EvilSquee

I think it's clear the fiance isn't required to go but some of us want to. Thanks Chris for emailing, let me know the consulate's response. I had planned to go with Jay to his interview so we could hang out in Montreal and it'd be much nicer to be able to go into the consulate with him than have to wait anxiously in the hotel. The recent consulate reviews had people who'd had their fiances/spouses with them I thought...

Finally got an interview for July 12th.

I guess I'll see some of you there !

I called Dr. Seidens on Friday and was able to get in for my medical this coming Monday. Great news as I'm leaving Toronto this coming Friday for good. The one thing I haven't figured out yet is how to set up DHL. Do I do that now or at the interview ? I'll read up on it later in the day but if anyone has figured this out, let me know.

Good luck to all !

You got luckier than my fiance, he also called Friday and tried to get an appt for next week as he's coming here to visit until his interview and leaves next Sat. We're hoping someone cancels an appt. You set up DHL here (https://usvisa-info.com/en-CA/selfservice/p) by registering for courier service.

The # to call to ask about Packet 3 (DOS) is 1-202-663-1225. As others said no need to wait for Packet 3, it takes forever or may never come. Someone already linked the Montreal website, go there and look at what's required for Packet 3 and start getting any documents you might need (ex: birth certificate, renewed passport, police check, etc). When we had sent back Packet 3 we got an interview date within 2 weeks (I cheated and called DOS, didn't get the Packet 4 email but they told me it was sent) for about 2 months out.

off topic a bit----but a lot of airlines will NOT take an animal that has been sedated. I know we could not when we flew our dog to Nicaragua!!

I didn't have any issues and the cat flew with Delta back in 2008. However it was in-cabin in a soft carrier with my mom at her seat not in the cargo which may be different. As far as I know they didn't ask my mom about it. I didn't like the idea of using sedatives but I didn't want him freaking out on my mom either which is why we only used the minimum possible (think we cut one pill in half and that's all we gave him, we were given 2 pills in case he needed a second dose which wasn't required). While Pete was a stray so I can't say his age for sure I'm certain he was relatively young (1-2 yrs is my guess) so I didn't have the concerns that come with an older pet. Breeds with short muzzles (such as Persians) need special consideration as well and I would avoid sedation if at all possible in those kinds of circumstances. I wouldn't sedate a cat for a car trip.

Called the DOS today and they said Packet 4 was logged as emailed so even though Jay hasn't gotten the email we made our interview appt. Apparently a lot of those open dates were gobbled up because 7/24 was the earliest we could schedule. Gonna watch like a hawk in hopes of moving it forward but it's not looking so great.

Oh another tip, if it's hot use the AC don't roll down the windows. All that breeziness in the back seat pisses them off. My cats also liked having some music.

Glad the ceremony turned into total party time of awesome and that you got across the border without any hassles!

I made the 3.5 day trip from WI to WA when I relocated to work, and then 2.5 yrs later the same trip in reverse. The first time I had 3 cats, the second I had my mom fly home with 1 ahead of me so I only had 2. If you have a visit to the US before POE and one cat doesn't travel well might be worth it to pay extra to bring them here ahead of you on the flight. For the cat that flew we got a sedative from the vet, cut the dose in half and it worked just fine though the TSA searched his kitty diaper and he almost got loose in the Seattle airport.

For the car trip I had each cat alone in a mid-sized carrier with a towel or blanket in the bottom. All carriers were buckled into the backseat. I had a cardboard box lined with a garbage bag and then one of those tiny little plastic litterboxes in the bottom of it and had that on the floor wedged between the back of the driver's seat and the bottom of the backseats. I didn't feed or water the cats during the driving time, and saved that for each night when I let them run loose in the hotel (I feed my cats once at night and leave it out all day so this was fairly normal for them). Everytime I stopped for food, water, or gas I let each cat out for a few minutes, one at a time, to give them the chance to use the litterbox. They were very good about getting out of the carrier, doing their business, and hopping right back in. I also pulled over if it sounded like one of them needed to use it. One of my cats loves to travel but the others don't. Still overall they settled in pretty well and it was quite decent for such a long trip with so many cats.

