Knobby_Wheezer

Yeah, I was looking for Japan to be on the list, too. Hmph.

I'll be bringing about 1200 CDs. It's a hobby/obsession.

My concern arose from being one of the lucky Canadians who has needed to use I-94s and B-2 stamps in my passport to prove that I was not going to immigrate--lack of proof of ties to Canada in June 2005. At that time, they yelled and screamed at me for more than 2 hours, took my fingerprints digitally and entered a digital photograph of me into the system. They searched me. They accused me of lying---that I was already married to my boyfriend and had been living in the US for a while already (it't not my fault that Wells Fargo Bank didn't know that I had to have some sort of US dox to open a bank account.---and I certainly didn't know because I really was not considering marriage at the point. I opened it because it was cheaper to wire money down than it was to buy traveller's cheques). My boyfriend's car was completely emptied twice before they rammed everything back in and turned me away.

However, further research on the CBP website indicates that they seize and destroy questionable CDs that are imported by the tens of thousands for sale in the US---as a business thing. They are not talking about one copy for personal use that was downloaded from a music site.

Please accept my apologies for misunderstanding the words at the CBP website on the first 4 readings. I am stressed and want to do things right so that I don't get turned away again.

Um, that won't work, methinks. I have approximately 550 CDs of downloaded music. I don't think I would ask anyone to believe that I have 550 CDs of photos---unless I was a professional photographer and was bringing my "office" files with me on disc.

No, seriously: I want to do this the right way---if there is a right way. It might be one of those famous "grey areas." I just don't know and would like some help---if there is help available.

Being mostly distrustful of Canada Post for delivering anything as fragile as a CD, I have turned to the internet for my music.

That said, the 35 page MS Word document downloadable pamphlet from the CBP website indicates that it will seize and destroy any music CDs that appear to be outside of copyright. How do I prove that I paid for the downloads?

The downloaded and burned discs represent about 6 years of steady collecting. Of course, I *did* have some snailed, too, but mostly I have stopped using that method to acquire music.

Elsewhere in the pamphlet, it indicated that records (the vinyl discs---which I have a few of still because I haven't had the time to digitise them and clean them up for burning onto CDr yet) are part of general household goods.

Any thoughts or experiences about which I should do?

1) Boxes of Household Goods: subcategory CDs

or

2) Boxes of CDs subcategoried into those that I (i) paid $30 per plus shipping and (ii) paid $10 or less and downloaded with no shipping

or

3)______________?

I also have a stack of around a hundred compilations. These are discs that I made out of other discs that I bought. You know, buy and entire disc for one or two songs and ditch the disc once you've got the ones you want in a collection of your own---like what we used to do with cassette tapes for taking in the car (except we kept the sources and here I was trying to cut down on the number of discs).

Thanks in advance for any input.

I will not be able to check for posts until tomorrow evening.

I checked out the CBP site. Got good information for most and vague information for the rest. The doc I got was 35pp long. I edited it once downloaded (I don't need to keep info about cultural artefacts or gold coins).

Also, in that 35pp (now 17pp) MS Word doc from CBP is a reference to a pamphlet for the USDA. In it I discovered that I can bring beans, rice, flour and baking goods and *seaweed*! (as well as a host of other things) So, I can keep all my pantry items including the recently acquired box of dulse. The 'fridge and freezer are another story.

When I reuse small boxes for shipping items to my boyfriend, I have to turn them inside out because it is easier to do that then to try to wipe out all the stuff on the outside. Corregated cardboard boxes with lotsa stuff on the outside (like that huge amazon.com smile thing-y) stay together better if the flaps are glued down after taking apart (ripping it at the old glue seams) and reconstructing inside out.

I was just wondering if I could tape 8 1/2 x 11 sheets of paper over the markings if they were on the tops of the boxes and the sheets could say things like: 1, 2, 3 etc to correspond with the itemised check list that I have to give / show customs. The place where I am currently on contract working has great boxes from an office supply place called Corporate Express. They get these boxes at least twice a week and then just put them out for recycling---they don't even break them down first because that is someone else's job. I was hoping to be able to score a collection of these, but they say Corporate Express on all 4 sides and the top.

Perhaps, I overanalyse. It is what I do.

