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eebee

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Posts posted by eebee

  1. If you don't mind me asking, how close did you guys live from each other that you were able to go every weekend? I'd LOVE that to be the case! Haha I do go out there every 25 days though! So its not TOO terrible. But definitely want this process to go quicker. Its crazy for it to take this long...its ONLY Canada!

    It was kind of far to visit every week, about 300 miles or 5.5 hours of driving, but we did it anyway :) We joke about how much time we have on weekends now and how little mileage is being put on our vehicles. I am glad those days are over!

  2. POE was one of the easiest parts of the whole process :) We had 3 vehicles and it was no problem at all. I had a list of my items, too, but they weren't interested in seeing it either!

  3. I wouldn't worry about it too much. I think it is recognized that Canadians, especially those close to the border, make many crossings into the US without having their passports stamped. I don't think you will be too heavily scrutinized on that, especially with all of the other proof of your relationship you are providing. My fiance and I visited with each other almost every weekend for two years without stamps in our passports. What I did provide was a list of as many exact dates as I could since we started seeing each other. Since we hadn't really tracked the visits, we pulled the dates together by looking at calendars, our emails, concert tickets, etc. Since the forms ask for 'all' dates of visits (which would be impossible) I went back years and also stated the year my first visit was (family trip to Florida, etc.) and also that I estimated that I made on average x number of shopping trips per year during a specific time frame, and a couple of other dates I was certain of. I was as specific as I could be for the most recent years of us seeing each other. It was a long list but it seemed to be enough, since there was never any question during our whole application process. I think they understand that a lot of Canadians travel back and forth quite a bit without having their passports stamped. We didn't provide any receipts to back it up either and were never asked for any. That was our experience, anyway :)

  4. Hi, when I asked the immigration lawyer we used for our K1 application, I was told that as long as I was working for a Canadian company and being paid to my Canadian bank account, there was no problem with this. You do need to look into reporting the income in the US, though, as I believe there are still tax implications in both countries. The opportunity for me to work never did work out, though, so I'm afraid I can't give you any information based on actual experience. Maybe someone else on the board can?

    Good luck!

  5. You can apply to the RCMP to have a criminal record check done. You can find information here: RCMP criminal record check

    At the time I was looking to have one done last fall, they were saying it would take months to have it done through the RCMP. Instead, I made an appointment with the Commissionaires. Link: Commissionaires It took a couple of days to get an appointment, they took my fingerprints and photos and sent it off to the national database. Within days, I had the letter back with the results. It came on RCMP letterhead, showed my photo and fingerprints, and stated there were no criminal records of conviction to be found. This is what I submitted with my paperwork and there was no issue. I don't recall how much it cost, but it was less than $100. The website will give you the details you need. It was quite easy.

  6. My fiance (now husband) and I made multiple visits back and forth across the border by car to visit each other and our passports were never stamped. We worried we didn't have a lot of evidence from receipts, phone calls (we used FaceTime to talk)or a whole lot of recent emails. The evidence we provided for the initial application consisted of photographs and our statements of intent and that was enough. On the advice of our lawyer, we also had several friends and family members do up notarized affidavits to include with our package at the interview. The statements included things like how we met, the things we do together, trips we've taken, etc., as well as a statement that in their opinion our relationship was genuine. I'm not sure if the affidavits helped or not, but they didn't hurt our case.

  7. Thank you all for your replies :) That is good to know about picking it up the morning of the interview. I confirmed with them that their office opens at 7 am, which will give me time that Monday morning. I will be arriving the day before, but being a Sunday I wouldn't be able to pick it up. My fiance has rescheduled some work so now we will be going up for the medical a couple of weeks ahead of the interview. This will give us more time in case we need it. Thank you so much for the feedback. Enjoy your honeymoon, sheeshkabelle!

  8. I've just booked my appointment for my medical for my K1 at Medisys in Montreal and I have a couple of questions I'm hoping folks on here can help me with.

    First, my medical is on the 19th of March and my fiance and I will be driving together to Montreal for this appointment. I'm about a 7 hours away from Montreal, but we figure we can make the trip in a 24 hour period and minimize travel expenses. My interview is on Monday, March 26th so I will be making a second trip. Since we won't be waiting the 3 business days to pick up my report, is it possible to have it couriered to me? the person I spoke with when I booked the appointment couldn't confirm that for me.

    Having it couriered to me would mean I will probably get it on the Friday before my interview or it could possibly not be delivered to me on time. When I booked my appointment, I was given the time of 8:30 am, but from what I am reading, it is really first come-first serve on the day of the interview. I'm thinking I would be better off going to the Medisys office first thing on the Monday morning of my interview and getting my medical report then. Would it be a problem if I show up at the embassy after my 8:30 appointment time?

