New Member - Need Help

[kaylamarie 0]

Hi and welcome,

Basically immigration is filling out a bunch of paperwork. As Jill mentioned, many here have done it without the help of a lawyer. Now i'm not trying to discourage you from getting one if that's your choice, but as Jill also said, they don't care about your paperwork as much as you do! (generally). It is no faster, everyone, lawyer or not, has to fill out the same forms and submit them to the same address.

To start, a good place to look at an overview of the K1 process is here: K1 Flowchart

Once you have reviewed that you will want to look at the guides (just click on the guides tab at the top of the page).

Also - where do you live? Where you live will dictate where you have your interview. There are only 2 U.S. consulates in Canada that do interviews, Vancouver and Montreal. Where your file will be sent, eventually, depends on which province you live in.

Oh and you aren't being a bother, so after you read the guides and you have questions, please come back and ask!

does that mean i have to go all the way to montreal for my interview??? isn't that the slowest place too (for what i've read)

Edited October 1, 2009 by kaylamarie

[JillA 2]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

[kaylamarie 0]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

[JillA 2]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

Train, car, plane, bus, etc. Immigration is very expensive

[Udella&Wiz 325]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

There are people who have travelled farther then that Looking ahead, you might want to consider how you would get there, lots of folks have driven witb the fiance, taken the train with their mom or gone by themsleves. Don't know where in ON you are, I was in southern ON and it was a 6-7 hr drive. You'll probably find there are a few surprises along the way in the way of cost and understanding and you've got plenty of time to understand it all.

You should probably read ahead and find out the costs of things - how much you submit with each package, if you need to get birth certificates from the province, there's a cost associated with that, Immigration Medical , ordering a Police Check etc......but not to get ahead of things. You're just at the begining for now. You may need to save a little $$$

[Peachey 10]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

Are you in the Sault.... hmm, maybe Windsor.

But welcome to VJ! The no lawyer thing is good advice. I asked the same question when my fiance and I first started the process and we're doing just fine Almost at the interview stage.

Things go slow, but you learn much patience in this process.

This community helps support each other, and I don't know what I would do without VJ!

[ashenflowers 5]

Yes, having to travel all the way to Montreal is a big headache. I too am in Ontario, facing a 7-8 hour drive, which requires a couple of days off work, and big expense. I have some friends that want to turn it into a road trip as a final hurrah sort of thing though. Maybe you could do that too? Car pool with some friends for a little getaway? Might help with costs.

I second the suggestion for no lawyer. You have found VJ. It's more trustworthy than a lawyer (since we've actually been through the experience), and much much cheaper. As U&W mentioned, it's very costly to do this process, and very time consuming, with lots of stress and waiting. Keep in mind if you go to visit the US for 5 months, you can NOT work while you are there, so be sure you can afford to do that and to pay for immigration. Costs vary depending on a few things, but expect $2000+.

[kaylamarie 0]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

Train, car, plane, bus, etc. Immigration is very expensive

where do i find the cost of each thing? that woudl reallly help by the way, i just want to say thank you to everybody here you guys are so amazing

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

Are you in the Sault.... hmm, maybe Windsor.

But welcome to VJ! The no lawyer thing is good advice. I asked the same question when my fiance and I first started the process and we're doing just fine Almost at the interview stage.

Things go slow, but you learn much patience in this process.

This community helps support each other, and I don't know what I would do without VJ!

yep im aware i wont be able to work for that 5 months and i def. won't do it unless i know i can afford but luckily it wont be just me me and my boyfriend will be splitting everything

and i live in Peterborough Ontario sorry for late responses work work work!

[JillA 2]

Oh Peterborough to Montreal is only about 5, 6 hours tops by car!!

[kaylamarie 0]

Oh Peterborough to Montreal is only about 5, 6 hours tops by car!!

really? on a bus trip i took there once i swore it took 8 hours!

[JillA 2]

Oh Peterborough to Montreal is only about 5, 6 hours tops by car!!

really? on a bus trip i took there once i swore it took 8 hours!

Oh I'm sure it did on a bus, they stop so many times!! But if you drove straight there, it would only be 5-6 hours

[kaylamarie 0]

No, if you are in Ontario, you will need to get to Montreal for the interview

yeah thats what i meant was montreal. thats 9 hours away i dont even know how i'd get there!

Are you in the Sault.... hmm, maybe Windsor.

But welcome to VJ! The no lawyer thing is good advice. I asked the same question when my fiance and I first started the process and we're doing just fine Almost at the interview stage.

Things go slow, but you learn much patience in this process.

This community helps support each other, and I don't know what I would do without VJ!

yeah i actually talked to a friend and she said she would go with me, my mom unfortunately wouldn't do it with me im sure of, she is definitely the one person i'd want by my side though (not saying i depend on my mother) but shes my mom right?

[kaylamarie 0]

Oh Peterborough to Montreal is only about 5, 6 hours tops by car!!

really? on a bus trip i took there once i swore it took 8 hours!

Oh I'm sure it did on a bus, they stop so many times!! But if you drove straight there, it would only be 5-6 hours

oh well thats not too bad then. too bad there wasn't an office in Toronto ive been there many times, but i guess things arent that easy. do you know where i can find the cost of each step? my boyfriend said he thought the $2,000 had to be paid all at once but i thought thats just how much the whole process will add up to after paying all the fees. i know i've said this many times but i appreciate so much how helpful you guys are, i dont even know how i found this website but im sure happy i did

[Peachey 10]

Your first petition (I 129F) is 455$

Then you'll have various expenses for birth certificates, expresspost envelopes, police certificates

Your medical will range from 275-350$

Hotel expense for your interview.

The fee for the interview is 131$ (I know, weird eh? 131!)

Then you'll have your moving expenses, and the 6$ fee at the border.

Depending on what kind of wedding you're going to have you'll have stuff to pay for (pastor/JoP, marriage liscence, marriage certificate)

Adjustment of Status is 1010$

Then you're done for a couple years, until you apply to remove your conditions!

[kaylamarie 0]

Your first petition (I 129F) is 455$

Then you'll have various expenses for birth certificates, expresspost envelopes, police certificates

Your medical will range from 275-350$

Hotel expense for your interview.

The fee for the interview is 131$ (I know, weird eh? 131!)

Then you'll have your moving expenses, and the 6$ fee at the border.

Depending on what kind of wedding you're going to have you'll have stuff to pay for (pastor/JoP, marriage liscence, marriage certificate)

Adjustment of Status is 1010$

Then you're done for a couple years, until you apply to remove your conditions!

well its good to know its not 2k all at once. now i can prove to my boyfriend that he was wrong and tel him i was right. but we all like being right dont we? hehe. thank's so much for posting that, it gives me a rough estimate on what i should be expecting. so it took you 10 months from filing to be able to enter the US together? Were going to be filing I 129F within a couple weeks.Finally we're doing the first step and i'm very excited to finally get this long process going. I'm not a very patient person though