I 601 approved

[kareker 0]

I've been browsing this forum for a few weeks. So I'd like to say thanks to all for the wonderfully informative posts, even though you never even knew I was here!

It's been a long road for my husband and I. He is Canadian, I am a US citizen. We married 7 years ago, and started the immigration process shortly after our marriage.

I didn't know much about the immigration process when we started out, but he had a criminal record, so when we filed the first application (spousal Visa), I asked if there was anything special we needed to do regarding the criminal record. Time passed, and they just kept sending us more packets to fill out, and we paid the necessary fees. I was naive enough to believe that the lack of response to my questions regarding his criminal record meant that we didn't need to do anything else.

We've had a couple of hold ups on our end, both financially and due to terminal illness with both our parents, and at one point, they lost a considerable amount of our stuff and we had to start all over again...

2 years ago, we were summoned to the consulate in Montreal and told that all we needed was his physical and his passport.

Of course, at that time, we were asked why we had never submitted a waiver, and sent home.

We compiled everything for the waiver and submitted it to Vermont in June of 2008, only to be contacted in February of 2009 with a request for more information. I bombarded them with papers...

Yesterday, we received an email stating that the waiver was approved and mailed out that very day!

What can we expect at this point?

Any help or info is greatly appreciated. We handled all of this on our own, without legal representation, and after all this time, I'm a bit in shock and still reeling from the good news! I'm certain we have to go back to Montreal, and I'm certain he will need another physical (I scheduled it for the 19th of this month) as the last one has expired (this will be the third).

Does anyone have any idea how long it might take for us to get notification of the appointment in Montreal?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Kim and Pete

Edited October 2, 2009 by kareker

[TBoneTX 45,469]

Holy mackerel, Kim... such persistence is admirable, si man!

Unless a Canadian VJ member stumbles across your post here (or an organizer or moderator transfers it), you may want to post the link to this thread in the Canadian regional subforum. Folks there will surely have informed answers to your questions.

Keep the faith, eh, si man.

[kareker 0]

Oh, thank you! I hate to double post so I will just wait patiently for it to be moved!

Again, thanks for your response!

Kim

[emt103c 10]

Montreal is just as slow after waiver approval as before. Keep on top of them. Montreal does not require a post waiver interview so they will probably request the updated police certificate and medical along with the passport. It takes them around 3 months to get themselves in gear though (1-2 months just to request the supplemental evidence then a few weeks to issue the visa.)

Congratulations on your approval and good luck!

[kareker 0]

I would be thrilled to death if we didn't have to go back to Montreal.

The last time was pretty miserable for both of us. But there really wasn't much of an 'interview' at that time - she just basically asked us had no one told us we needed a waiver, we said no, and she gave us the form and we left. They didn't refund my money, though!

I would be very happy NOT to go back, so I really hope you're right!

Thanks for your help, and I will stay on top of them!

Edited October 3, 2009 by kareker