Hi all,

I seem to remember this being addressed before but could not find the post. My fiancee received here K1 interview appt on Nov 8th. Due to work commitments she will not be moving down until the 1st week of January 2008.

The questions I have are:

1) Does the consulate keep her passport at the interview and mail the passport back with the visa in the passport, or do they just mail the K1 visa and you insert it in the passport yourself?

2) If the visa is issued and put in her passport by the consulate can she still travel with her passport and choose not to activate the visa at the POE ( provided all other entry requirements are meet)?

Thanks,

Stacy

1) they keep the passport and mail her the visa in the passport the following week

2) you MAY be able to but it's really up to the immigration guy she'd get.

Thanks, that is the way I understood it from the letter she got.



Fortunately of unfortunately like everything else about crossing the border it seems to be to the inspectors discretion.


Thanks again,

Stacy

if one carries "tons" of ties to canada, it "shouldn't" be a problem.. but then again, it's just luck of the draw...

you could always try.

I would be too pissed if they turned me away to try though..

Yeah, you can definitely try. Anytime you cross the border the final decision is always up to the individual officer. Hope for the best but be prepared for the worse. Well the alternative really isn't that bad since she will have a visa in hand and she can move there when she chooses to!

Oh we are definetly going to try. I guess that is the nice thing about US Customs being at Dorval. I the USC get the questions coming back to the U.S

This is probably the thread you were looking for.

Like I said in that post, I crossed multiple times without a problem. Having said that, though, it is entirely up to the officer at the POE.

Us Canadians get questioned by customs when we come back into Canada too. Customs questions only though, obviously no immigration questions. They just want to know if we bought anything we didnt declare. I think that's the same with CBP when they ask a USC what the purpose of their visit in Canada was, etc., etc. Par for the course.

Thanks Krikit...I almost pasted the link into this thread, shoulda known you'd beat me to it!!

Here's a great reply to my similar question from Zyggy:

The trick is in the special status that Canadians have.. by Jay's treaty,Canadian citizens do not need a visa to enter the US for up to 6 months and vice versa. This is what makes it different that VWP. With VWP, the US has chosen to allow certain nationals into the US without the need to apply for a visa to be able to visit the US. In essence, they apply for their visa at entry (no pre-approval or screening). In this way, Canadian Citizens are very special. They have a right that no one else in the world has. CBP can revoke VWP for anyone since it is a privilege that CBP extends. They can't revoke entry without visa for Canadians since they have the right to enter without visa by treaty.

If a Canadian Citizen is entering the US for any other purpose than to visit, a visa is required.

When you get a K1 visa, you have put the US Government on notice of your intention. The question is of intent... once you get the K1, you have a visa that says "I 'm going to live in the US". That no longer makes you a visitor with strong ties to Canada.

For schitts n grins, I called both the Detroit Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge. Tunnel guy says Doug HAS to activate the K1 on his next trip over to US, and ....you guessed it.....the Bridge guy said NOPE....just make sure you don't have anything with you and prove ties to Canada....neither one of these fine guards would give me a badge # of course