FaK

Individuals born in or witch links to certain countries are scrutinized a lot more then others. Also people with certain common last names also face lengthy delays due to "name hits" I had to wait for over an year for my visa. I wish you and your son good luck and a swift wait however the lawyers are being realistic as long delays are not unheard of. Also on a positive note I believe efforts are underway to shorten the wait time so lets see.

Goodluck!

My son forwarded an email from his attorney to me today, and he is soooooo depressed he doesn't even want to discuss it.

The email says....

"I want you and your fiancee to be prepared for a long processing time. We will do everything we can to minimize the wait, but typical processing is 8 - 12 months according to the U.S. Embassy. Its difficult to know for sure because of the security check process. They won't tell us where they are in the process or how much longer it may take because of national security concerns.

We will be by your side throughout the process, but it will take a lot longer until your fiancee will have her visa and be ready for travel "

Is the attorney trying to prepare my son for the worst or does he know this is about to happen?

What does he mean by "typical processing"? I read approx. 3 months.

Any suggestions or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you everyone for your comments. I do drink Tetleys British blend however for some reason it still doesnt taste the same as Tetley Orange Pekoe. Havent tried Ceylon blend thats next on my list. But thanks again!

I was feeling kinda homesick missing good ol T.O when I suddenly started craving Timmys and Tetley Orange Pekoe (The real Canadian one) Luckily I have a Timmys can (although its not the same but will have to do for now) BUT can someone please tell me an economical way to get my hands on Tetley?

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I crossed over from Ontario thru the Buffalo border last year in August. Although we were quite nervous and expected long delays and intimidating questions........however it turned out to be a short and simple process. We waited in the waiting room until I was called in the lady took my pasport and after validating the CR1 Visa stamped the visa with the 1 year authorisation. Then we were told that was it (including customs) however since we had to import the car we went over to customs got the paperwork done and that was it....we were on our way to an exciting journey home! Goodluck with everything.

I was in the exact situation. All I did was go to the SS Office with my Old ss card and IR Visa. They took the old card made a copy of my IR Visa and gave me a letter as proof of ss no. I recieved a new card with the same number (but without the Valid for work line) within 3 weeks.

Got mine in oh lets see now.......14 or 15 months

Thank you!

If you are a citizen or national of more than one country, write the name of the foreign country that issued your last passport.

This is directly from the N-400 instructions.

I have cashed a Canadian cheque at Bank of America as well....no problem however they did charge a nominal transaction fee which I think wasnt more then a few dollars.

My CRA direct deposit account was rejected due to incomplete or invalid bank information. On my assessment, they want me to send Form T1-DD(1), "Direct Deposit Request - Individuals but it will be too late for me if I'll send it now. My question is, can I cash a Canadian check in USA? I had a Chase checking bank account......is there a fee to do this?

I am a citizen of Pakistan who moved to Canada and acquired Canadian citizenship. Later on in life I got married to my spouse who is a US Citizen and I moved to US as a permanent resident. I am wondering when I do apply for US Citizenship would I write Pakistan/Canada in my Nationality of just Canada? Would writing Pakistan/Canada cause any issue (except for security clearance which I am expecting anyway)

Please let me know and thanks in advance.

So we are happily living in USA thank God! I am the Canadian Citizen I had applied for Candian Immig for my wife (US Citizen) because it was taking too long for my US process (2 + years) when I finally did get the green card I moved to USA and we did not do anything about the Candian PR Visa that was approved for my wife.

Now with the Tax season in the horizon what steps do I need to take for my Canadian taxes? I had been filing for taxes in Canada as married (and applied for Candian PR for wife). Now what do i do? Id appreciate all the help.

Thanks,

FaK

CR1 visa is a spousal visa as opposed to a fiance visa. It takes a little longer but when you enter you become a PR without going thru the lifting of conditions that one would with a fiance visa.

Salam! That's terriffic. Good luck with that. I didn't get a chance to call DOS today but I will tommorrow. The wait time always kills me

Thanks Ali for those words of advise. What exactly is a CR1 visa anyways...is it like a spousal visa?

From what I hear, after the DOS clears AP, it takes about a day or two for the embassey to mail the passport with visa to the AMEX. Best of Luck to everyone on AP

My AP ended after 15 months...trust me this hell will end. Hang on and stay positive

Salam Everyone!

15th month on AP...when will this end?? Is anyone getting any good news? Wife's interview was in Islamabad July 3, 2007. Anyone in the same boat, plz respond. I'm in California by the way

Dont give up...I was in AP for 15 months and then I got the visa and moved! Goodluck and hangon!

