mam521

So, my question would be given the circumstances and knowing there's a chance B's visitor visa will be denied, what's the harm in getting married as soon as the PGWP is issued? Or sooner? Yes, it's significantly easier to bring B to the US when A is a citizen and there's nothing stopping waiting to file the I-130 after citizenship happens (you can file before and "upgrade" the petition, but it sounds like grad school will take some time anyway). If you guys are married 2+ years, B enters the US on an IR-1, not a CR-1. They get a 10 year greencard and you don't have to remove conditions. The whole process takes 18-24mo as it is, with the I-130 being the slowest part of the process at the moment. You could always pause the petition after the I-130 is approved and the petition is with NVC, planning to continue with it once a more final date for post grad graduation is known.

Do you have a MyUSCIS account? You can track from there. Also, sign up for USPS Informed Delivery. I could see the envelopes from USPS before I was notified by USCIS. Otherwise, it will be the one you paid the fee with. The I-130 is essentially the past - you've moved onto the DS-260 and now have the I-551.

Each petition is a separate entity. Of course USCIS is going to ask for the information regarding your marriage, irrespective of whether or not you think it's redundant, because it has to be included in your stepchild's case file. The stepchild's case is not directly married in the system to your wife's case and can be adjudicated by someone entirely differently, even if your wife and stepchild had been going through the process in parallel.

We just did expedited processing for my kids' US passports. Appointment date was Dec. 19, the passports were printed Dec. 27 and we go them back quickly (1 was before the new year and the other on the 3rd), all during the Christmas holidays. Apply now and she won't have any issues.

I think many more of them are beginning to rely heavily on SAVE Verification. If you're not in the system, no go. If you're in the system and lawful for 30 days, all you get is 30 days. It's annoying, but as Crazy Cat has outlined on many occasions, there are advantages and disadvantages to CR/IR and K visa types, so choosing carefully is paramount!

Your I-551 serves as your proof of identity and proof of legal status until your physical greencard comes. You should be able to take your passport with that I-551 into your local DMV (or DPS in my case) with proof of residency and apply for your driver's license. Those state agencies can do what is called a SAVE verification which will check the USCIS database and verify your legal status. The bank might be a bit trickier, but, depending on the bank, you should be able to get a bank account. The reason there is hesitation is because the banks do have obligation to report to the IRS and to do so, they need your SSN. Additionally, it's challenging to build your credit rating without a file to report to. A local credit union can probably help you out until you get a SSN. At that point, you might choose to stay with the credit union or open an account with one of the larger banks.

Canadians aren't required to go through a typical consular processing path for L1 blanket petitions. They are able to go directly through a pre-inspection point at the airport, where the I-129S is filed with CBP. CBP take a copy of the packet and send it into USCIS, collect the fees and send you on your way. The worker receives the I-797 once they have already been admitted into the US. I believe the difference in the blanket processing is attributable to the NAFTA agreement between the countries. I'm not sure how that influences AP in the bigger picture, but any processing between entering the US and receiving the I-797 are done in the background and, at least in my experience, I didn't hear anything until the lawyers sent the I-797 to me to file for my records and the detatchable portion that was required to be carried with my passport was affixed to my passport. Similar experiences for my L1 colleagues from Canada.

Then take your information (I-551, other ID) to the SSA and inquire. Sometimes the SSN's aren't issued, despite having checked the box on the DS-260.

#2. Traveling with the cat - make sure you've spoken to the airline and have paid the pet fee to bring the cat with. The airline will likely have a requirement that the cat have a a health certificate issued by a vet stating the cat is healthy and fit to travel, issued within 10 days of your flight. You may be asked to see a rabies vaccination certification for the cat. Make sure kitty isn't drugged out. You can potentially use a calming spray, but some people want to give the pet a sedative and that's not typically ok when the airline wants to see that the cat is healthy. Make sure your carrier is good for that long of a trip. We have SleepyPods which are pricey, but have been a great investment. I know my cats tend to pee in their carrier within the first half an hour of me putting them in it. I now put a puppy pad around and another under the bedding in the carrier so I can just pull it and chuck it out. No one wants to smell kitty pee and kitty certainly doesn't want to be stuck in their urine for an overseas flight. Good luck!

I thought they were supposed to be voting on the bill on Jan 29th, but I haven't heard anything updated. Who knows...

I hope after all of your suffering, that you and your wife were able to finally be together and mend after such a challenging journey!

