kitchen_princess

I realize this thread hasn't been touched in a while, but I found it useful while I was waiting for my passport, so here's my timeline:

Interview: January 17

Processing: January 21-22

Issued: January 22

Picked up by Loomis: January 23 (received email around 9:30 pm)

Ready for pick-up: January 24 (called in the morning to confirm)

Keeping in mind that I had my interview on a Friday and that the following Monday was a holiday.

Thank you, that's what I ended up doing. At first I selected "scheduled by NVC", which seemed to make the most sense, but then the system wanted me to schedule an appointment, so I backtracked and chose "courier services only". I'm just worried that choosing "scheduled by NVC" and reaching the calendar option automatically cancelled my original appointment. I don't suppose I can contact the Montreal consulate to check?

Hello,

I'm filing for a spousal visa to join my husband in the US. The NVC completed our case last month and sent us an interview date for January 17th. Today, I registered online for Loomis courier services. But then the site tells me I don't have an appointment scheduled. Is this just something they tell everyone who didn't schedule their appointment themselves online but instead had it scheduled by NVC? Please tell me I still have an appointment...

Sorry if this is a dumb question. It's just we've had a couple of setbacks in this process, so I tend to double-check everything now. Thank you in advance for any information.

Actually, nevermind... In case someone comes across a similar situation, I'll just report on how my conversation with the NVC representative went.

Basically, she was quite impatient with me (unlike the previous agent I'd spoken with). When I insisted that there seemed to be a misunderstanding, she told me I must have misread the Child Citizenship Act (not likely), but then admitted that she really didn't know. She didn't offer to actually check with anyone who might be better informed, but basically told me to just do as I was asked and send the I-864W. Which we're going to do, even though I'm still convinced it doesn't apply to our son. But I guess I'll explain the situation at the interview. It's not like we didn't try to sort this out... But if they're so determined to use this inappropriate form, then so be it.

My USC husband filed separate petitions for myself and our one-year-old son.

We received a first checklist a few weeks back, requesting that we fill out a I-864W for our son. This is an Exemption of AOS, for children of USCs who are eligible to obtain US citizenship as soon as they become permanent residents of the US.

The problem is, we are quite certain that our son is NOT eligible for immediate US citizenship.

Here is the info regarding the Child Citizenship Act: http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1312.html

If you only read the first requirements, then it appears that our son would be eligible. However, if you scroll down to the bottom of the page, you read the following requirement:

• The American citizen parent has been physically present in the United States for a total of at least five years, at least two of which are after the age of 14. If the child's American citizen parent cannot meet the physical presence requirement, it is enough if one of the child's American citizen grandparents can meet it.

My husband was born in the US, but moved shortly after and hasn't lived there since. He currently lives there, but has only been there for a few months. Neither of his parents is a USC. So it's pretty clear that our son is not eligible.

We called NVC after getting that first checklist and explained the situation. The representative was very nice, put me on hold while he checked the information, then told me we were correct, and that our son needed a regular AOS. He said the person reviewing our file must have been thrown off by the fact that my husband currently lives in the US. He told us to resend the AOS, with a note attached explaining the situation.

We did so, and today we received the exact same checklist requesting an I-864W!

I am furious about this, as our case should be complete by now and we apparently keep running into the same mistake. I will of course call NVC tonight, but has anyone run into this problem, or something similar? Is there any way I can have our case expedited, if I can prove this is their mistake? We shouldn't have to keep sending documents and waiting 2-3 weeks every time. Plus, how do I get guarantee this won't happen a third or fourth time?

The stupid part is, I'd understand if it was the other way around: if we kept sending an I-864W and they wanted proof of our son's eligibility, or a regular AOS. But the AOS requires much more work and information than the I-864W, which is just a waiver form. It's just blind bureaucracy!

It shouldn't pose a big problem, but it could create some confusion that you'd have to clear up. My husband, the USC, and I met and married in Canada, where we lived for years. He got a job offer in the US, we filed the I-130, received NOA1, then he moved to the US to start work, while I stayed in Canada. When he moved, he notified USCIS, and also informed them of my new address, since I moved to a smaller place after he left.

What happened after that is that, when USCIS approved our petition a couple of months later, they misunderstood and thought I had come to the US with my husband. So they sent our petition to the wrong place, and my husband had to meet with them and get it all straightened out. Also, they kept sending stuff to our old address in Canada, even though we had told them I had moved.

I realize your situation is a bit different. But my point is, from my experience, USCIS is not great at keeping track of address changes. So just make sure you have a way to collect any mail they might send to your old address, and make sure to double-check that they get your information right. Good luck!

