US Immigration from Canada

Leaving a review of my experience to hopefully help others after me!

Medical Exam date: April 18, 2024 @ 9:00am

Cost: $355 for my age range, plus $50 for a TDAP booster & $47 for tracked courier delivery of some documents to my house

Booking the appointment:
I emailed the office directly after received my packet 4 email with all the documents they require, you can find this information on their website, make sure you ve received your packet 4 email first and that you ve booked an interview appointment as they will ask for confirmation for both. They responded to me immediately and I was able to book my appointment for about a month away from that day. They respond very quickly and if you have any questions they ll answer anything you need.

Appointment day:
I flew in from Calgary really early and landed at 6:30am at the Vancouver airport, rented a car and drove down to Surrey. It only took about 30 min to get to the office from the airport, it was really easy and there was no traffic. I arrived around 7:45am, and decided to go in to ask some questions about my vaccines as I only had one dose of the Varicella and they ask for two. Since I was already there they actually told me they would take all my documents and start the process right away. They asked for my 5 passport photos, my passport, my drivers license, my covid vaccination records, as well as my other vaccination records. My records are all in spanish and I translated them on a google doc and printed that to bring, I showed them the original plus the translation and they took both to double check everything matched and make copies of everything. They gave me a form to fill and then returned all my documents afterwards, then they let me know I was actually missing a TDAP booster since it had been more than 10 years since my last dose, and I chose to get it there so I paid $50 for that. I sat down and waited a bit longer, then I got called in to the room. Dr. Cheema was really nice and went through the short list of questions really quickly, he listened to my lungs, took my blood pressure, then palpated my stomach, and finally gave me the TDAP booster before sending me on my way. I was finished by 8:45am, 15 min before my official appointment time, and then had to wait 15min after the vaccine before I could leave. The blood test is by appointment only and the office will make it for you and give you the time, the lab is right next to the office so you can walk there. I headed to my blood test appointment and I had to wait a bit as it was busy but I was out by 9:45. Then I drove down the road to the x-ray lab which is walk-in only, and despite being busy I was seen basically right away. I missed my turn into the parking lot so I wasted some time turning around, but I was finished with the whole process a few minutes before 11am. All in all it was really quick and easy.

Total time: around 3 hours and 15min.

What I learned:

• Hepatitis A is not required.
• Tdap is required within the last 10 years (I got it at the office)
• Varicella requires two doses, if you do not have both or records of both, you can get your family physician to get bloodwork done to test for immunity. If it is reactive, you are immune. An additional dose if needed at the office would have been $95.00 CAD, but if you ve had chickenpox before you just need to tell them what year you had it, no proof necessary.
• They provide you with a CD (for border crossing) and vaccination record (for AOS) by mail - you can choose courier (free and not tracked), or tracked courier (depends on where you live but I paid $47), they told me both of these are not required for the interview.
• Once results are sent to the US embassy, you will receive an email stating so.

Refused status 2 days after approval. MTL embassy

Hello, I was approved for my CR1 on Tuesday morning in Montreal.
The officer told me to expect my passport to be returned in about 6 days, it could take up to 2 weeks.
I checked my status on CEAC yesterday and it says refused .
I ve heard this can just be the default status while the visa is processing and it s nothing to worry about only 2 days After the approval but would really appreciate sharing your experiences to put my mind at ease. lol.
This process is taxing and I m so ready to move on.

DQ FEB 14

My husband is the American citizen, I am Canadian. We had our i130 approved in late December 2023. Now we've paid the fees for NVC and on to our next steps.

We filed his 2021 + 2022 taxes in January, but they have not been processed yet. It's been such a long wait.

Can we submit the affidavit of support and include a letter explaining our circumstances? I'm wondering if that option is only for those who are not required to file taxes. He is required, it just hasn't been done.

He's dealt with depression over the past few years (covid and us not being able to meet with closed borders didn't help). I don't know if including this explanation would help or hinder us.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Asking on behalf of my brother.

My brother is a Canadian citizen, being sponsored by his US citizen wife. They have 2 kids together. She previously sponsored his ex husband.

My sister in law said USCIS told them they need to have DNA testing done for the 2 kids to prove the relationship to my brother (their father). This made no sense to me and I'm not sure why they would need this. Both kids were born in the US and he is on the birth certificate as their father.

Is there any way in which USCIS would request this information?

This may only be a little off topic but I was wondering if anyone here has had to go through obtaining an ITIN for filing taxes with their US spouse. I imagine many of us have spent more time in the US than expected visiting, possibly triggering the need to file US taxes. I was given advice last year by my lawyer to not worry about that for now, but with how long the AP is taking, I am getting worried about being offside with the IRS.

Any thoughts on this?