How long was it until Packet 4 for you? Did they send an email for it? We sent back Packet 3 and are waiting to schedule our interview... rather anxiously!

If true that would be great since I'll be looking to book soon, but that didn't seem to be the case when I was looking around last week. If anyone has any hotel recommendations for the interview I'd appreciate them!

1. No, just the copy (all of it) is fine no need to notarize. Or tax transcripts as already suggested.

2. If you meet the income requirements it doesn't matter if you have 4 cents or 4 million.

3. I had no problems, but I "bank" at credit unions. Ask to speak to a manager. Or skip it because your mom makes enough income so assets aren't required. You only need income above the poverty line plus some per dependent. If your mom is co-sponsoring and makes 150K a year that's far above the typical 20-30k a year that's usually required. I don't have all the details but you can find that easily by just doing a quick search (I see these numbers on VJ at least once a day). You don't even need to list the other assets, they are there for people who may not have employement income but who have savings and you don't have to document them if they aren't needed.

4. You'd need documentation proving the assets and appraisals. Again don't bother. You don't need her assets, your mom's income is more than enough.

It's hard not to overthink things and get all kinds of paranoid when you're so close to the end, hopefully this puts your mind at ease and saves you a ton of unnecessary work and the delay that getting all this stuff would have added. Good luck!

As someone mentioned most companies have a policy that you only have 30 days after the qualifying life event (your legal wedding date) for open enrollment (changing your benefits aka adding your wife to the health insurance policy). DO NOT WAIT! She doesn't need a SSN to be added to your insurance, it may be a pain but don't wait 2-3 weeks for a SSC, get her added now before it's too late and they tell you too bad so sad 30 days are up. It will be much much much harder trying to fix that (not likely to be able to) than it will to get them to add her with no SSN.

Glad to hear things are going better for the OP. This is a good thread, full of useful advice. My fiance is already having a hard time preparing to leave Canada. He wanted to stay there and still wants to consider moving back some day, but I own a house, have 2 cars, and make a lot more while he lives with his parents, etc so financially it made no sense to go there. While we've both been frustrated during this process I'm realizing I need to ease up on him. His family has already made some pretty upsetting comments, from never coming to visit here, to how they won't see our kids if they're in the US when we divorce (best future in-laws ever! X_X) which is making it much much harder. Thanks everyone for the perspective and the reality check.

Yes it has to be submitted online. If you tried to complete it using a browser besides IE I recommend trying again with that. I know there was one my fiance tried to do in Chrome and got errors on.

I had a recent RFE from the CSC. Was about 2 weeks for me after I sent it back. The holidays will delay things and it varies by how much they have incoming. You'll get your approval soon.

This thread has been hilarious to read. When my fiance first came to visit I caught him not always flushing toilet paper. That's so nasty. He's from the Toronto area of Canada so it's not like plumbing issues can explain it. We both say "eh" but I'm from Wisconsin so I probably talk like a Canadian half the time myself (or like a Yooper, someone from the upper peninsula of Michigan... they sound pretty similar).

You can call the Dept of State to see if the consulate has received it. For us it took about a month for Montreal to get it (it was recent, check my sig for my timeline). Don't wait for them to mail Packet 3, everything you need is online. Once the Dept of State says they have received your petition and mailed Packet 3 you can send it back. If you need help getting the number for the DOS I can try to find it if someone else doesn't post it first. Packet 3 for Montreal can be found here: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/canada/303578/montreal/packet3-k1-mtl.pdf. There are many documents that you may need and they take some time (especially if you need to renew the benficiary's passport). I'd get started on those right away. I can share links and tips for the passport renewal, police certificate (we did RCMP one), and birth certificate if you need them, just ask!

You need to look into the fiance vs spousal visa and think long and hard about which one makes the most sense to you. It is a bad idea to plan to send her back every 5 months or so for 1-2 weeks and then have her come back so she is effectively living with you. CBP (border patrol) can and does turn people back at the border if they think they are high risk for staying illegally and/or skirting immigration (which is essentially what you are suggesting). People who are fiance(e)s or spouses of US citizens are questioned very specifically about this. While this is less common with people from Canada it can and does happen to visiting Canadians (happens a ton with people from other countries). Crossings are tracked and the last thing you want to do is risk having issues getting her a visa, whether it's as your fiancee or spouse. Personally I wouldn't risk having my fiance here more than 5 months out of the year total.