I think this is the important piece. If I was looking at a case where someone had been an LPR for over 16 years and was suddenly attempting to naturalize under the 3 year when eligible for the simpler 5 year, I'd probably question it. Anyway, good luck!

It was ruled unconstitutional in Ontario courts in December, but the Act has yet to be amended and is currently waiting for Parliament to vote, as I understand it.

@Cadtoverm My wife is an American, currently living in Canada with me in Montreal. We bought our house in Vermont when we got married and started the immigration process. At the time we thought it would be an 8 month process…. We are having a baby in 3 weeks, and was hoping to be able to move full time to be close to her family and live in our house. The uncertainty of this situation is really impacting my mental health. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories and information….. it makes a bit easier to go through the experience. Well, not that you want to hear this, but if the baby is born in Canada, it will be able to pass on Canadian citizenship to it's children, should they choose to have kids. You guys won't be saddled with a big hospital bill right as you were hoping to move and your wife will be able to deliver with her doctors that have overseen the entire pregnancy. I know, you'd much rather be "home". 100% get it. But hopefully it's not all bad...a new baby is pretty exciting.

Credit card. I have my card set up to notify me of EVERY transaction, so I see them come in live. Anything over a certain amount, the CC company texts and requests approval. Never had any issues and we're a number of petitions successfully through the system now. Banking with cheques is very antiquated in my mind. US banking in general seems behind the times. I was uncomfortable when I first moved to the US 10 years ago and they'd still walk off with your CC to pay a restaurant bill. We'd had tableside machines in Canada for years already and your card never leaves your hand there. We'd also had chips in cards for years prior. The fact that it took so long for the US to accept chip n pin was mind blowing to me. I was shaking my head when people in our neighbourhood were complaining about 6 or so years ago that the debit machines at the local Kroger had been changed and the "credit" option when using a debit card had been removed, so they were required to use a pin. Interestingly enough, we used to have to request our corporate cards to have a pin (and later, a chip) so that we could use them internationally because so many other places required it, but not the US. We had to have a "business justification" for the need. Fraud is high in the US, so a CC offers the most inexpensive additional insurance a person can have because it's the CC company that has to be insured. If your debit card gets hacked, there's no getting that money back. Some banks are definitely better than others for monitoring and communicating when there is suspected fraud.

No problem. Good luck!

By what you've stated, you have plenty of evidence demonstrating she lives at that address. I wouldn't stress about the mortgage or a lease agreement. Everything else points to her living at that address.

But do they have the official court order and are there associated visitation? If so, then permission may be required from the other parent to allow the child to immigrate. The US does take parental rights and access seriously and adhere to guidelines to essentially preventing parental abduction of a child.

Sorry to hear about your FIL! As for the encyclopedias, would you be allowed to do folded book art? I realize there's probably like 40 of the damned things, but eh...maybe if you can make something old, new again, they'll be more willing to let them go. Painful truth: unlikely. I feel this pain though. And Kid2 has learned that if it's done but the online submission isn't working, to at least e-mail it to the teacher. It can then be proven that it was finished before the deadline.

Click your timeline link in the bottom left, or here: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=431859

@appleblossom gave you the link you need to follow to petition your husband. Current timeline is about a year: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/application/check-processing-times.html Unless he has a job that qualifies for express entry: https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/works.html https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/express-entry/eligibility/federal-skilled-workers.html For him to obtain Canadian citizenship, he will have to be in country, physically present, for 1095 days (equivalent of 3 years) of the last 5 years before he can apply. So, if you guys decided to take a 4 month vacation after he'd been in Canada for 2 years, that would push back his eligibility by that number of days. If you basically stayed in Canada for that full 3 years, he can apply straight away at that 1095 day point. Where to in NS? My kids' dad was born in Halifax

@craigbeauch and @natashasa, please fill out your timeline. If you'd like to be included on the tracking spreadsheet, please follow the instructions at the top of the spreadsheet. The link is in my signature.

Just adding the chances of someone who's demonstrated immigrant intent by already filing for a GC and successfully petitioning for a non-immigrant intent visa like a TN is very, very slim. It's FAR more likely that non-immigrant visa will be instantly denied. It could negatively impact the pending GC application, too.

If Montreal will actually do the DCF, I'd try that route. Montreal is a traditionally SLOW consulate. Your reasoning is sound - hubs job need him there and it sounds like a firm offer. The worst that can happen is they say no.

I've been seeing people on various threads reporting having issues with the website. I'd try tomorrow. Government agency and IT....