Salam all, I see a lot of people getting visas congrats to all of them. I have been reading this forum for over a year now never posted though. But now I am really frustrated of this AP thing. It has been over a year now and I haven't heard anything from embassy or anyone. I contacted them several times but same old reply it’s in process. I saw many people here filed after me and they are already in US. I guess it’s just my bad luck which got me stuck with AP. My case was filed by my wife in Feb 2007. My interview was on 25 Sep 2007 and I am on AP since then. She tried to get some info by calling at 202 663 1225 but no use. SO guys please advice is there anything I can do to get my case expedited. :crying:

MY US Citizen wife had given me a car as a gift which I imported to Canada. Now that my visa has finally arrived we want to take back our car (which was originally made and purchased in usa) We do have the recall letter from Honda but it is under my wifes name.

Has anyone gone thru this process of taking back a us car imported to canada and then returning to usa? If so can someone please let me know what I would need to do to take it to USA. Its a Honda Civic 2003 previously under my wifes name but now under mine.

I got my IRI visa a few days ago endorsed on my Canadian passport. Now I am planning a visit to the States so my green card process gets started and then I'll go back to Canada and wind up everything before permanently moving to the US. My concern is that will it be safe for me to enter the US the second time on I-551 in case I haven't received my green card by then? Is it safer to just wind up everything and move for good instead of going back and forth on the I-551? Please advice.

I was going thru a 16 month long AP for my US Spousal visa during which time we decided because of the uncertainity that I should just apply for Canadian Immig for my wife. Now just when we were expecting her Canadian PR visa to be processed along comes my US Visa. We have now decided to move to USA. My question is that if we want to come back to wind things up here in Canada after I get my I-551 stamp on the passport. Will my wife be given a hard time because of my US status so clearly visibly by glancing thru my passport? Can she be stopped at the border or face inconvinience.

Would it be better just for us to enter the border sperately?

Thanks,

I am a Canadian Citizen yet it took them 15 months to issue my visa. Because I was stuck in name check all this time. Hopefully you will not have to go thru this. Goodluck!

My fiancé had her interview at the Embassy of the United States in London on May 26, 2008 for her K1 Visa. Interview went fine, they did not require any additional documents and she was told they have all what they need and to bring x-rays with her upon traveling to US. She was told that it takes up to 4 weeks for the actual K1 Visa to be issued it has been almost 8 weeks… We were told K1 needs “Additional administrative processing” and we are unable to get a status on it except “pending”.. Could it be due to our Middle Eastern names? What is going on? Any advise you have is greatly appreciated.

K1 Timeline - US Petitioner, UK Beneficiary

Nov 27, 2007: I-129F application Submission to USINS Laguna Niguel CA

March 27, 2008: Notice of Approval

April 2, 2008: Notice from Embassy-Start of process

April 8, 2008: Documents submitted to Embassy

May 27, 2008: Interview at Embassy of the United States London

Still waiting for Visa.

Thanks!

Because I was stuck in AP for about 15 months my wife had come to Canada and brought her car (gifted it to me) now that we have finally recieved the visa we have some concerns and would really appreciate some advice:

- CAR: Since the car was originally from the US and we had imported it to Canada. Does anyone know what the process is for a car imported from the us being returned back to US? If we go by plane can we declare the car (and other things we want to bring) and then take it to US later? will there be any duty or taxes on it?

- What about household furniture, appliances, computer etc. can we still bring them from canada lets say after 2 or 3 months?

- Since we did IR-1 and I will get a temp PR stamp on my passport. Should I wait until I get my green card to come back to Canada or travel should not be a problem on my Canadian passport and PR stamp on passport?

Yes it seems to be my common middle and last name. Thanks for everyones well wishes were really excited for our life ahead

Congrats.. do you know what was the cause of the delay?

A special thanks to you MaryandMian for always being so supportive!

Congratulations

I got it! Its a weird feeling to suddenly get the visa when your least expecting it

So after a grueling period of almost 15 months on AP we got the visa today! It is a sureal experience....wanting to be with your loved one for a long long time and finally getting the visa. Anyway for those of you on AP please be patient and keep on praying....there is an end to all this and I can attest to that! Thanks to everyone who has been supportive and helpful.

The journey continues..........

I am very sorry to hear this has happened to you. It also happened to my SO last October.

From what I read everything DOS told you is true. The security checks can expire within minutes if there is another name hit. My SO is now in his third (or more) FBI name check. He also has other unnamed agencies which have to clear him and re clear him until they are all cleared at the same time. Then if he is lucky he will get to Turkey, redo his physical, and get his visa before something expires or another name hit happens.