Incidentally, I cannot afford a moving company, so any questions regarding food on their trailers doesn't affect me. But, thank you for pointing it out.

actually, bringing food is not allowed at all AFAIK. You might be able to get in some pre-packaged snacks, but that's about it. And if you have a moving company taking your things, they won't allow food in the container. You can't bring the contents of your pantry, that's for sure, even if you move yourself. No meats, no fruits, no vegetables, and a whole lot of other stuff they won't allow. Unless the rules have changed again recently.

Where does one find this information? I have jars and jars of dried beans and rice that I would loathe having to buy all over again.

I know about Canadian Favourites, but the stuff sold there isn't dried beans---OMG! I just finally got my 2lb of dulse from New Brunswick! You mean I'll have to leave it here and buy it again when I get there? Seems retarded to me (or promotionally "buy American").

Where does one find the information about the "paperwork?"

And, I would like to know if the border crossing is as aynul about reusing boxes as the US Post Office is about mailing stuff in reused boxes. Mailing in used boxes requires the blacking out, completely covering up or taking the box apart, turning it inside-out and hot-glue-gunning it back together so that none of the markings about the original use of the box can be seen. Anyone know?

T&T,

Yes you have to glue the pics to those forms

If I must glue them to the forms (2 X DS156), then what was the point of signing the backs of them?

Part One

Page 1 of my checklist wherein the instructions about photos are says, "The applicant must sign the reverse side of each photograph." (For my consulate they require 5---which the photo store sells only in pairs so I have 6). On page 2 it implies that the photographs are stuck on the form, but doesn't say so in so many words. "Complete on-line form DS-156. All questions . . . must be answered. If your children apply with you, two copies of Form DS-156 for each child must be completed in full, including photograph."

I only figured out that it is the DS-156 forms that get some of the photos asked for because of the line about the children. On the DS-156 form, there is a space to place the photo and that it must be glued or stapled, but does not say by whom.

Well, apparently, it must be put there by me. However, how will they know that I signed the back of the photo if it's glued face up on the form?

Part Two

Is it better to staple or glue?

If staple, just one staple in the middle at the top (so that they can lift it up to see the signature?)?---2 staples on either side---1 staple in middle at top and 1 staple in middle at bottom?

If glue, will glue stick be okay? It's all I have for glue.

for me, too, please

Thanks for the advice. I have better luck emailing them. That's what I done did. Will get their response some time after work on Monday (no access to email at work).

I filled out this form at least 7 times trying to make sure that I did everything right---asking questions here along the way, etc.

Yesterday, while on the 'phone with my boyfriend, I took the copy that I had faxed out of my file to read bits to him. While doing that, I discovered that I had left the very last line of Q22 blank. I have read elsewhere (posts by dave_ehssa, actually) that ALL the blanks have to have something in them even if the something says nothing (ie: None, N/A, unknown and junk like that).

I have redone the flippin' thing yet again. I find it exceedingly difficult to produce my own signature properly when stressed. So I practiced several times (again---just like the first 6 or 7 times) and made a pretty good one. But, I am hesitating about whether to fax it or not on Monday. I have changed the cover page to say

DS-230, pt1

with "attachments"

VACxxxxxxxxxx

Name (P): xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx

(Amended to have an answer on the very last blank of Question 22. Previous transmission: 2007-03-15.)

My boyfriend said that they probably wouldn't stop the process and make me do it again because I didn't fill in a blank that would say Unknown anyway. I told him about all the people here who have dotted all their i's, crossed all their t's and jumped however high specified in quadruplicate---and still been told, No.

Should I fax the amended copy on Monday or not? If I do, should I fax the whole thing again or just the corrected page? (My fax is 7 pages long: Cover page, DS-230 pt 1, 4 "attachments" for places lived, places worked, schools attended and visit to USA.) It's no skin off my teeth to resend the entire doc---just anything, really, to avoid "No."

My boyfriend says that I worry too much. Do I?

Please advise.

Yes, misa, I wish you luck as well. I, too, want to know all about it when you get back.

~Waiting~

I have taken the correct attire to mean "school clothes." I have been asked about that in the past because of some interpretations of what school clothes might be, but to me "school clothes" were the ones that I wore to school and changed out of (into "play clothes") when I got home.

I consider "business casual" clothes the same way where I work. They just look like school clothes to me. So, I have reacquired school clothes (after spending years in industries that required tough, long-lasting clothes) from Sally Anne, Interfaith Thrift Store, Women In Need and various other second/umpteeth-hand clothing sources.

