KTandTommy

I'll try calling again, but when I made my infopass appointment back in January, the guy that I spoke to told me there was no way to formally withdraw, that they would just automatically deny it when I didn't show up for my interview... Does anyone know the specific words I need to say or place I need to call that will get it officially withdrawn?

They should already have a copy of my divorce certificate, and the last time I crossed the border, I asked the agent to put it in the system that I was no longer interested in living in the USA, and they wrote "CWOP" (cancelled without prejudice) on my visa in my passport and also updated their files in the computer to say the same thing, which is why I'm not really sure what's going on here...

*sigh* what a mess.

I'm not sure if this is the correct place to ask this question... mods, feel free to move it if necessary.

I was divorced in January, before receiving my green card (but after submitting the paperwork for my green card). Back in January, I made an infopass appointment, and I submitted my divorce certificate and told them that I was no longer interested in living in the United States.

My parents just recently came back from Florida (where I was living) and they brought me a letter from USCIS - dated May 27. It's an RFE, for my greencard, asking for my ex-husband's birth certificate.

Do I need to make another infopass appointment to (re)inform them of the current situation, or can I just ignore it?

To re-iterate, I'm no longer pursuing the green card or living in the US. I am happily settled back in Canada - but I do often travel to the US and I don't want any complications in my travels.

Katie, I'm sorry to hear about your situation, but I applaud you for getting out. I have a very close family member dealing with the end of a both physically and emotionally abusive relationship, and I know it takes a lot of courage and strength to walk away from that. So many women unfortunately stay in situations like that. As for VAWA, it comes up a lot on the boards, and I know it is designed to protect the immigration status of the victim, but I don't know if there are consequences for the USC. Try doing a search in VJ to see what you can see. Good luck with everything!

Thanks He wasn't physically abusive, but he put me through 10 months of mental and emotional hell. I should have gotten out sooner, but I kept hoping it would get better. I posted in the Effects of Major Change board, and it doesn't seem like VAWA will affect the USC at all. Which is a shame. I have no doubt that he's done this before, and will do it again.

Thanks for the information Hypnos & sandranj.

You're probably right, Vawa is probably not the right way for me to go, especially if it brings him no consequences.

To answer the questions, just to tie things up - I have not withdrawn my petition yet, nor do I believe my husband has.

And I have been to therapy, though I don't have any police reports.

Hello,

I am a former K1 visa holder from Canada. Got married on January 1, 2013. Life with my husband was AWFUL, without going into too many details. I left him (and the country) on October 31, after filing for divorce. Our divorce date is January 10, 2014 (which I'm heading down to FL to attend). I have EAD/AP but have not received the 2-year GC yet.

Here are my questions:

1. Is emotional abuse grounds for VAWA? He never hit me (because he knew I would leave faster than he could blink if he did!), but he spent 10 months being extremely emotionally abusive. I have texts, emails and a few audio files from some fights that I recorded as proof. I don't necessarily want to stay in the US, but I want to prevent him from ever bringing another woman into the country again. (And if it meant staying in the US under VAWA, I might consider doing that)

2. Am I even able to file VAWA though we were only married 10 months? I definitely entered the marriage in good faith. I have proof of co-mingled finances, lots of photos, lots of emails from before the abuse started, etc.

3. My plan was originally to make an infopass appointment as soon as the divorce goes through and figure out what I need to do to turn in my visa/EAD, etc... should I still do that? Or should I make them aware of the situation and have them tell me what to do?

Any info/advice is appreciated!

Just an update for you all...

I filed for divorce... court date is Jan. 10. I still haven't received the GC, but as soon as the divorce is done, I'm going to make an infopass appointment and figure out how to return it. I'm kind of curious about how VAWA works, even though I don't want to stay in the US anymore. I just want it on record that he was abusive to me, so that he is never able to bring another woman into the country again. Anyone know anything about that?

Thanks for the support, everyone.

I ended up coming home a couple of weeks ago now... I still have to figure out all the paperwork that goes along with it, but I have no doubt that I made the right decision for myself.

Thank you so much... I can definitely use as many hugs as I can get right now.

This sucks.

Thanks everyone.

I'm home now... and life just sucks. But at least now I know what I have to do...

Thanks so much... that's exactly the info I was looking for!

Thanks all.

Does anyone know about the name change aspect? Does it affect anything since all my Canadian documents are in my maiden name still, and I would be forfeiting all my US ones in my married name? Do I have to file anything in Canada that says I was married (I'm not sure exactly how long it takes to file for divorce, or if we will even do that right away, or hold off for a while...)

Thanks guys, I appreciate the support & lack of judgement!

Things have been crappy almost since the minute I set foot in Florida. We just don't seem to go well together, personality-wise, goal-wise, etc. I don't want to slag him, but I feel like he showed me a completely different person when we were dating than who he turned out to be. I feel like we've just been on a roller coaster of fights and apologies for the last 9 months.

He's been going to his own personal counselor for almost two months now, and we also have a (different) couples counselor... but I just don't see it working out. This sucks.

Wow, Katie. I'm not sure what is going on, but I hope everything is okay between you and your husband. If not, you know we are here for you.