Best of luck to you. Look at it this way, maybe it won't take as long since they just have to do one or two things.

belinda63 thanks for the response. Wow, I never knew this could happen but isn't it a bit unusual that they had already asked us for the passport and meds and police certs as the last two items were expired. They normally ask for the passport when they are about to issue the visa. Why would they keep running the name checks even after they are finished? This is insane. What about the recent joint uscis and fbi plan they launched according to which everyone who's been in AP for over a year would be done by Nov of this year? and also, why would they even tell me last time that the security checks are over if they had to run them again? I am very confused and wishing that they are just waiting on a status from the embassy.

Ok, here's my story. My wife sponsored me in dec 2006 (see my timeline to get a better idea). My visa was approved in Feb 2007 but since then I have been stuck in AP. About three weeks ago, my wife received a letter from the Montreal consulate asking for my passport, med exams and police cert as they had expired. The same day my wife called the DOS and asked about the AP and she was told that the security checks are over and if we had submitted the docs requested by the embassy. She told them we'll be sending them out in a couple of days. We submitted them last week and they were received by the embassy on last wednesday the 25th of june. We emailed the embassy yest. to get a status but didn't receive a reply yet so my wife called the DOS today hoping that maybe they will have some info on when the visa might be issued and the CO told her that she still sees the visa pending AP. What the heck is this? Wife told her that last time (only two weeks ago) the checks were over according to them and now they still see it in AP? The co said that just like docs can get expired the security checks get expired too and they can go in and out of checks and it could be either that the checks started all over again or that maybe since something recently happened at the embassy level and so they don't have a status on it yet. From our knowledge and posts on VJ they only ask for passport and other docs if they are about to issue a visa and that's what the wife told the co and the co said that yeah it's possible that they want to issue the visa and we might be getting an update from them soon and that we can call DOS back in 2 to 3 weeks if no updates are given through the embassy. After hearing this, it's like our dreams came crumbling down once again. We waited in line patiently for almost a year and a half just to hear the good news that checks were over a few days ago and now we are being told that it's still pending AP? We had already started making plans and now we are in the black hole once again. If i look at it positively, it seems like it could be just that the embassy has not updated the status so DOS is seeing it as pending and after the july 1st and july 4th holidays we might hear something positive but the fact that we have been stuck in this rut for so long makes us think otherwise. Any advice from people who have faced similar experiences would be appreciated esp. ppl who were told the checks are over and then told they are still pending! Sorry for the long post, we are just really frustrated with this visa thing now.

Ok, here's my story. My wife sponsored me in dec 2006 (see my timeline to get a better idea). My visa was approved in Feb 2007 but since then I have been stuck in AP. About three weeks ago, my wife received a letter from the Montreal consulate asking for my passport, med exams and police cert as they had expired. The same day my wife called the DOS and asked about the AP and she was told that the security checks are over and if we had submitted the docs requested by the embassy. She told them we'll be sending them out in a couple of days. We submitted them last week and they were received by the embassy on last wednesday the 25th of june. We emailed the embassy yest. to get a status but didn't receive a reply yet so my wife called the DOS today hoping that maybe they will have some info on when the visa might be issued and the CO told her that she still sees the visa pending AP. What the heck is this? Wife told her that last time (only two weeks ago) the checks were over according to them and now they still see it in AP? The co said that just like docs can get expired the security checks get expired too and they can go in and out of checks and it could be either that the checks started all over again or that maybe since something recently happened at the embassy level and so they don't have a status on it yet. From our knowledge and posts on VJ they only ask for passport and other docs if they are about to issue a visa and that's what the wife told the co and the co said that yeah it's possible that they want to issue the visa and we might be getting an update from them soon and that we can call DOS back in 2 to 3 weeks if no updates are given through the embassy. After hearing this, it's like our dreams came crumbling down once again. We waited in line patiently for almost a year and a half just to hear the good news that checks were over a few days ago and now we are being told that it's still pending AP? We had already started making plans and now we are in the black hole once again. If i look at it positively, it seems like it could be just that the embassy has not updated the status so DOS is seeing it as pending and after the july 1st and july 4th holidays we might hear something positive but the fact that we have been stuck in this rut for so long makes us think otherwise. Any advice from people who have faced similar experiences would be appreciated esp. ppl who were told the checks are over and then told they are still pending! Sorry for the long post, we are just really frustrated with this visa thing now.