Hi everyone...

I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to update you all for so long... David got his visa & we moved to Utah 2 days later... We have been here a month & have just got our internet back up & running...

It was quite an ordeal & not a perfect experience by any means...

I can't get into too many details because it would take forever... But I will try to sum it up...

The interview appeared to be going perfectly & then right when we thought she was going to approve the visa, she told us that we couldn't get the visa because we failed to provide proof that I (the US Citizen) was actually going to be moving with my husband & daughter... WHAT?????? OF COURSE I'M MOVING!!!!! We showed every form of proof that we had with us including my car information (proving that I intended to take MY car accross the boarder to the USA), Our hotel confirmation's for our trip (listing 3 people), MY 2 Cats vet info (Proving that I intended to take my cats accross the border to the USA) & a letter written by my Mom to us stating that my family were all very excited to see us & wishing us well... NOTHING was good enough for her!!! She was not very nice about it either.... She wanted proof of paid rent in my name!!! HUH???? All the papers they send you tell you that you should NOT make any moving plans because your VISA is not guaranteed, but yet she wanted proof that we had paid rent in Utah for her to accept the fact that I was moving too... UUGGGHHHHH!!!!! Anyway, lucky for us we had ignored the warnings & had scheduled our trip & had already paid rent for our first 2 months in Utah (my parents paid it & we paid them when we arrived)... But at that moment we had no proof of the paid rent... So we asked her if we could get my parents to fax us a copy of the rent receipt & bring it back that day... She said that was ok, but she could not promise anything... She gave us her fax number & sent us away devestated... It took some work, but we got my parents to fax the proof that she needed to the Embassy... Then we went back to make sure that she got it & that she could go ahead & approve it... The security guard told us that in order to see her again we would need to butt in front of her next appointment... That is what David did, one man walked out & she called someone else & David snuck in first... BAD IDEA!!!!! She FREAKED OUT!!!!!!! She almost called security & she refused to check the fax machine - She asked him to leave several times & he kept asking her to go check the fax machine... It got very ugly!!!! We left feeling absolutely like we had no hope at all... When we went downstairs the security guard could see we were upset & asked us what happened... We explained the situation to her & she called the lead security officer over & explained the situation to him... They must have taken pitty on us & he made some calls & came back & told us that he got us an appointment later that day... In the meantime we had my parents fax us the info & also got our new landlord to fax a better copy of it (with my name completely visable) so we had hard copies ourselves... We had a few more minor setbacks... But finally David was told that his visa was approved & that we needed to come back the next day... Thank goodness for those security guards... They saved the day!!!! They will forever have our gratitude...

We picked up his visa the next day (Mar 29th) & then drove from Montreal to Southern Ontario (home) & got there around 1AM - We went to bed, slept for a few hours & got up & packed everything on to our utility trailer... Slept on the bare floor that night & then woke up & pulled out of our driveway at 4AM the next morning (April 1st)... We drove a total of about a mile & then BOOM!!!!! Our tire fell completely off of our trailer... My freaked out cat managed to jump out of the car & run into the darkness... We couldn't find the cat, our daughter (13 months old) was totally freaked out & screaming her head off... It was so dark that we couldn't even see what had actually happened... David decided to turn the car around & shine the headlights on the problem to see how bad it was... When he pulled up, he almost ran over our cat who was shivering (terrified) under the car... When I saw him I grabbed him & kissed him so much!!! I was so relieved... I thought I'd never see him again... When we saw how bad the trailer was, we ended up unhooking it, leaving it on the side of the road & just going back to our house that we had just moved out of (thank goodness David still had an extra key)... We tried to sleep for a bit but it was not easy... At 7AM when the place that David used to work for opened (right accross the street), he went & asked his old boss if he could borrow the forklift... He then drove the forklift out to where our trailer was & picked up the entire loaded trailer & brought it home... It was quite a sight seeing that!!! The next thing we did was drive to the nearest big city & we went to a store & spent almost $1000 of our moving money on a new trailer.... Brought it home & decided to lighten our load... So we sold or gave away almost everything except our best clothes & our sentimentals... We got the new trailer loaded & we were on the road again by 2PM... WOW!!!! We were dreading the border crossing - figuring that we were going to have to unload the entire thing again... But it was a breeze... They didn't ask to look at anything, they didn't ask for the papers on our car or the papers for our cats or even the itemized list of the contents... We were in & out within 20 minutes... We had to change our two nights hotel reservations because of the setback, but the rest of the trip was very nice...

It was quite an ordeal!!!!! WOW!!! David got his Social security number within a week & a half & he got a welcome letter a few days ago from the dept. of homeland security telling him that his green card will be here within 30 days... David got a job with the first resume that he sent out (driving a crane) & he just got offered his dream job yesterday (a career in hockey)... We are settling in & hoping that this move brings us good luck...

I hope that none of you who are still in the process have such a difficult time on interview day... Remember to provide proof that the USA citizen is actually moving to the USA too...

Sorry my update is so long - it is actually quite a short version... I left out a lot of details... If you have read this entire thing - Thanks...

Good luck to you all...
Hugs
Tanya

what a story!! i'm so glad it all turned out in the end

congrats

Wow!! Thanks so much for sharing! When you get the time, I'd love to hear the longer version!

Glad you, Hubby, Baby, and Kitties finally made it home safe and somewhat sound!

WOW what a total nightmare at least its proof (though no consolation) that all's well that ends well ......... here's wishing you a very happy and much less eventful future

Congrats on getting everyone home safe and sound!!!!

Sometimes the hardest things make everything more worthwhile. Hope everything goes smoothly for you and your family from now on.

Best wishes.

We had a similar issue -- although not a similar experience, thankfully -- when we went for our K-3 interview in Montreal. I'm the U.S. citizen, my wife is Canadian. We'd been married a long time, living in Toronto for 11 years, had two kids, were estabilished, when I had an opportunity to start a business in Seattle. We sent in our I-129F and I-130 material in March 2004 and had our interview later that year in December.

The interview was going well when we were asked for proof that I was living in the United States. I wasn't; I was living with my family in Toronto. We had sold our house and liquidated all of our assets in advance of our move, but I was still a resident of Canada. The interviewer asked for a sale agreement on the house (didn't bring it) but, probably noticing the horrified looks on our faces, said proof showing intent to move would be sufficient for her. Fortunately, I had a letter from my partner about establishing our company.

I thought I had all the bases covered but I wasn't aware that I (apparently) couldn't file for a K-3 from outside the United States. The interviewer hauled out the regulation and showed us.

Our interviewer in Montreal was very professional, knew her stuff, and used the authority she had to make a good decision. Sorry you didn't have the same experience...

Gosh what an ordeal! Glad you all finally arrive safely

Adele

Good info to know about intent to move and all that good stuff. Although it was a bit stressful, you two are now together, most excellent! Congratulations!

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing.

Congrats Tawney.. good to know everything worked out for you in the end..

Yay Tanya & Co!!!! Congrats on your move---what a story! Glad to hear it all worked out in the end, but wow.

The quoted part above.. looks to me like the ole 'proof of US domicile' thingie.. part and parcel, but I'm sorry it gave you such a scare.

Don't be a total stranger now, y'hear?

Congrats on a happy ending