My husband crossed the border with a moving truck and our cat. We were under the impression that she did need a rabies shot, so we had one done. Also, her vet suggested giving her a mild sedative to make the Montreal-New York trip easier on her. He gave us a paper indicating that the cat had been sedated, in case the border officer mistook sleepiness for disease (although it really didn't have much of an effect on her).

In the end, though... they barely glanced at her cage. Didn't ask for documentation, didn't inspect her. It was fine.

Great, thank you all so much for your answers. This was very helpful!

You can get your doctor to get your blood tests done for immunity if you want. I did the medical in montreal, got the MMR and Dtap done at my health unit, and showed immunity via blood tests for the others. Medisys will give you a waiver for the rest because they're not required for your age.

I mentioned the possibility of getting an immunity blood test done to my doctor, but she seemed reticent. She seemed to think these requirements were unreasonable and was refusing to play their game, or something. Which isn't totally fair to me, it's not like I put these requirements into place...

But it's good to know that I'll get an age waiver for some of the vaccines.

So has anyone reading this actually had some vaccines done at Medisys in Montreal on the day of the exam??? Did it cost anything extra?

From my understanding you don't need Hep B if you are over 18.

http://www.panelphysicians.com/Pages/Age6.htm

I had no vaccination records, but I went to my local hospital and filled out some form and about 2 weeks later they called me and I went and picked them up. I see here you are from Belgian though, but is there anyway you can call the hospital where you grew up and they can mail you something?

Thanks for the link, but I keep seeing different requirements in different places. The USCIS website lists polio and hepatitis and is pretty vague regarding age:

http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.5af9bb95919f35e66f614176543f6d1a/?vgnextoid=3384cc5222ff5210VgnVCM100000082ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=6abe6d26d17df110VgnVCM1000004718190aRCRD

I spent my childhood in a couple of different places, so it'd be complicated to get records from the hospitals and doctors. At this point, I'm really hoping my mother locates the records she kept.

I asked about this on the Spouse Visa Process and Procedures forum, but didn't really get answers to my specific questions, so I thought maybe it would be more appropriate to ask here.

Our CR-1 petition is being processed at NVC, so I'm planning ahead for the medicam exam. I will be undergoing the exam in Montreal, so if anyone has personal experience to share with regards to my questions, I would really appreciate it.

My questions concern the vaccination requirements. I have had most the the required vaccines when I was a child. However, I may not be able to provide my medical book to prove it (it's at my parents', hopefully they will find it, but maybe not). My regular physician gave me a prescription for a tetanus booster and a hep B vaccine, but refused to give me boosters for all the other diseases, as she claims they are not given to adults (she is a very non-interventionist doctor).

So, my questions are:

1) If, when I show up for the medical exam, I cannot provide proof that I had most of the vaccines done as a child, will they give me all the shots on the spot? Will I have to pay for them, and how much (approximately)?

2) What if I am not vaccinated against hepatitis B when I show up? I have read that this particular vaccine requires several rounds of shots spread over several months. Will it cause problems if I am not fully immunized against hep B (since, even if they give me a shot on the spot, I won't have time to have the other rounds done)?

Thank you in advance!

Thank you for the fast replies and for the link, although it's odd because the post states that the polio vaccine isn't necessary, yet it's on every official list of required vaccines I've seen. Also, it states that you need to have had a booster in the last ten years, and I haven't. My doctor told me they aren't typically done on adults...

I am an adult. We're also filing for our infant son, but he's had all the shots we can give him at his age, so I'm not worried about him.

I don't particularly mind getting the shots again, I'm more concerned about a) the price the authorized physician would charge me, and b) whether the fact that I'm not vaccinated against hepatitis B could cause some sort of delay, since you need to get several rounds spread over several months.

Our CR-1 file is currently being processed by NVC, so I'm planning ahead for the medical exam.

I'm positive I was vaccinated for mumps, measles, rubella, polio, pertussis, diphteria and tetanus, because I grew up in Europe, where vaccination for these things is routine. However, I may not be able to provide the documentation to prove it: my vaccination chart is somewhere at my parents' house, and although my mother will hopefully be able to locate it, she might not.

I went to see my usual physician today, to ask for her advice. She wrote me a prescription for a tetanus booster and a hepatitis B shot (although she seemed pretty shocked to learn that I might be forced to get vaccinated against the latter, as she does not consider me to be at risk in any way), but said that nobody vaccinates adults for the other types of infantile diseases on the list.