Make use of the sample forms (link is at the top of VJ in the second ribbon titled Example forms). We put permanently as suggested in the sample DS-156 (here: http://www.visajourney.com/examples/Form-DS-156.pdf). This whole process makes us all nervous and paranoid so no need to apologize!

Congrats! I'm also going through the Montreal consulate (I'm the USC). I'd be happy to help you with any questions you have and a good place to start would be the Canada forums as things vary by consulate/embassy at this stage of the process so others from Canada would be best able to help you. For Montreal you will need to gather the docs for Packet 3 as the next step. The consulate website is here: http://montreal.usconsulate.gov/visas/visas/fianc-k-1-visas/steps.html. Shows all the steps in the process. Look at the link for Packet 3, and here is a link detailing the docs required: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/info/info_3195.html#police. Long form birth certificate, police records, etc. For the I-134 you'll want to wait at least a month before your fiance gets employment, banking, and other financial evidence so they aren't too old by the time you get to the interview. If you search for I-134 you'll find tons of detailed posts on this. Long story short he needs to make at least 125% of the poverty line, plus a bit for every dependent. You can also have cash assets to overcome but you've already stated you're not in this position. Worst case you will need a co-sponsor for the I-134 and I-864.

If you haven't already filed the I-129F there's no way you'll have approval and be through the process to have a visa by Dec 2012. NOA2 in Nov-Dec if you filed tomorrow, 1 month to go through NVC and get to the embassy/consulate, and then you need to send back all the docs to the DOS, get the medical, have the interview, and get the passport back with the visa. If everything went perfect you're looking at Feb-Mar 2013 to have the visa, any bumps will add delays. I made the mistake of setting a wedding date (not til I got NOA2) and am wishing I hadn't (may not make it, it will be close). Personally I recommend not planning a wedding until you have the visa in hand.

The first responder is spot on with the EAD. Wait til the AOS to get it. With processing times you are unlikely to get it with a meaningful amount of time to work on the I-94. Waste of money and effort.

The answer will be approved or denied. If you sent acceptable proof of everything they requested you should be approved. I've not heard of them bothering to send a second RFE for the I-129F.

We're all impatient, hang in there. The process seems longer every day into it you get. The closer I've gotten the harder it's been but there's not much you can do but wait and try to stay sane. As CANbirdUSman suggested use the wait time to get ready for the next step. Even after you get approval there's about a 1 month delay to get the petition through the NVC and to the embassy/consulate. Use this time to do some research in the Canada forums, look into Packet 3, and start gathering the documents such as long form birth certificate, police records, passport renewals, etc that you may need for the next step. You'll probably want to hold off on the financial (I-134) stuff until closer to an interview date (if it's old they'll make you get recent data) but there's a great deal of stuff you may potentially need to prepare depending on your circumstances so get it ready so you can mail Packet 3 back as fast as possible to make up some of the lost time later.

I would wait at least two weeks before calling. As you've already noted they have up to 60 days but for my RFE it took less than 2 weeks and many others who I've talked to had recent RFEs had a similar timeline. It can vary and take 1-2 months though. When they make the decision they will update your case status on the USCIS website so I'd just monitor that rather than bothering to call. If you signed up for text and/or email notifications you may find out that way (I actually got the txt msg of status change) but those can be unreliable (not everyone gets them even if registered properly). Hopefully they will send you an approval soon!

As others have noted no she's unlikely to be authorized to work this summer. It's one of the disadvantages of the K-1 route. Yes you can apply for work authorization after entering, but with processing times being so long by the time they process it the authorization won't be valid anymore. It's also free to file with I-485 for the AOS vs a fee if you file after K-1 entry so save yourself the effort and the money. Best bet is to get legally married quickly and then file for AOS as soon as possible so she can get work authorization as quickly as possible.

Since I'm the USC I don't have a template but I do think that getting it on company letterhead is a good idea.