    My other question concerns vaccinations. I've looked at the list of required vaccinations and had to get a couple. Unfortunately, I couldn't get any information on my childhood shots, not even from Public Health. I consulted a nurse at VON and we went ahead with the Varicella vaccination, a booster for TD (I do have a record for that from 2005), Pertussis, and MMR booster. She said that they only give boosters for MMR, not the complete shot because they know people in my age bracket received it in school. Will this booster for MMR satisfy the vaccination requirement even though I don't have documentation that the original shot was received?

    Thanks for any feedback you can give me :)

  9. I mailed packet 3 to the consulate in Montreal on January 13th. On January 20th, they responded with a letter telling me that I needed to provide a couple of things that were missing. On January 25th, my immigration lawyer emailed me to say they had received the letter and that I needed to address the issues in the letter before the case would continue to be processed. The lawyers had used an in-house DS-156 form rather than the online one, and forwarded it to me to sign and send to the consulate. This form didn't have the barcode on it, so the consulate was requesting I re-do the form and get a bar code. My lawyer also neglected to tell me I need to provide a photocopy of the biographic page of my passport and the consulate was requesting this as well. (I know, I will never hire a lawyer again to do something I can do better myself!)

    On the 26th, I sent the information to the consulate via Canada Post Priority Next A.M. service since DHL doesn't have an outlet in my area. Canada Post guarantees next day delivery. According to their tracking system they attempted delivery at approximately 10 am on the 27th but apparently there wasn't anyone there to accept the envelope so they left a delivery card with information on where the envelope can be picked up. My first question is, WHY there wouldn't be someone at the consulate on a Friday morning to take delivery of my envelope! Does this make sense?

    My other question is, does anyone know how the consulate will treat a delivery card notice? Do they go pick up mail at the post office or will it sit there for a while? I'm at the point where I am more than ready to book my appointment and there appears to be a reasonably short wait time for available dates at the moment. I don't want to miss out on a March appointment. I would try calling the consulate, but my understanding is that Montreal doesn't answer the phone and they are very slow to respond to emails.

    I am considering sending a second envelope via courier (at least a courier will make more than one attempt to deliver) so that it will be delivered to the embassy on Tuesday morning, in case the one that is at the post office right now ends up just sitting there for days. Is this a good idea? Has this happened to anyone else? I'm just anxious to book my appointment!

  10. you can also have your medical done in TORONTO at Seiden medical clinic, many people do that if it's closer. You can get it done several weeks ahead of the interview.

    I'm in eastern Canada so I've been thinking Montreal is closer, but depending on circumstances I may look at Toronto.

  11. Tip for you: You can try to do both your medical and interview on the same week but should allow 3 days for your medical to be ready for pick-up.

    That being said, if you test positive to anything, results will take longer. But they would then give you a sealed envelope to take to your interview and you would have to mail in your medical to Montreal as soon as you get it. If you do have to do that, take into account your package will sit in their mail room for 3 weeks before they do anything with it and it will delay your visa issuance. But your interview would be done with and either way it would save you having to make 2 trips to Montreal.

    Good luck!

    Thanks! Here's hoping I don't have a delay due to the medical :)

  12. I live quite near the border of Canada and the US and I am able to visit my fiance at least twice a month. Going to Montreal for my medical is a long trip and will be an added hassle and expense. There are at least 6 designated civil surgeons in his city, there would be no additional travel expense for me, and it would be a lot more convenient. Does anyone know if it would be a problem to have my pre-interview medical done by a doctor in the US instead of by a designated one in Montreal?

  13. Well, I think I have an answer to my own question. Whether the answer is right or not might be another thing. I just called the DoS to verify my packet 3 has been logged (yes) and ask about the DS-160. The woman I spoke with said she didn't think it would be a problem since they do have access to the online form. They may just ask me to bring it with me to my interview. She didn't think it would hold up the process. I'm going to take it with a grain of salt since she also told me I would get an interview date with my packet 4 and my understanding is that for Montreal that isn't the way it works. Does anyone else have any experience with something like this?

  14. I prepared and sent in Packet 3 last week. I was just doing some research on here and noticed that I should have included a complete copy of the DS-160. When I finished completing it online I don't recall seeing an option to print the whole thing out :( I did include a copy of the confirmation printout in my packet 3. Is this going to cause a delay? Should I send off a copy to the Immigration Visa Unit or will they just ask me to bring a copy with me to the interview. Grrr - this whole process is taking so long that any delay (especially something I could have avoided) is going to be so frustrating!

  15. If you go to your bank you should be able to get a foreign currency draft. I did this when I needed to pay for something in Australia from Canada. There is a fee, but they give you what amounts to a certified cheque that you can just send to the company. I would think that US banks would provide the same service.

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