PoE Rainbow Bridge

[Kevbev09 1]

So I finally got my visa on Thursday, wasted no time at all to get to Kevin had my PoE the very next day since my stuff was mostly packed and my mom had the day off work.

She picked gate lucky 13, she apparently didn't even notice but I did . The CO there was giving everyone a hard time as far as we could tell, line was hella slow and the guy ahead of us had his trunk searched and at one point, we thought the CO was taking away his car keys, but after what looked like a long lecture he got everything back and it was our turn. My mom said straight away "I'm driving my daughter and she's entering on a visa". He looked at my passport, and obviously had no idea how a K-1 visa worked, he asked me "how long are you staying, when are you getting married, why are you in such a rush to get here if you don't even have a wedding date?!" The date will happen whenever we get the rings and license made up, both things we are doing TOGETHER obviously, but that wasn't good enough for him. I'm sure he asked a couple more ridiculous questions that I don't recall, also he said "you have THIRTY days to get married on this visa, you know" I wasn't gonna bother arguing with him so I just said yes. Also asked if I had the advance parole papers with me yet, I said no and showed him the orange envelope from the consulate, he said "okay you take that upstairs." He took our passports away, wrote us out a little slip of paper with our license plate number on it and number of occupants in the car, told us where to park and to walk along the white lines to get into the building and to go to the second floor.

We went up and sat down, there were about 20 other people in there and officers coming in and out. Waited maybe about 15 minutes before my name was called, and my mom came with me to the inner room. I was bracing myself for another interrogation like the interview, but the guy who dealt with us was REALLY nice and friendly, thankfully. He also had no idea how to deal with a K-1 though. He had a printed list of instructions of what to do, opened my orange package and tried to match up the papers there with his instructions, but he had a hard time with it and kept asking other people for help. Ironically enough the guy who helped him most was the officer who denied me at my first visit! Don't think he recognized me though.. lol. While we were waiting for him to come over, my CO asked just casually how long the visa had taken to process, I said "from the first application? over a year" and explained to him that I had just finished over 3 months of AP, he seemed pretty sympathetic that I hadn't been able to see Kevin the entire time!

At one point he asked if I had a driver's license or any other ID with me, but I hadn't brought anything in except the envelope and my x-ray (which he had no interest in). So he got my mom's car keys and I told him where he could find my wallet. He was down there for probably a good 20 minutes. As we found out later he searched through my boxes and bags since he left them all open, seemed especially interested in the folder I had containing copies of our entire file from start to finish, he left it on my seat lol. At any rate we saw him come back upstairs and photocopy my visa and my health card since I don't have a driver's license, but then he disappeared for probably another half hour. We got to stay in the inner room where people were being questioned though, lots of entertainment from people getting denied entry or trying to enter with improper ID.. I was thankful we were there for a GOOD reason.

Finally he came back, said everything had been approved and we just had to pay $6 USD for the I-94. We went around to the cashier, my mom had forgetten to bring any American money so she ended up paying $6 on credit lol, a little embarrassed and the cashier laughed at her. She gave our passports back and my ID, then my mom realized she hadn't gotten her car keys back, so the cashier went and found them.. then asked what kind of car she had and how she liked it, they had quite a long conversation about cars while I was eager to get going and call Kevin (we were in there nearly 2 hours total). Finally got away, we ran into the mean CO from the booth downstairs, he actually stopped and asked how it went for us.

Partway to Kevin's, my mom asked where I put the I-94. I was so confused, expecting it to be a bigger sheet like every other document we've had and I didn't remember the cashier actually giving it to us, so I panicked and dug through everything we'd been carrying, then I called the number that was on the receipt the cashier gave us. Got forwarded to different numbers probably 4-5 times, I said we paid for the I-94 but didn't receive it, so whoever answered the phone at customs took my name and cell number and said he'd figure out what happened. 5 minutes later he called me back and said "um, we have a photocopy of the I-94 in your passport, you have it with you." I looked and sure enough it said I-94 on it... Okay I had a blonde moment, but glad we didn't have to go back and try to sort THAT out.

And we lived happily ever after... so far.

[Canadiandggal 49]

HEHE SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD REVIEW HOWEVER SEEMED LIKE IT TOOK LONGER THEN USUAL. i WONDER IF PEOPLE EVER GET DENIED EVEN WITH A VISA? I am glad you found the i-94. good luck

[lilacvioletiris 11]

While we were waiting for him to come over, my CO asked just casually how long the visa had taken to process, I said "from the first application? over a year" and explained to him that I had just finished over 3 months of AP, he seemed pretty sympathetic that I hadn't been able to see Kevin the entire time!

I am so glad you finally got out of Administrative Processing! May to August is crazy! Enjoy getting your wedding planned and all the things that go with it. Glad to hear you got into the U.S. safely! Goodluck.

