No Quick Turnaround after POE?

[OBX 51]

I was reading "Cindy and Greg's" interview review and thread in the CR1/IR1 forum. Wondered if anyone else that recently interviewed had been given the same advice?

From their review:

Handed me a welcome letter, told me what to expect at the border (bring passport, package they will send me, xray, custody papers). Told me don't cross the border, go for coffee, and then go back home. Take all your belongings, to move permanately. (Good advice since we were planning the prior just to get the ball rolling).

Wonder what's up with that?

Edited February 11, 2010 by OBX

[ZansGirl 0]

i'm thinking and thinking and I don't recall the lady saying anything like that to me...just that it would be valid for 6 months..hmmmmmmmmmmm

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

Strange that they wanted the x-ray too... Is that usually requested at POE?

[bowflex 0]

Strange that they wanted the x-ray too... Is that usually requested at POE?

While they didn't review my wife's thoroughly or anything they did request to see that we had it done when she crossed back in 2007. Made me feel better that I didn't just throw it out while dragging it around Montreal lol

[Wyatt's Torch 45]

While they didn't review my wife's thoroughly or anything they did request to see that we had it done when she crossed back in 2007. Made me feel better that I didn't just throw it out while dragging it around Montreal lol

Thanks! I'll be sure to bring it with me then.

[Rustbelt 0]

When I did my interview back in October for my IR-1 the interviewer was very, very, very clear that I was NOT to cross back into Canada until I had my green card. I actually challenged him on that (very nicely, of course), but he was insistent that no green card = no leaving the US. Unless I got AP.

He was wrong. I called the POE (Peace Bridge) to double check his information and they said categorically that providing I had my passport with the I-551 stamp in it I was good for up to a year.

I crossed several times between POE and getting my green card. No worries. Had to explain what I had in my passport one time to the BG at the booth, but no trouble at all.

- Steve's wife

[Darnell 8,478]

I thought the I-551 stamp (regardless of country of origin on the passport ) trumps all, when coming into a POE after the 'initial' POE ?

Geez. Can't possibly be a USA-CA border issue, I think is training issue with the ConOffs, instead? hmmmmm

But hei - if something changed, something changed, yes? For IR-1/CR-1s - historically, if you had the I-551 stamp in the passport from the FIRST POE after VISA issuance, you were free to cross the border at any time.

#######?

[HeatDeath 430]

The CBP officer is probably just thinking of the K-1 visa, for which that is perfectly valid and very important advice. Remember, they don't see a lot of K-1 OR immigrant visas, particularly at the smaller highway PoEs, so they almost certainly don't keep the fine details of each one in short term memory. That's what the reference binders in the office are for

I crossed at Pembina, ND, the busiest highway crossing between the Great Lakes and the Rockies. It still took the guy (who wasn't a newbie) 90 minutes of flipping through binders to process my file, and even after that he needed an older guy to show him how to make an I-94 that wasn't multiple-entry. I was also advised not to return to Canada without the GC in hand. I knew the AP would also work, but it didn't seem wise at the time to quibble with him about a technicality

If they're fuzzy on the process (which is the vast majority of officers the vast majority of the time, I suspect) then it makes sense that they'd give you the safest, most conservative advice applicable. No one entering on a K1 or CR1 visa will go wrong by staying, but K1s will screw up their lives quite badly if they hit a Starbucks and then go back to Canada. It's actually a good stretegy for us to remember when we post here: If you can only be bothered to remember one rule, remember and quote the one that won't screw up people's lives

Edited February 11, 2010 by HeatDeath

[Darnell 8,478]

CBP officer? I was referring to a ConOff, or Consular Officer (also known as a VO, Visa Officer/Official) - ya know - the USCitizen worker that INTERVIEWED YOU ON INTERVIEW at the Embassy/Consulate's Immigration Visa Unit.

[trailmix 77]

CBP officer? I was referring to a ConOff, or Consular Officer (also known as a VO, Visa Officer/Official) - ya know - the USCitizen worker that INTERVIEWED YOU ON INTERVIEW at the Embassy/Consulate's Immigration Visa Unit.

Well, I think the same holds true here. Since they are cranking out CR1/IR1 interviews in a huge bunch, one has to imagine that everyone in that office is doing interviews that they normally might not.

For instance, it has been documented here that 98% of the time it is 1 guy in Montreal that does the interviews that require proving domicile. That has not been the case recently.

So what you get, probably, is an officer that normally does K1 visa interviews, interviewing an IR1 - nothing wrong with that of course, they just may not be familiar with the rules.

[HeatDeath 430]

CBP officer? I was referring to a ConOff, or Consular Officer (also known as a VO, Visa Officer/Official) - ya know - the USCitizen worker that INTERVIEWED YOU ON INTERVIEW at the Embassy/Consulate's Immigration Visa Unit.

Lol. Oops. Actually, that reinforces my point If the CBP officers, the guys at the front lines who actually admit you to the country, are fuzzy on the rules for K-1 and immigrant visas the vast majority of the time, how much more should we expect that from the consular officers, who are that much farther removed from the entry and admittance process?

[brocku00 1]

Hi Everyone,

You have officically got me in a panic!! I had my interview last August and had my xrays with me. The officer told me to do whatever I wanted with them and said that I wouldn't need them ever again....I even asked if I could throw them out and he said yes! I do not have my xray anymore!! When I get my Visa...should I go back to Toronto and get another xray....explaining to them why I need it?? OMG....I can't believe that I would throw those out....even on the advice of a Gov't official!!! Help me!

[OBX 51]

Hi Everyone,

You have officically got me in a panic!! I had my interview last August and had my xrays with me. The officer told me to do whatever I wanted with them and said that I wouldn't need them ever again....I even asked if I could throw them out and he said yes! I do not have my xray anymore!! When I get my Visa...should I go back to Toronto and get another xray....explaining to them why I need it?? OMG....I can't believe that I would throw those out....even on the advice of a Gov't official!!! Help me!

This is the first I have heard of anyone being asked to show their x-ray. When I crossed at the Peace Bridge last June it did not come up at all.

[Peachey 10]

Yeah I didnt' have to show mine either. Good thing because it was packed.

[HeatDeath 430]

I lugged mine across Vancouver from the medical to the interview, and they didn't want to see it. But they did say the PoE would want to see it. So I kept it all nice and made sure it wasn't packed when I drove down. The PoE wasn't the slightest bit interested to see it. So now it's in the top of my closet, where it will happily expire at the end of April without anyone in officialdom even having had seen it except the CS in Vancouver who checked "Xray normal" on the medical report.