Sneaky POE

[Pauley 2]

OK, we've managed to surprise just about everyone we're going to surprise this time through, so time to give you guys the story...

We'd been telling folks Yvonne wasn't moving until May, which is still true. But in an effort to get her paperwork (SSN, etc.) going sooner, she packed up a bunch of stuff and I brought her down from Toronto last Saturday night to the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge for port of entry, and to surprise the family when she showed up for Easter dinner.

Since she's still going to be living and working in Canada for another month, she didn't bring a lot of clothes, but a bunch of shoes, CDs, cookbooks and other random stuff got piled into the back of my car and we took off from Toronto at about 7PM Saturday night. A quick restroom and snack stop at the duty free shop, then we crossed the bridge, pulled into the first booth at about 8:40-8:45-ish, and declared we wanted to activate her CR-1 visa. After some questions about what all was in the car, where we were moving to and such, plus some quizzical questions about the $19K bank draft she had with her (she had a car in mind from a used dealer I trust in town here), we were directed to the parking area to the left, and advised to stop inside at Customs before moving on to Immigration.

We lucked out on some customs paperwork according to the officers at the first desk, since, as I had not yet endorsed the bank check, it didn't count as a "monetary instrument" for purposes of the over-$10K declaration, and we moved on to the next desk. The first officer we talked to there (Yvonne thinks she recognized him from her previous bus trips through customs at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo) explained the process of what was going to go on during POE, including how the CR-1 conditions work (which we were already well aware), and asked us to take a seat while he went over the packet.

A few minutes later, we were called up to another area of the immigration counter, where Yvonne gave a right index fingerprint and signed a form, and we both signed a page acknowledging we had to apply in two years to remove conditions on her green card. He checked over a few other forms, and said that the rest of the paperwork was his to do, and we didn't really need to hang around for that. He stamped her passport visa, explained that it acts as a temporary green card until the real one arrives, and wished her good luck. We were prepared for a nearly-hour-long process, like we usually hear about, but we were in and out in less than half that, at around 9:15. Really smooth process all around.

We did ask before we left about the social security number process, but he didn't seem to know how it worked, and suggested applying at the SSA office right away, not knowing or caring that we'd checked the box on the form to have one issued. Since Yvonne isn't going to need to work for a month anyway, that should give SSA plenty of time to issue her a number if they're going to do so, and time enough to go apply for one later if it doesn't work out.

I'd called Mom and clued her in ahead of time (since she'd have to have food available for Yvonne, who's vegetarian and wouldn't be able/willing to chow down on the normal ham and sausage feast Mom makes for Easter), but no one else knew she was coming. Apparently Mom told Dad that I was coming down, and he'd said earlier in the morning, "it's good Paul'll be here for Easter... too bad Yvonne can't make it..." He was quite happy to see his daughter-in-law, and my siblings their sister-in-law for the first time since the wedding back in 2008.

Yvonne's taking the bus back to Toronto tomorrow morning (I gotta be at work ) and will be moving permanently in early May.

[nane1104 146]

All the best wishes for your life together!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Cute story! Congrats to you and Yvonne!

To be totally random, you look a lot like my friend Dan

[kballtex 0]

Awesome. Kind of tempted to do something similar once we have my boy's CRBA.

[Leafgal 3]

Very nice, what a great Easter you all must have had.

[sdw 10]

Congrats

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Very nice . I'm glad everything went so well and you obviously had a lovely Easter.

[OBX 51]

Good to hear everything went smoothly. How nice for both of you to finally be able to travel back and forth without worry.

[antda 13]

Pauley-Congrats on your wife's "sneaky" POE, and thanks for sharing about that here on VJ!

What a nice Easter surprise it must have been for you and your family, indeed!

Welcome to America and welcome to NYS too!

Good luck with the rest of the journey and in her getting her gc and ssn soon too.

Ant

P.S. If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose the Queenston/Lewiston over the Peace Bridge? Just curious....

OK, we've managed to surprise just about everyone we're going to surprise this time through, so time to give you guys the story...

We'd been telling folks Yvonne wasn't moving until May, which is still true. But in an effort to get her paperwork (SSN, etc.) going sooner, she packed up a bunch of stuff and I brought her down from Toronto last Saturday night to the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge for port of entry, and to surprise the family when she showed up for Easter dinner.

