Michigan's population goes up by 1 today

[CDAgirlMI 51]

So I made the big move earlier today!!! Crossed the Ambassador bridge into Detroit.

I'll try to make this short....

We(mom, dad, Matt & I) packed the trucks & got to the border around 2pm. Told the officer at the booth I was activating my K1 visa. Also told them I was importing my firearm(got an import permit from the ATF) & had a bank draft that was over $10,000. He told us to pull over into secondary. My mom & dad passed through the booth without any problems & drove to Matt's apartment.

The officers directing us to park in secondary asked Q's about the gun & asked to see my permit & verify the serial # on the gun. Then told us to go inside.

Got in there & eventually were called up to the counter. I gave him my K1 visa package with passport. He was new(or new at dealing with visas) so he was getting help from a senior officer. Few mins later after we were waiting, the female senior officer called me to the counter & said......here it comes....

my visa was expired!!!!! #######!?!?!?!?!?!

(read my timeline...my interview was on Nov 20th...& I received it in the mail the following Friday).

And the funny thing is this..she showed me a page in the package & there was a stamp that read VISA EXP & handwritten beside it was Dec 13 2009.

I have NO IDEA what that is.

I told her I had 6 months to activate it. She asked why I didn't move over as soon as I got the package. I told her again, I had 6 months & I wanted to wait till after Christmas. I started to cry(wouldn't you?). The 2 officers told me not to cry & they would figure it out.

She called me back up & said they got it straightened out, and they were going to finish whatever they had to do & I'd be on my way.

I had to fill out more papers because of the bank draft & the firearm.

All in all it took us less than an hour.

It was a little un-organized dealing with so many officers telling me one thing, than another telling me something else. I was just glad to be on my way after they told me I was good-to-go.

1 question to anyone here: what was up with that expiry date. I mean, I saw it for myself! I hope nobody else has to go through that (although it was only a few mins of trying to figure it all out).

I am Glad I made it & we're finally relaxing in the "mitten" State!!

[Rhiannercakes 14]

Wow, that's crazy, it was expired?

How strange.

Wish I had a bank draft with that sum of money when I POE'd

Welcome to the US of Eh!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Wow!! I don't blame you for crying! I'm glad everything worked out in the end

So, there was a page inside the packet that said your visa expired on the 13th? How about the actual visa? There should be an expiration date on that as well, does it say December 13th or a date 6 months from the day it was issued? IT sounds like someone just made a big mistake!

[ashenflowers 5]

Oh great.... now I'm SERIOUSLY going to be having a panic attack about that stupid accidental canceled visa that's sitting in my passport. I really think they're going to make a stink about it. This blows... Do you think they actually CALL the consulate if there are any problems?

btw, I too wish I had a bank draft that was 'too big'. lol blah....

[CDAgirlMI 51]

I have NO idea why that expiry date was like that. I don't know any other dates that could've been on any other paper. Both Matt & I told her that there's NO way I would've known that expiry date because it was in the envelope that was sealed with DO NOT OPEN on it.

Ashenflowers...I wouldn't worry too much about your situation. The problem we had was a date that was on a page inside the brown sealed envelope. Nothing to do with the passport issued date. BUT if for some devilish reason it happens to you(or anyone else reading this..), someone in supervisor will take care of it. After a few mins of discussing it with her, she went in the other room & had it fixed.

[Dan and Ali 3]

That's so weird it would have a message about expiring on Dec 13 ... #######? Either way, I'm glad you made it through safely! Congrats!

[MrsCat 6]

Oh my goodness, you poor thing. Thank goodness everything worked out okay.

[Spoom 8]

Are you sure it wasn't the expiration date of your I-129F petition NOA2 that they saw? (That shouldn't prevent you from using your visa.)

[Krikit 1,164]

Spoom is right. It's the petition expiry date that they were looking at..... not the visa expiry date. I do wonder why they put that on there. I'm sure it made sense to someone involved in policy-making.

Welcome to America, CDAgirlMI!

[darkchilde794 5]

Congratulations CDAgirlMI! It definitely seemed like a heart stopping experience but you are here now! Welcome

[CDAgirlMI 51]

Are you sure it wasn't the expiration date of your I-129F petition NOA2 that they saw? (That shouldn't prevent you from using your visa.)

You're absolutley right. My NOA2 has an expiration date of Dec 13, 2009. And the visa in my passport expires in May 2010. I knew this, but she was so angry & defensive when she told me it was expired, my mind went blank.

Ah, well. All's good now!

[bowflex 0]

Welcome to Michigan Congrats and I'm glad it eventually worked out for ya. Just like you when we crossed over the bridge it was a mad dash of people not knowing what to do. Luckily one of the supervisors was an immigrant himself so he knew the process and helped out a ton when we finally got to him Congrats again!!

[Sam and Ben 2]

Glad you made it across without issue! We, too, had a few new ones dealing with my visa (despite the fact that everyone seemed to be asking him questions about everything else, he certainly didn't know what to do with my package). He kept asking me questions about things he was supposed to put down, etc.

But glad you got on your way! Welcome to America.

[Missa 0]

yay for the mitten state!! i'll be joining you at the end of next month ^__^ though i'll be up in the thumb of the mitt.

glad you made it alright

[Danu 19]

Thats kind of scary! I'm glad you made it through ok!