O&Z

LBCTT,

i'm sorry you went through that.

as far as evidence - you def want to show as much as possible to show them that you are a serious married couple.

for example, my husband and I visited each other a lot - if we flew - i had those flight receipts/itineraries.

also, we made each other beneficiaries on each other life insurance, etc and provided copies of that.

anything that has both of your names on it, should be provided.

photos from your wedding, letters from family, friends that attended your wedding. photos from times that you have been with each other in landmarks, etc.

hope that helps!!!

Doesnt really matter if ur married to a USA citizen..You will be filing anyways....And as I mentioned above....something happens--death, divorce, you head back to Canada, one can renounce ur USA citizenship.

but there is an exit tax. they make sure they get you where they can lol

Lakehouse...

yes, it is technically true that your stuff cannot move before you.

but when we were trying to figure out the move, i spoke with a border agent on the phone and she recommended we move everything under my name and just have general stuff in there. she advised not to have any obvious things of his in there (men's clothing).

we had a weird situation - he was in ontario, canada and i lived in buffalo, ny and we were both (eventually) moving to NC ; all of the main furniture, etc was in Canada - so that's how i moved everything to NC as i was waiting for his immigration to go through.

the upack people will present the paperwork on behalf of your spouse and honestly, they rarely check the inventory - but it's good to have the list in case they do decide to tear it apart.

just have your spouse fill out the form and call cbp for help filling it out.

gluck!

Mehr -

no we didn't end up applying for TN after I found that out.

i'm so sorry about that delay in their communication.

once they have received everything - give it about 4 weeks to actually get in the consulate officer's hands. then cross your fingers and continue obsessively checking CEAC status.

best of luck!

My accountant also told me to do Married filing separate. He did tell me, though, that because of this, he could not file it electronically and it had to be mailed in. So that is what I did the past few years.

this tax season - hubby is here now as PR but wasn't working in the US for 2013, so we shall see.

i hope that helps!

when my hubby moved from canada - he had his bell phone unlocked (he had to pay $75 for this) and then we bought tmobile prepaid sim card and used that.

that was his iphone 3gs, now he has an iphone 5 that was also from canada - which he had unlocked.

he has tried tmobile prepaid, spot mobile and is not using 35orless - they all use tmobile towers.

we've liked 35orless the best - it's all unlimited and literally $35 or less per month.

great deal.

we used upack service from ABF and it was great. you load it and they drive it and you unload it.

depending on your location, it is not very much at all and you can get a free quote on their website.

bc my hubby immigration wasn't throught yet - we filled out the immigration/moving form under my name and we claimed it as 'marital property'. this is what the border agent suggested i do - it also helps to have an itemized list of each box - and their contents.

hope that helps. best of luck.

Mehr,

I believe once your application is in for the spousal visa - you cannot apply for a TN visa during that time.

i had thought abt it as well for my hubby bc it was taking so long, so I looked into it.

how are things - any news or updates?

rshree - i hope that it is 1 month again of AP for you, but this AP may take a bit longer since it is more 'permanent' if that makes sense.

most of us were visa donkey, so bc of the TAL - maybe that may be less time (fingers crossed).

best of luck to everyone!!!

mehr!

i'm so happy to hear this. things are going in the right direction.

i agree - just send in everything they asked. it'll sit in their mailroom for a month and get to them, they'll look over it and at the final steps, they will ask for your passport.

i think because AP has been over 1 year, they have to re-do everything.

i know - our US govt is so super efficient right? (rolling eyes). i'm sorry it's such a pain, but i hope that you have very good news within the next 2 months!

Mehr any good news yet???

Good morning,

not sure where the best location for this post is...

My husband did his POE yesterday for his IR1 visa with no issues (thank God!).

The mysterious brown enevelope that says, "do not open" had my name incorrect on it and also had my old address.

He brought it up to the CBP officer and he made a note of it.