Since she's still going to be living and working in Canada for another month, she didn't bring a lot of clothes, but a bunch of shoes, CDs, cookbooks and other random stuff got piled into the back of my car and we took off from Toronto at about 7PM Saturday night. A quick restroom and snack stop at the duty free shop, then we crossed the bridge, pulled into the first booth at about 8:40-8:45-ish, and declared we wanted to activate her CR-1 visa. After some questions about what all was in the car, where we were moving to and such, plus some quizzical questions about the $19K bank draft she had with her (she had a car in mind from a used dealer I trust in town here), we were directed to the parking area to the left, and advised to stop inside at Customs before moving on to Immigration.

We lucked out on some customs paperwork according to the officers at the first desk, since, as I had not yet endorsed the bank check, it didn't count as a "monetary instrument" for purposes of the over-$10K declaration, and we moved on to the next desk. The first officer we talked to there (Yvonne thinks she recognized him from her previous bus trips through customs at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo) explained the process of what was going to go on during POE, including how the CR-1 conditions work (which we were already well aware), and asked us to take a seat while he went over the packet.

A few minutes later, we were called up to another area of the immigration counter, where Yvonne gave a right index fingerprint and signed a form, and we both signed a page acknowledging we had to apply in two years to remove conditions on her green card. He checked over a few other forms, and said that the rest of the paperwork was his to do, and we didn't really need to hang around for that. He stamped her passport visa, explained that it acts as a temporary green card until the real one arrives, and wished her good luck. We were prepared for a nearly-hour-long process, like we usually hear about, but we were in and out in less than half that, at around 9:15. Really smooth process all around.

We did ask before we left about the social security number process, but he didn't seem to know how it worked, and suggested applying at the SSA office right away, not knowing or caring that we'd checked the box on the form to have one issued. Since Yvonne isn't going to need to work for a month anyway, that should give SSA plenty of time to issue her a number if they're going to do so, and time enough to go apply for one later if it doesn't work out.

I'd called Mom and clued her in ahead of time (since she'd have to have food available for Yvonne, who's vegetarian and wouldn't be able/willing to chow down on the normal ham and sausage feast Mom makes for Easter), but no one else knew she was coming. Apparently Mom told Dad that I was coming down, and he'd said earlier in the morning, "it's good Paul'll be here for Easter... too bad Yvonne can't make it..." He was quite happy to see his daughter-in-law, and my siblings their sister-in-law for the first time since the wedding back in 2008.

Yvonne's taking the bus back to Toronto tomorrow morning (I gotta be at work ) and will be moving permanently in early May.

[Pauley 2]

P.S. If you don't mind me asking, why did you choose the Queenston/Lewiston over the Peace Bridge? Just curious....

I-190-to-I-290-to-I-90 is the quickest way back to Rochester, and the closest to Smoking Joes on the Tuscarora reservation where I stop for inexpensive fuel during my trips to Toronto. We'd considered doing the Peace Bridge when we thought about making it just a day trip, but when we decided to extend it to a long weekend, we just decided to go L-Q.

[antda 13]

I-190-to-I-290-to-I-90 is the quickest way back to Rochester, and the closest to Smoking Joes on the Tuscarora reservation where I stop for inexpensive fuel during my trips to Toronto. We'd considered doing the Peace Bridge when we thought about making it just a day trip, but when we decided to extend it to a long weekend, we just decided to go L-Q.

Pauley-Ahh...Ok..That makes sense...

Yeah, why go south and then back north when you don't need too...lol...

Hmmm..I haven't been to smoking joe's or the reservations up north...Though I've seen the Smoking Joe commercials..lol..

But yeah, I know what you mean about cheap gas on the reservations...(we do that too...especially when we're driving past the Salamanca, NY area, where the reservations in the south are....lol...definitely cheaper for gas!)

Regardless, glad your wife made it to NYS on the L-Q bridge!......Welcome to America!

Ant

P.S. Lol..Since you talked about buying cars...lol...Reminds me of those silly Billy Fuscillo commercials...

Tell Yvonne that Billy Fuscillo is like Mel Lastman... Then she'll see the real comparison there..lol....

[darkchilde794 5]

Awesome Easter celebration for you guys then! Grats on her semi move and hope she has a safe move in May!

[daffydill 0]

I miss Smokin Joes!! great prices!! Lewiston is a friendly crossing too. (Boy I sure miss Canuck Benson & Hedges)

Glad to hear you had a great Easter

[Married2009 32]

I bet it was fun to surprise your family like that! Hope the actual move goes as smoothly!