difference when the petition is within the published processing times.

Anything is possible with CBP. Show up, if they want to deny you, then politely request that you be allowed to withdraw your request for entry into the US and go home. Go to FL, get married rather than just visit with FIL, go back to Canada and apply for CR1. The process is similar in timeline. The difference is you'll enter the US with a GC in hand, ready and able to work and travel. K1 makes less sense.

Not sure. Quick google search says Canada naturalized 375,000 people in 2022 (unusually high number - usually numbers are about 175,000) while the US naturalized 967, 500 people, which appears to be a bit above average for the US as well.

You don't have to be denied entry. You can voluntarily withdraw your application for admission. Not a black mark, IF there was an issue. People stuck in AP have asked for their passports back and continued to visit their spouses like they did prior to interview and issuance of the DS-5535 or 221G in spousal cases and others have travelled for work, attending conferences and business meetings. That said, the Administrative Processing process applies to the visa case being adjudicated, so in this case, the EB visa eligibility is the case in question. Can CBP see if you're in AP? Likely, but that's USCIS's jurisdiction and CBP are typically primarily focused on customs violations and enforcing very fundamental laws that protect national safety and security. They aren't there to be the judge and jury on your case; that is USCIS and your consular officer's job. They are there to check that the paperwork you do have and the visa you're entering on is correct and valid, that you're not trafficking illegal substances and moving large sums of money, etc. L2 isn't family based. It's a dependent spouse and/or unmarried children under 21 of an L1 Intra-company transferee visa. Canadians are also a bit different in that they turn up to security, head to preclearance and petition for their L visa. The L1 petitioner had to meet the requirements of the intracompany transfer; that person could have equally been tossed into AP as well, technically. The L2 dependents have to meet the requirements of being a legitimate dependent of the L1 petitioner. Yes, they could potentially be tossed into AP as well. Anyone can though, irrespective of age, gender, background... If you're really curious, you could jump on Jim Hacking's weekly show and ask there.

The poster has already demonstrated immigrant intent with the EB visa. A TN is a non-immigrant visa type. L visas, on the other hand, are dual intent, so the demonstration of immigrant intent isn't a negative mark against them.

The US ceremonies, at least here in Houston, aren't that special. It feels like a cattle herding session versus what I've experienced in Canada where it was a much more serious and impactful ceremony.

I'd give it a go. What's the worst that can happen?

The majority of the time, the civil surgeons have been sending the records to the consulate electronically, with nothing to pick up anymore other than possibly a chest xray.

L1 employment sponsored (and in turn, the L2) are a dual intent visa. There's no reason you shouldn't be able to join her, irrespective of your pending immigration status. If you were attempting a TN, it would 100% be denied. I guess my question is what category were you put into AP for? You don't have your timeline filled in, so I can't tell if it's spousal or employment based GC.

^^^This. You will need to call the airline to confirm the pet will be allowed onboard the flight and pay the fee. You may also require a health certificate from your veterinarian within 10 days of travel. Confirm with Lufthansa.

People post on our neighborhood Facebook page when they need a notary and there's at least 3 in the hood. UPS has notaries on staff. Many postal annexes do. Many corporations have at least one notary on staff. I don't think that's the issue because if you want it bad enough, you'll figure it out and get it done. Personally, I find the notary thing also rather watered down in the US, but that's a different conversation.

I wouldn't imagine it to be a big deal. People have done far worse and if you can prove you're back to the US to stay, even better.

When the Consulate takes your passport, they adhere a visa sticker into it with your photo (like many other countries do for a tourist or work visa). When you appear at the border, the CBP agent will access your electronic records, verify the information and then stamp your passport, validating that visa. This is what is referred to as your temporary I-551 (greencard). You can travel for up to a year from the date of that validation stamp without a physical greencard because sometimes the physical cards take some time to get to you (ours took 177 days). It's not a great idea to leave for long periods of time, but some people flagpole (activate their visa and return to Canada or Mexico right away) to tie up business. Being in Canada, you have to understand that the expectation is you're a PR of the US and your social benefits will go away. The biggest thing is to make sure you're not out of the US for too long of a period of time or you may require a re-entry permit and it will impact when you can apply for citizenship, if that's on your radar.

We just got Kid1's new one like 2 weeks ago. I'd completely forgotten a new card was even being issued. We had to do the I-90 when said child turned 14 and that was nearly 3 years ago already! Just popped up in the mail

I understand where you're coming from and I don't disagree. I'd love to see the encourager to be held just as accountable. That said, the number of financial sponsors that don't even understand what they've signed up for under the current system is pretty alarming. The T&C and enforcement are so unbelievably watered down for the I-864. Without actual enforcement for your proposal, I think your plan would be hard pressed to be successful. People who want to do the correct thing do it. Those that have an IDGAF attitude find the loopholes. It makes me mad because the rule followers are not as positively rewarded as the loophole finders seem to be just due to lack of enforcement. How in the h-e-double hockey sticks does that person still have a DL in TX? TX LOVES to do SAVE verification. I was stuck without a license for 2 weeks because SAVE was slow. Thank goodness for great friends because this is NOT a transit friendly state, let alone a pedestrian friendly state. When I had to leave to prevent overstay, my TX DL expired on a certain day, not the end of the month. Pain in the REAR when trying to get into a rental elsewhere!

Nope. Just watch for it in Informed Delivery.

Lawyers prepare the petition and you show up at a preclearance airport and adjudicate like a TN, so really, it's how fast the lawyers can get their 💩 together and get the forms filled out and HR provide the relevant required documentation (training records, company's annual report, etc). To the OP, if it is an L1 petition, your partner needs to check that EVERY paper in that petition has the "i's" dotted and the "t's" crossed because the lawyers screw up all of the time. They had stuff wrong in my petition when I initially moved to the US on an L1. If they are only offering a TN, then it won't work - your partner will be denied because immigrant intent has already been shown.

No guests. Only the individual naturalizing is allowed in. I naturalized in late April and my ceremony was at Gears.

If the card is being issued, you'll likely have it in the next week or 2, before you actually move. They print 'em, envelope 'em, and send 'em quite quickly.

Others can probably offer more info. Personally, if it's an L1 petition from his company, I'd take it, abandon the K1, get married once he's in the US and file the I-130 spousal visa. The L1 is a dual intent visa anyway. Montreal likes to hand out 221g's an DS-5535's like candy and the WOM are fast becoming ineffective. The K1 will cost more anyway because you have to adjust status and then remove conditions. All costly. If he's in the US on a work visa and you get married and adjust, he can work the whole time. This is a pretty big advantage. If his employer is offering this, their immigration attorneys should be able to offer some insight.

Sherriff's are elected positions. Probably not as effective as one might think. I was there in 2015 and again this past May and nope, didn't require anything special. The tourism industry brings in enough money that there is a bill being considered to allow Canadian snowbirds the opportunity to spend more than 183 days in the US without an overstay. If anything, that's paving the way to further abuse than it's already abused. I realize Canada is kind of a blurred line but still... Having looked at it in a bit more detail, pivoting US immigration from family based to merit based criterion would definitely change things up. Not allowing to adjust would also help. Clamping down on potential immigrants who use another country as a gateway to the US would help.

^^^^ Exactly this. This is what I was eluding to with the police report, the NOA that the request for replacement has been filed and the ADIT stamp. That will suffice as proof of PR and will serve as the missing greencard.