mam521

The status always goes to "refused" before it switches to "issued". Don't stress...it's normal

Montreal is a bit of an enigma as far as consulates go. Maybe Canadian immigration is perceived as too easy. Maybe it's because Canadians are some of the biggest violators in terms of overstay. It's all a bit bizarre.

Just a head's up that I've now seen on 2 separate occasions. Apparently Toyota Canada is no longer issuing compliance letters. I suspect it has to do with liability since an aftermarket TPMS does not technically meet DOT regulation and the TPMS is a requirement to meet DOT standards. So, I suppose take that whatever way you want. If someone with a Toyota can confirm, that'd be great.

Ugh...just reading this makes me a bit sick in the pit of my stomach for you. Extreme vetting and yet, it's sent by e-mail and forgotten about. Makes you wonder how important it really is but yet, you're stuck in immigration purgatory as a result. All I can say is I'm sorry and I'm sending timely passage vibes for everyone stuck in this process.

@Hawk Riders does keep the spreadsheet pretty up to date. As long as you've properly filled out your timeline and have requested updates to be made, they are. However, if Hawk Riders is not tagged with the updates, they may miss them - the forum is a fast moving place.

You have 6 months from the expiration date of your medical or the visa in your passport, whichever comes first (typically your medical) to enter the US. You may want to reconsider attempting to import your vehicle. It can be a real headache. There are a couple of other threads talking about these challenges. If you do decide to import it, you'll need to ensure the vehicle is paid off in full or have permission from the finance company that they will allow you to export it from Canada, the letter of compliance from the manufacturer, bill of sale and the EPA and HS-7 forms filled out. Once you get to whatever state you're moving to, you'll have to research what you need to do to register and insure in that state as well as the timeline to do so. I do recommend if you own property and are planning to sell it, do so before you enter the US. The non resident withholdings and clearance certificates are a pain in the rear to obtain from the Canadian Government and may cause delays with the property sale. The expectation is you enter the US to live permanently, so depending on your province, activating that visa will terminate provincial benefits like health care because you are a permanent resident of the US. If you do need to leave the US for longer than 6mo, you should file an I-131 reentry permit. Once your DS-260 is approved, it typically gets locked out. I believe you can still upload documents to CEAC, but you can also just take the updates to the interview as others have said. If DoS requests for you to update, they will unlock it and allow you to make changes. This doesn't seem to happen unless someone is issued a DS-5535. Just take the updates to the interview and let the CO know. If anyone has a passport expiring soon and an interview coming up, renew the passport in advance. It's one less headache that you have to worry about after you've enter the US. There will be other new, life building headaches you'll want to be focused on .

We're going to have to do emergency passport. Work confirmed that I will have to head to Malaysia to teach May 15th - 19th. So, I'll need to leave no later than the 11th. And then we have a trip to Europe that's been booked since before I even applied for citizenship. Kids' passports - we're going to wait until we're back from Europe. Once we have them, we'll apply for the N-600's.

Oath Ceremony scheduled for April 27, 2023. I suppose I'll see you there if it's at 11:15!

Oath Ceremony scheduled for April 27, 2023.

Hubs was LPR when we got married. I was in the US on L1b, 5 years was up and we'd recaptured as much time as we could (4mo, I think?). He applied for citizenship prior to our filing, but took 19mo. Had he been a citizen, things would have been different.

I'm chuckling...wasn't that mocked in the movie Superbad? There's a checkpoint on northbound CA-86 near Salton Sea that we make a point of avoiding when possible. It's basically in the middle of nowhere, too. Looks abandoned half the time. Don't need to test it. Hard pass!

I wonder how her case panned out. Horrifying, for sure. I can't imagine... We estimate immi has cost us over $100K because I had to leave to prevent visa overstay, which meant 18mo paying for living expenses, properties, etc in 2 countries and essentially biweekly airfare for hubs to visit. There was also no close civil surgeon, so we had additional costs for 3 of us to traipse cross country to complete the medicals and interview. Immi is definitely not cheap. Far from it, in fact. You really gotta want it and I feel like there's a lot of rose coloured glasses on people's faces. It also grinds my gears when people do boast that they didn't adjust for 5 years and didn't get caught. Honestly, there should be repercussions for these people because those that spend the time, effort and energy to do it correctly should be able to take some solace in the process working when you follow the rules. Bad behaviour and blissful ignorance shouldn't be rewarded. I left to prevent visa overstay myself because I wanted to follow the rules! I had 5 and a half years of paying taxes, filing taxes, contributing to the economy and my community and I was rewarded with having to leave and spend over 600 days to get through the immigration process. If you're playing by the rules, you shouldn't be punished. If anything, that history should count for something.

What was Lincoln famous for? Who vetoes bills? How many house representatives are there? Who's the leader of the executive branch? Name one of the members of the Constitutional Convention that wrote the Constitution. How many amendments to the Constitution are there? He had me read a sentence (something about Thanksgiving) and write "Thanksgiving is in November." If you get an app and just go through the questions a bunch of times, you'll be fine. That's all I did. Worked until I was getting at least 96% on the app 50 question tests.