[Alan-and-Ira 1]

Nice to hear you got it to US well. :-) Good wishes for the new life!

[canadian_wife 1,808]

Great review! Glad your POE was smooth!

[sdw 10]

Congrats

[Peachey 10]

Grats! When I crossed on my visa, the guy at the booth treated me the same way. Had no idea what a K1 was and asked me how long I was going, even after I told him I was moving and getting married he still asked me when I was going back to Canada! He made a few phone calls and got it straight, and lied to me about not knowing anything about my visa lol.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

great review - but kind of scary the degree of misinformation the front line guard had! Good luck!

[Kevbev09 1]

great review - but kind of scary the degree of misinformation the front line guard had! Good luck!

I know eh.. well, the CO who processed us also quizzed me on the steps to take after getting married, I rattled them off like any good VJer and said "we've done a lot of research on this stuff".. hope he was suitably impressed.

[OBX 51]

Congratulations! Sure sounds as though you knew more than they did!

[Kevbev09 1]

So after all that apparent skepticism at the border of getting our rings and license within the 90 day period.. we ordered the rings today, they will be ready sometime next week. Went to the courthouse (which was like 3 blocks from the jeweller, we walked ) and got our marriage license on the spot (well, mostly, we drove back home first because Kevin didn't have his SSC with him).

Seriously are any of these customs officers married, why do they show such doubt about our abilities to get things done so quickly?

Also funny side note, after we got back Kevin checked his mailbox. Lo and behold a certificate from the jewellers' we ordered the rings at, for discounts on any purchase, since he had been there before to get a watch fixed, and apparently they mail out "birthday presents" to customers (his birthday is in a few weeks). Man he was beating himself up for not checking his mail before we left. I think we got a pretty good deal though, got free laser engravings on both our rings.

Edited August 30, 2010 by Kevbev09

[frenzyheart 2]

I am so glad you finally got out of Administrative Processing! May to August is crazy! Enjoy getting your wedding planned and all the things that go with it. Glad to hear you got into the U.S. safely! Goodluck.

Here's the hilarious thing - She went through AP, and they are STILL getting married before Matthew and I. I'm the last of the May interviews to get married, and the last of the September 2009 filers to get married.

... Yes, I am going crazy over it right now, but all in good time. 10 is our lucky number, after all. 10/10/10 at 10 (well, hopefully at 10. still waiting for the venue in Niagara Falls to get back to us about switching the time from 3 to 10...)

Congratulations, again, Bev. Welcome home! <3

[lilacvioletiris 11]

Here's the hilarious thing - She went through AP, and they are STILL getting married before Matthew and I. I'm the last of the May interviews to get married, and the last of the September 2009 filers to get married.

... Yes, I am going crazy over it right now, but all in good time. 10 is our lucky number, after all. 10/10/10 at 10 (well, hopefully at 10. still waiting for the venue in Niagara Falls to get back to us about switching the time from 3 to 10...)

Congratulations, again, Bev. Welcome home! <3

That will be an ultra cool date for anniversaries! Administrative Processing I would not wish on anyone and being with your loved one is always a good thing when it FINALLY happens.

[Kevbev09 1]

Here's the hilarious thing - She went through AP, and they are STILL getting married before Matthew and I. I'm the last of the May interviews to get married, and the last of the September 2009 filers to get married.

... Yes, I am going crazy over it right now, but all in good time. 10 is our lucky number, after all. 10/10/10 at 10 (well, hopefully at 10. still waiting for the venue in Niagara Falls to get back to us about switching the time from 3 to 10...)

Congratulations, again, Bev. Welcome home! <3

Well we are kind of rushing things, lol, I mean look at our timeline now! At any rate if Montreal was trying to test our relationship they failed miserably, neither of us even thought of giving up, in fact we had plans for Kevin to move to Canada if for some reason they wanted to deny us! It was like riding a see-saw though, one of us was always cheering the other up after a rough day.

At any rate maybe we can go through the AoS process together Frenzy, and Lilac can give us tips in advance LOL. Actually I think we should revive the May interviewees thread, we had a fun group there, would be cool to see how everyone is doing now that we're all in the US!

Edited August 31, 2010 by Kevbev09

[Peachey 10]

Also funny side note, after we got back Kevin checked his mailbox. Lo and behold a certificate from the jewellers' we ordered the rings at, for discounts on any purchase, since he had been there before to get a watch fixed, and apparently they mail out "birthday presents" to customers (his birthday is in a few weeks). Man he was beating himself up for not checking his mail before we left. I think we got a pretty good deal though, got free laser engravings on both our rings.

Print out the cert, bring it with you and go back. They'll probably honor it.