So, my question is, supposing I can't provide proof that I was vaccinated as a child (other than proof that I was raised in Europe), will I have to have all the shots again? Will the authorized physician give them to me on the spot and charge me for them? What about the hepatitis B vaccine, which requires three rounds of shots over several months? Could I get into trouble if I'm not entirely vaccinated against hep B, or can I get the rest of the shots after I immigrate to the US?

Additional info: I'm applying from Canada, and my medical exam will be in Montreal.

Here's an update on our situation. My husband had an Infopass appointment this morning, to discuss the fact that our NOA2 mistakenly states that the beneficiary (me) is already in the US. The person he spoke to was very polite and helpful, and confirmed what we suspected, which is that our file was sent to the National Records Center (NRC), and not the NVC. He said it would take 1-2 weeks for them to get the file sent over from NRC, and then up to 90 days for us to get our NVC case number (that's also how long they told us it could take for our file to get from NBC to NVC, hopefully it will be less than that). I'm relieved that we seem to have the ball rolling again and will finally be able to move on to the next phase.

Just thought I'd share the most recent part of our journey, in case anyone runs or has run into similar problems.

As previously mentioned, our I-130 was approved on June 12th. We received the NOA2 email immediately, but my husband didn't get to read the printed version until June 23rd, because he was visiting us in Canada. When he did read it, he found that they had made a mistake: they think I am already in the US and wish to file for adjustment of status, and so they tell me to contact the local USCIS office. But I am in Canada, and we clearly indicated this on our I-130. This is clearly their mistake.

The NOA2 does state that, if we want consular processing, we need to file an I-824 and ask them to send the file to NVC. However, the I-824 can take months to be processed, and we shouldn't have to wait that much longer because they made a mistake.

So my husband has been calling USCIS and getting all sorts of responses. One person told him to wait 90 days to make sure NVC doesn't get our petition. Another told him all petitions are automatically sent to NVC, and that he needs to send NVC a letter requesting consular processing. But if all petitions are supposedly sent to NVC, why does the NOA2 state that we need to file a form in order for that to happen? A third person told him the same thing, that all petitions are sent to NVC, and refused to connect him to Tier 2; he/she also added "Your wife can always come to the US as a tourist and then file to adjust her status." Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that perfectly illegal?

I've pretty much lost all trust in what they tell me. My husband has an Info-pass appointment in early July, 20 business days after NOA2 was issued. In the meantime, I'm still calling NVC, on the chance that maybe our petition was sent there after all. If we can't locate our file by then, I guess we'll try calling the congressman's office?

It's all very frustrating. Then again, we were fortunate to have our I-130 approved quickly, so I suppose you can't luck out all the time. I'm trying to be calm about it all.

Whew, you had me doubting myself there for a minute! But I am a legal resident of Canada, so no worries.

What frustrates me is that I am getting conflicting information from USCIS. The NOA2 states that I have to file a form to get them to send my file to NVC - in other words, they won't send my file to NVC if I don't take action. But on the phone, the USCIS person told my husband that they automatically send all files to NVC. Which is it?

My understanding is that files requesting consular action (such as those where the beneficiary is living abroad) are sent to NVC, and the others (such as the ones requiring adjustment of status) are sent to local USCIS offices. Am I correct?

I tried calling NVC to ask them if they receive all I-130 petitions or just consulate-related ones, but, predictably, they told me this had nothing to do with them and to try USCIS again. Sigh...

Tell your husband to take an infopass to his local USCIS office. They will assist him there better than those folks on the phone.

Thanks for the advice. He took an appointment, but we're still hoping to sort this out sooner.

Our I-130 was approved recently. However, upon reading the NOA2 printed copy, we found that USCIS had made a mistake regarding my status: they think I am already in the US and that I want to adjust my status, whereas I am in Canada and have always planned to do my visa interview in Montreal. We clearly indicated this in our I-130 (I checked the copy I kept).

The NOA2 mentions that we can file an I-824 if we want to notify them of a change in our intentions and get them to send our file to the NVC. But I made a quick research on VJ and saw that I-824s normally take months to be processed. But I also read that, in cases like these, when the USCIS has made a mistake, you can call them and get them to send the file to the NVC without delay.

So my husband called USCIS today. The first person he spoke to told him he had to wait 90 days to make sure NVC doesn’t receive the file (!!!). He called again later and spoke to another person, who told him that all files are automatically sent to NVC, but that he needs to send NVC a letter indicating that he wants them to forward the file to the consulate in Montreal.