The bolded part. When you receive your passport back with your visa in hand, your visa is valid for your first entry into the US for 6mo from the date of your medical. So, if you have your medical 6 weeks prior to your interview, then your interview and a week or 2 to get your passport back, you have 4 months left to cross the border. If you feel you can have everything in order to cross, perfect. Some people take longer to tie up loose ends.

Depends when your interview is relative to when your medical can be booked. Telus Health isn't the cheapest option, but for us it was a better choice in the grand scheme of things. We did our medicals in Montreal and stayed the week. Our medical was 1 week before our interview, so that was just the most cost effective way for the 3 of us to get it done without going back and forth. We had considered Dr. Cheema (we were in AB), but the airfare and timing didn't work. Dr. Cheema and the ON panel physicians seem to be able to get people in a bit faster and aren't quite as expensive. You can take the train or fly from ON to QC easily enough.

As per any border crossing, just make sure you have evidence of strong ties to home and keep calm and carry on.

Since Covid, they send it direct to the Consulate.

I didn't say they insist on it. I said they PREFER it. Please stop making assumptions and reading into what I wrote. They are well aware of the legal implications of what constitutes proof under the I-9 instructions. As for my comment regarding little ways to go - it's referencing PTSD and how far away we are from completing our immigration journey. Absolutely NOTHING to do with employment. SSN for the sole purposes of completing the I-9 is NOT required. You can review the instructions here: https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/forms/i-9instr.pdf An employee who can prove legal status and right to work in the US can begin work before they receive their SSN. The employer will be responsible for withholding taxes and submitting to the IRS once the SSN is provided, but employment is not contingent on having a SSN in hand. A List documents meet this requirement and the SSA and IRS have contingencies for the period leading up to a SSN being issued. https://www.ssa.gov/employer/hiring.htm

This is an old tread. You're probably better off to go back through the other big DQ thread and look. Lots of recent feedback.

I totally understand what you're asking. They reviewed my case before my 3 years was up, so no, it would appear that you don't have to hit that milestone before they look at it. Timeline: 01/03/2023 - Application sent 01/07/2023 - Biometrics scheduled 01/26/2023 - Actively reviewing N-400 03/06/2023 - Interview scheduled 04/10/2023 - Interview 04/10/2023 - Oath ceremony to be scheduled The difference I suppose is that I'm not a combo interview and Houston is churning out the interviews. They place was hoppin' when we got there. We'd front loaded the petition, too, so the guy didn't even ask to see my documents. From the questions he was asking, I could tell the case had actually been reviewed and verified. I'd still expect they are reviewing your case and you'll hear soon 🤞! It's unnerving waiting, but hopefully it's just the checks on the frontloading you did and you'll breeze past the next steps.

You can say that again! I don't think it ever goes away. I told hubs I am looking forward to being able to take apart our immigration flexifolder and properly file our marriage certificate, the naturalization certificates, the birth certificates, etc once we're through it all but I suspect I'll still have troubles because I live in fear that I'll need something or I've forgotten something or...or...or... . We still have a little ways to go. After my ceremony, we have to get 3 passports and still file 2 N-600's. THEN we might be ok? At least we have this community to support one another because no one understands it until they live it. Anyway, sending you positive vibes to get through this mess!

April 1, 2020 Yes, we entered the US on April Fool's Day during COVID when the borders were closed! We don't do anything without some excitement, it would seem.

Depends on your HR. Ours participates in E-Verify and preferentially wants to see I-9 A List documents, mostly to ensure the A number provided is correct and because the timeline to submit the I-9 is narrow. Because I provided the List A document, I was not required to show them my physical card for my SSN, but rather just provide the SSN. The reason I have to provide the SSN is because they participate in E-Verify. If they are mailing the I-9, as per the I-9 instructions, a SSN is optional. It's a pick your battle, really. In Texas, your DL is typically issued for 8 years or the validity of your documents (visa or PR). If you had a 2yr greencard and received an extension, you're going to have to go and take the extension letter to DPS, possibly get an agent who has no idea, just like HR or the SSA, get them to issue a new license but before they will, they are likely going to send for a SAVE verification which can take a couple of weeks. It's also going to cost you money every time you need to update that license. Anyone who lives in the Houston area can probably attest that dealing with DPS can be a real pain and rather demeaning experience. When I was on my work visa, I was stuck in this loop and without a license for 2 weeks, waiting on the SAVE verification. No license in a place with no public transit is a REAL headache. Thankfully, I had a ride to get me to work! My point is sometimes the List B and List C documents can be just as big of a pain in the neck as List A documents. Pick your poison because it all sucks and dealing with HR, the SSA and DPS/DMV can be about the same level of frustration. Choose whichever gives you the lesser likelihood of PTSD!

Hubs did his at Campbell back in 2019. So, we'll see I guess. I'll keep the tread posted when I get my notice!

Completely fair and I'm curious myself because there is a LOT if international travel supposed to happen in my near future. This will determine if we roll with it, as scheduled, or have to reschedule. The only thing the strange man said was to pay attention to which location the Oath Ceremony will be at because they are still doing some ceremonies at the Gears Road location where the interviews are done and also at the one high school where the large ceremonies are traditionally held.