OMG... And she thought I was lying!!! **You're SO gonna laugh!**

[Peachey 10]

I explained to my soon to be SIL what I have to do next.

I said :I got to my interview, in Montreal, which is 7 hours away and if everything goes well I get my visa. I move to your country and get married by the JP. Then I have to apply to "Adjust my status" to permanent resident and that costs $1000. and eventually about 6 months later I'll get my green card.

All she could say was "Wow".

[ScooterMac 2]

Anyway, I find the best way to get rid of a pushy salesperson is to say "i'm sorry I need to spend all of my disposable income on therapy. It's one of the conditions of my release." That's a pretty handy conversation stopper.

Sorry, not sure how I wandered into a thread that hadn't been updated for this long, but...

Edited December 9, 2009 by ScooterMac

[Sprailenes 47]

My boss thinks I can just go to any police station to get my biometrics done. She's like: "You have to go into Philly? I had to get my fingerprints done for a previous job and I just walked into a police station and had them do it, you don't have to go to Philly!"

Errm.

[lgg 2]

Yeah, I find that people are like, "what? you can't just go and live there? But we're Canadians!" I've never really been that frustrated by it, most people don't know the first thing about immigration so, I I keep my explanation short and simple...

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

I think most of us get that same reaction: "It takes THAT long? It costs THAT much? You can't move there while it's in process?" etc. etc. etc.

It annoys me every time, even though it's really not the asker's fault -- it's a natural reaction.

[Revenesque 2]

Yeah, I find that people are like, "what? you can't just go and live there? But we're Canadians!" I've never really been that frustrated by it, most people don't know the first thing about immigration so, I I keep my explanation short and simple...

LMAO! I'm so glad I'm not alone when I get remarks like this.

Sister: "But I know friends who married Americans and they just up and moved there...why do you have to go through immigration?"

Dad: "I can easily move to the States and work there!"

Me: "No you cannot..." (and explain the process and rationale)

Dad: "Naaah, I can go and work there!"

[DeadPoolX 9]

My Dad was the same way. I think the problem isn't only general ignorance when it comes to immigration, but false influences from elsewhere. Movies, books, TV shows -- they all paint an incredibly unrealistic picture of immigration. Maybe they do it for the sake of the story (who really wants to watch a two-hour movie solely comprised of paperwork, medical and fingerprinting?), but the end result is people don't know the reality of it.

To be fair... I can't imagine most of us knew before we started the process. Immigration isn't something you give much thought to unless it directly affects you.

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Yeah my dad did the same thing to me. My brother has a good friend from Buffalo NY who got his Canadian girlfriend pregnant, married her in Canada then tried to move her across the border without any kind of visa. Apparently, at least according to them, they were sent to secondary, questioned for a few hours and eventually the officer let her in and told her to adjust her status in the US as soon as possible. So then he was convinced that this is a perfectly legal and normal way to go about things. He tried to convince me that we should marry in Canada and then just move across the next day and adjust status later. I tried to explain the dangers involved with that and that if their story was right, they both just got really lucky but he wouldn't have it. His response when he found out I applied for a visa was, "well fine but don't expect me to help or pay for any of it." Oh dads. A few months later he took me to my immigration medical in Toronto because he didn't think if was safe for me to go alone.

But deadpool is right. Before I got involved in all this I had absolutely no idea the immigration process would be so difficult.

[CDAgirlMI 51]

I don't know if this point has been made yet already...

But for us K1 people(past, present & future), the fact that we can't travel outside of the U.S. between moving there & getting married, then after we get married until we file for AP/AOS really boggles people's minds when I tell them. Then about the 90 days to get married....Even some Americans think its crazy.

People think I read something wrong when I tell them. Nope, that's the "rules" I say.

[Peachey 10]

Varba's grandma thinks it's "very mean" of the government not to let me visit before moving, and not letting me go back to Canada when I want.

[Varba 0]

Varba's grandma thinks it's "very mean" of the government not to let me visit before moving, and not letting me go back to Canada when I want.

She had that look in her eye like "I'm going to stick Pres. Oboma in timeout till he lets Peachey visit her family whenever she feels like it!" too.

[lilacvioletiris 11]

I have been searching for information on banking and credit cards, RSPs, importing cars, drivers licensing, and Employment Insurance tonight and this thread made me laugh so hard! Wow, the whole attitude of "immigration can't cost that much you must be doing something wrong" is classic. Glad I stumbled upon the thread in my search for reading material for my fiance who keeps telling me, "Well, I am sure I can keep things as they are in Canada and just change my address." Um, no, you probably can't but here are other people's experiences. He has lots of reading ahead of him!

Edit: 76 pages back so far. I think I am almost done researching for the night.

Edited April 22, 2010 by lilacvioletiris

[ZansGirl 0]

<!--quoteo(post=2895425:date=May 2 2009, 05:38 PM:name=rexalite)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (rexalite @ May 2 2009, 05:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=2895425"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Anyway, I find the best way to get rid of a pushy salesperson is to say "i'm sorry I need to spend all of my disposable income on therapy. It's one of the conditions of my release." That's a pretty handy conversation stopper.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<img src="http://www.visajourney.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laughing.gif" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid="" border="0" alt="laughing.gif" /> That's great!! Its like whenever one of those Jehovah Witness people come knocking on the door... I just say I'm Jewish and they leave me alone.

I ASK THEM FOR THEIR ADDRESS FIRST!!!! IN CASE I WANT TO GO BANG ON THEIR FRONT DOOR ONE AFTERNOON!!!!!!!!!

[Wishing 1]

Great posting, thanks for a sharing an oldie but a goodie! People I speak to sometimes don't really believe me a first when I tell them about something called a "Fiance Visa". They are like ?