So now I’m confused, because the NOA2 says that, if I want to adjust my status from within the US (which, I repeat, is not what I want to do), I need to contact the local USCIS office and file an I-485. To me, this implies that my file has been sent to the local USCIS, not the NVC.

I feel like the USCIS people my husband has spoken to don’t quite understand the situation. Has anyone been in this situation recently and could share any useful info? I’m not sure what to do. Should we call the Ombudsman, or try talking to someone higher up at USCIS?

Thank you, CHoskins88, and welcome! I haven't been on these forums all that long, but they've been a huge help. There is so much information!

Good luck with your process, I hope you will get approved soon. I can understand being pregnant must add a lot of stress to your situation. We have an eight-month-old son, my husband is currently living alone in the US, and it breaks my heart that we can't all be together. But at least visiting between the US and Canada is quite easy, compared to countries.

And hey, I'm originally from Belgium too! :-)

Thank you! And yes, we were both living abroad when we filed, so it's possible that helped speed things up.

Although my husband started a new job in the US and moved there early May, and we notified USCIS of his new US address, even though we knew it might result in a longer wait (we figured it was best to be truthful). But it looks like it all worked out in the end.

Ok, no problem! I thought putting the into in my signature was enough, but I can fill in the timeline.

I was really nervous about crossing over from Canada to visit my USC husband in the US last month. I'm a PhD student and was afraid they wouldn't consider this a strong enough tie to Canada. Also, I rent, so it's not like I could produce a house deed or proof of mortgage. And to top it all off, I was travelling with our infant son, and was so afraid they would think I was trying to sneak in with him - but then, the whole point was to allow us to spend time together as a family.

I carried with me a copy of our I-130 petition and NOA1. I had a letter from my supervisor stating that I imperatively needed to be back in September (I was actually only staying a couple of weeks, but I'm on parental leave until the fall). I had bank statements, utility bills, and proof that I had previously entered the US without ever overstaying.

As it turned out, they barely looked at me twice. The US border agent smiled at my son and was really nice. When I explained that my husband had just started working in the US, he asked me what I was planning to do, and after I explained that we were filing for immigration and that I was just visiting in the meantime, he let me through without even asking me what my occupation was, or anything. Of course, it's still best to be prepared, and I will be bringing all my documentation next time, but it was much less scary than I had feared. Just tell the truth and you'll be fine.

Hurray, our I-130 was approved today! Here's my information. My husband is the USC.

1. Country USC resides in: Canada at the time of filing, but he moved to the US while we were waiting for a decision

2. Is there a USCIS field office in this country / Is DCF still possible? No
3. When did you file the I-130: March 2013
4. How long had you been living abroad: 28 years
5. Do you reside in the country legally? Yes
6. What is the reason for your residence: work permit/student/tourist/ OTHER - my husband has lived in Canada nearly all his life, and I have for 15 years
7. Did you list your foreign address on all forms in I-130 package? Yes, but we informed USCIS of my husband's US address when he moved
8. Did you send I-130 package from abroad? Yes
9. Did you include evidence of your residence abroad in the I-130 package? .Yes, we included utility bills (mostly to prove that we live together)
10. Did you mention the fact you reside abroad in the cover letter or write a letter describing your current situation and the evolution of your relationship with your spouse (mentioning your residence abroad)? Yes
11. Has your case been "auto-expedited"? How long between NOA1 and NOA2? 75 days, which is much quicker than I was bracing myself for.

We filed the I-130 at the end of March and just received an email notification informing us that it has been approved! I am over the moon! I hope all the other March filers will soon get their good news!

Thank you all for your replies, this was very helpful! Much appreciated!

Hello, I'm new here, my apologies if this question has already been asked recently. I haven't come across it.

My USC husband and I have filed the I-130. Meanwhile, I'm trying to be as prepared as possible for when it gets approved. I have a question about obtaining police certificates.

I live in Canada, and fortunately it's the only place I will need to get a certificate from. The Travel.state.gov "Reciprocity by Country" page states that I need to ask the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), or my local police service. The RCMP's website states that they no longer provide these documents. I called the provincial police, the Sureté du Quebec (I live in Montreal), and they referred me to Identification Canada, which appears to be a private firm dealing with such matters, among other things (http://www.identificationcanada.com/EN/index.php).

Before I get further involved with these people, I was hoping I could get some input from other Canadians who have already gone through this process. Is a certificate obtained through a private firm considered valid for US visa purposes? Is this what the NVC is asking for?

Thank you in advance for any input.