Thanks

No... things aren't going so well here. It's a long story and a lot of drama, but I think I've reached the breaking point. I think I've just had enough

Yes, I would definitely be crossing by land, so I could talk to CBP. I'm mostly just not sure what I have to take care of before I leave (if I end up leaving, assuming my marriage doesn't work out)

Should I cross-post this to the Canada forum or have a moderator move the topic there?

I bought a $15 (tiny) bag of Tim Horton's coffee last time I was at Epcot!! The silliest part is that my sister was coming to visit the next week, and I could've just asked her to bring me a much cheaper, bigger tin of Tim's, but I was just SO DARN EXCITED that I could buy it myself, in Florida! LOL

Yup. I am big-time regretting moving from Canada. I was completely settled up there... I owned a condo in Toronto (which thankfully, I ended up just renting out instead of selling), I had a huge family and tonnes of friends.

I thought living in Florida would be great, because I already had some friends down here from when I was vacationing here with my parents.... but they were definitely not the quality friends I had back home. Just fairweather friends. I get paid HALF of what I made back home in my new job (which, other than the money, I love very much)... and overall, life down here is just not what I was hoping it would be.

Life in the US has been rough. I don't want to get into the details... but I just don't see my marriage as being a good decision anymore. I'm Canadian. What do I have to do if I want to go home?

My AOS has not been approved yet, but I have EAD/AP and SSN, and I've been working since June - you can see my timeline in my signature. All my US documents are in my married name. My Canadian documents are in my maiden name. My parents have a home in FL, so I want to be able to visit, with the same restrictions that I had before as a Canadian citizen (ie 180 days, no visa required, just a passport) - now my passport has my visa in it though, so do I somehow surrender it?

This may be a long shot, but does anyone know what (if anything) I will need to do when I'm back in Canada to get all my stuff activated (ie my OHIP/health insurance, SIN # ... do I need to file anything in Canada that states that I was married in the US?)

How about taxes for 2013? I am thinking the earliest I will be able to go home is February, so do I just file 2013 taxes in the US, and then somehow let them know that I'm moving back?

(P.S. if we are friends on Facebook, please do not mention anything about this on there...)

So umm... I'm thinking about moving back home.

(If we're facebook friends... please don't mention it there)

Hi everyone! How are you all doing?

I'm still stuck in "Initial Review", after getting an RFE, and then changing my address. Status hasn't moved since April 25... Should I be calling someone at this point?

I'm not really overly worried about it, to be honest. I have my EAD and I'm working at an awesome job... so as long as it doesn't expire on me LOL, I'm way less worried about this than I was about the NOA2 last year But I don't want to let it slide TOO long, if I need to be proactive...

Hi,

Hope you get your approval soon. I also submitted a change of address in April, which made my status revert to initial review and my AOS was at a standstill until its approval today (8/27) without an interview.

Thanks! Fingers crossed!

Congratulations on your approval

I haven't been by here in a while, but I just wanted to check on everyone's timelines. Mine is still at a standstill... I was at initial review for a while... then RFE response review... now I'm back to initial review after submitting a change of address on April 25th.

Boo!

1 week to go to our second wedding, why on earth we decided to have a second wedding we have no idea. Still we're almost there, Saturday next week everyone will be stuffed with lovely food and we'll be able to relax again May the fourth be with us!

LMFAO, yup, that's exactly how I'm feeling. 21 days away for me! May the fourth be with you! (Hehe, we're having our officiant use that line as the opening of the ceremony)

I just received my EAD/AP combo card yesterday in the mail.

My greencard status reverted back to Initial Review after being in RFE Response Review since March 22... I just recently updated our address in the system, so I'm hoping that this new change hasn't set back our processing time - especially because our old address was just my father-in-law's house, so it really wasn't a big deal for mailing purposes... still receive mail easily. Blah, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Can't wait til all this wedding and house stuff is settled, so that I can finally start applying for some jobs!

EAD/AP combo card received yesterday and in my wallet!!

My case status on USCIS has now reverted back to "initial review" from "RFE Response Review" because I changed my address... Is that an issue that is going to set me back AGAIN?! I should've just left my address as-is, if that's the case, since we were only living at my Father-in-Law's place, so we still receive mail easily... ugh.

Congratulations!

As someone who is still in the "unpacking" stage... I would recommend *OVER LABELLING* all of your boxes, if that makes any sense. I thought I was being hyper organized when I would write stuff like "Box #2 - Jeans, t-shirts, other summer stuff" ... and that was pretty awesome. But it was the miscellaneous boxes that got "under labelled" like, "Box #24: Pots & Pans" - I'm pretty sure that there is a box SOMEWHERE that has more pots & pans, that probably got shoved in with like "box #22: Dishes", just because there was extra room in that box. Don't fall into that trap. I've been in my house for a month, and I still can't find my small and medium sized frying pans!! Haha

I also do a lot of craft stuff (and I'm doing an insane amount of crafting for our "big" wedding coming up in less than a month") and it is *less* than helpful to me when I see "box #12: craft stuff, box #15: craft stuff, etc" ... when there's 10 boxes of "craft stuff" and I am looking for something in particular, without unpacking every single box!

Sorry, this is probably a bit disjointed, but hopefully you get what I mean

They did, however, really love at the border that I had a corresponding spreadsheet with the box #'s and what was in them. They didn't tear apart the car at all - just looked at the spreadsheet, and (I think) looked at a few boxes to make sure they matched, and sent me on my way!