However, the officer said we had to fill out a form - EOIR 33/IC.

which goes to the Department of Justice.

I'm an idiot and dont really understand this form.

Specifically, the bottom portion - "Proof of service" and which address we are supposed to use for the Office of the Chief Counsel for the DHS (US ICE).

So, that's my first question. and secondly, has anyone else had this problem and how did you ensure the GC went to the appropriate address?

I've used ELIS to pay the immigrant visa fee and that has my recent correct address and name.

Thanks so much!

Link to the form: http://www.justice.gov/eoir/eoirforms/eoir33/EOIR33ICCharlotte.pdf

EOIR33ICCharlotte blank.pdf

CDNme - thanks!

i'm going to follow in your footsteps and post our timeline:

Here's my timeline (MTL)

Interview Date: Nov 29th, 2012

in AP for ~ 1 year until....

Thurs, Nov 14th

CEAC changed to "Issued" (sometime around 5pm)

Monday, Nov 18th

Received an e-mail from Loomis saying my Passport was picked up in Montreal

Tues, Nov 19th

7:55am My passport arrives in Barrie, ON

Wait time:

a million business days from Interview..ok about 350 days

3 business days from ISSUED status on CEAC to arrival

not that i've seen. the only way i know is to look and see who had interview but didn't have visa issued date. then see if they are in AP from their timeline.

AP is for many reasons - internal AP is when the consulate is usually waiting for additional documentation, doing local checks.

mandatory AP is when there is more thorough search needed, maybe issues at border in the past, domicile issues, etc perhaps a higher level of security check that needs to be done in Washington, DC, then it gets sent to them and you wait..and wait..

yes, i hope you hear good news soon!

it was about 6 weeks after the original request for updated documentation..

mufa -

we just got out of AP after a few wks shy of 12 months in AP after interview.

hoping sincerely it is not long for you. best of luck.

update to our case:

changed to Issued on 11/14/2013 after 1 year in Administrative Processing.

thank God.

any recent updates from newly approved people?

from when it said issued on ceac website to when it actually arrived via Loomis?

It did not. it went from AP earlier that day 11/14 AM, to ISSUED that same day later.

not sure if it changed between those 2 times (~7am and 530pm)

just wanted to update. visa 'issued' per ceac website on 11/14. after almost 12 months in AP. best of luck to anyone else in AP and i sincerely hope it is over for everyone soon.

another update. package received per loomis 10/4, received by consulate on 10/25, visa 'issued' per ceac website 11/14.

wow congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nope, not really. they just told us they received our documents and it'll be reviewed in the order it was received.

any news for you mehr?

hey all,

just thought i share this in case it is ever useful to anyone.

especially those in AP.

so, if you are asked to submit or resubmit documents to the consulate, here are the steps:

1) go to the csc website , there is a link that says, "returning documents to the embassy", click on that link and print out that page. it is similar to a cover sheet for resubmission of documents to the embassy.

2) the reference ID number is the same as your original- and it will show up on the CSC website. it is also the sticker they had placed on the back of your passport at the interview. but it will be on your CSC account.

it'll ask for your information - reference id, name, consulate (montreal), case number, etc

3) make a photocopy of that Cover page - it's called "submit documents to consular section Loomis instruction sheet" (for your records)

4) take it all to the Loomis location nearest you.

5) wait. and wait . and wait. Loomis confirmation will say it was received in montreal. but the mail has to undergo security clearance before it gets to the officer. this generally results in a 20-30 day delay in it actually getting to the officer for review.

hope this helps.

ap = administrative processing

hey fez,

that's great news!

when did they request that from you? did they ask for anything else like a new medical, new police certificate?

we had to send the passport along with some new documentation and my husband did it via Loomis.

there is a reference ID and I believe that was given to him at the Loomis office itself.

when you go on the website, it requires to fill out specific information and that is what he filled out and printed before going to the Loomis location.

i hope that helps?