shayneandshelley

It took us 17 mos to get through the process. It's now been another 17 mos since hubby came here to live. It's kind of interesting, that most of our issues are coming to the surface NOW.

I guess I didn't think there would be much of a transition for him, since he's from Canada. I figure, hey, things are almost the same in each country right? Well, not exactly. He's not a big fan of living in the city (US or Canadian) and doesn't quite like the pace of the East Coast. I kind of agree with him there. He just recently told me that he's unhappy here and really misses his son back in Canada (though they lived about 600 miles apart, even when we met). He hasn't been able to travel up there as much as he would have liked in the past year and a half. Most of the reason we're here is because of my mother and niece (both my father and sister died and I asked if we could move here to help my mother in raising my niece, he agreed). So....the struggle is where do you live? Who's family are you closest to? How do you make a decision when, no matter what you do, someone will be unhappy?

Prior to this issue rearing it's head, things were fairly calm. I never feared him leaving or anything like that. Mostly, it was just weird getting used to living in the same house after such a long time of a long distance relationship.

Not sure if this is what you were looking for, but this is what you got! Good luck!

Married 3/22/04, he entered the US the day after the interview in Montreal, on 8/19/05.

I was almost afraid to post this, but then I remembered....I called USCIS to confirm it!

Thanks for the reply

Ok, get this...

Hubby gets his CR-1 visa on 8/19/05. We were married less than 2 years at the time. When he finally got his green card, he got a Permanent Resident Card with an expiration date of 10/21/2015 and says it's an IR-1. I finally called USCIS today. The guy said that in his records, it's not a mistake, that he really has Permanent Residency (IR-1) and that the expiration date is correct.

Has ANYONE ever heard of this??? I asked the guy several times to make sure. The customer service guy said that for whatever reason, they decided to give us the IR-1. I think it must be pretty rare. Hubby thinks it must happen all the time.

Is there anyone out there who also had this happen? Or is this the miracle I think it is???

Thanks for your responses!

I went with hubby to his interview. They let me go in with him and even asked me a couple of questions. They interviewer was extremely friendly and nice. Hard to say whether or not it made a difference, but it seemed to help.

I've been away from the VJ board for a while (enjoying actually LIVING with my spouse....) but I just KNEW this had to be a hot topic!!! I'm pretty annoyed as well, thinking about all of the time, money, stress, etc. we put into this to do things the RIGHT way. It amazes me that we were scared half to death throughout the process, praying that everything would be approved even though we did everything by the book, yet there are people flaunting their illegal status and demanding "rights" that don't belong to them. What???? I understand wanting a better life for your family but DO IT THE RIGHT WAY!!!!

I feel much better now...........