Hi everyone,

My partner had his interview in Montreal on Tuesday (it was on par with the other descriptions of the interview on this forum). He was approved and got his passport back in the mail on Thursday with the shiny CR-1 sticker inside. FYI-The entire process took 11.5 months (including the Adam Walsh nonsense-time).

Anyway, it looks like it's going to be 4 or 5 months until he moves down here. I was wondering if there are reasons either for or against him entering the country for a visit beforehand in order to intialize his perminent residence, so that his green card and ssn card will be ready when he moves down for good.

Thanks for your help,

Martha

P.S. someone should beef up the CR-1/IR-1 section of the Visa FAQ part of this website

That is perfectly fine. The best way to think of it though is that he's moving to the US now (not just visiting) and making his home with you and that he's going back to visit Canada for a while to finish things up before the final move. It's best to think of it that way because as a PR, he should make the US his home, so if he's ever asked while crossing back and forth before the final move, he should say the US is his home and he's just finalising things in Canada. I'm tired so I hope that made sense!

I think it made sense and it is correct. The visa should be used on his next entry and he should consider himself a permanent resident of the US from that date forward. Visiting Canada is perfectly fine, even if he's visiting and working there temporarily. The timing of actually moving his personal possessions is incidental in this context.