I expect that I will wear an "outfit" (gads, I loathe such phrases) from my current set of school clothes---but, preferably ones that survive car trips (F'é coming up to CGY for the drive to VAN).

Whoa! Thanks a bunch. Found the state to which I will be moving and bookmarked it. Also wrote down 'phone number and hours---just in case I need to contact the ID DMV before I get there (if they say Yes at my interview).

Oh.

and a wrong postcode.

You're lucky that you even got pkt3 with a wrong post code. The embassy sent me an email with an attachment of the pkt3 because it had been (and still is) over a month since they sent pkt3 with a wrong postal code on it---not even in the format of postal codes for Canada.

And, the emails that I have gotten from the embassy indicate a sub level of English for communicating. They read like grammar rules of another language applied with English words. Since I have a certificate in TESOL, I can see that they're doing quite well, but it's just not quite there.

"I was hoping that you receive your packet in mail"

Hmm, you mean "I was hoping that you would receive your packet in the mail"

Forget I asked, okay.

I contacted the consulate by email myself and got the answer.

If anyone else ever ends up in the situation where they never get the pkt3 from Vancouver consulate or the Montréal consulate in Canada, the VAC number that the receptionist at the panel doctor's wants is the same one as was assigned at the NVC.

I could see it if you were an Old Testament Jew, but those dietary restrictions do not apply to New Testament Christians. Check out Acts 10 and 15 and Colossians 2 for examples.

My Messianic Jewish friend, who follows both sides of that coin, also does not eat shrimp. The difference, though, is that if a Messianic Jew has them on their plate as a guest at someone's house, they will eat them. However, they would never eat them at home or serve them to others.

(The story that her Rabbi told her---and which she told me as I ate my shrimp cocktail---was that after a dead body sinks to the bottom of the sea and sits there a while . . . and someone finds it and picks it up . . . the things clinging to it will be shrimp. This is what makes shrimp dirty food.)

Not trying to rile anyone up---just sharing something I learned.

Flying to US: don't care, whatever is cheapest and has the least travelling time.

Flying in Canada: well, it's kinda hard not to fly Air Canada---unless you only want to go places that would cost less if you took a bus.

I called the panel doctor today to make an appointment. And, while I got the appointment, the receptionist kept insisting that I needed a letter from the consulate that had my VAC number on it.

Well, since the people who entered my postal code into the database messed it up and I never did get packet 3 in the mail, the consulate emailed packet3 as an attachment. This attachment does not have a page with my name already on it nor does it have the VAC number (in fact, it's identical to the samples of packet3 here on VJ).

My question is: Is the VAC number the same VAC number as the one that is called the Case Number? If so, I already have the number that she wants, but not on a paper from packet3.

I have told the nurse that the only piece of paper I have that has both my name on it and the VAC number would be the paper on which I print the umpteen emails between the consulate, myself and my fiancé. She said that it would have to do, but that I had only about a week to find out if the VAC numbers are indeed the same as each other.

To my mind, I think they are. But, you know how it is: there is now that niggling doubt planted by someone else and I begin to wonder.

So, I pass along the question to those who will likely feel more confident in saying Yes or No---VJ.

Any aid offered is appreciated and I look forward to it.

Thank you.

Thank you. I have done just that.

As for the G325a in quadruplicate, I don't have copies of them. My fiancé (the USC) has them. We didn't make umpteen copies of the I-129f: only 2---an extra for him and one that got sent to USCIS. He will bring the copy with him so that we don't have to reprint all the copies of the emails again---only add the newest ones since that time.

I have a question about Question 8 of the DS-156. It asks for other names used and then lists possibilities in parentheses (maiden, religious, professional, aliases).

I have, initially while practicing filling this form out, put N/A in the box. But, when I got my Police Certificate back from the RCMP it says, in one of the boxes at the top "Other Names Used" and lists the surname that I used for a while when I was previously married.

On the DS-156 Question 9, where it asks for "Other First and Middle Names Used," I filled that in with my nickname (since no one uses my long legal name unless they don't know me).

I am confused about the verb tense: used. I still use my nickname, but don't use the adopted married surname anymore because I am no longer married to that person. So, do they mean used at any time in the past as well as now, or do they just mean now? Because it could be taken either way: used in the past and still using or only used in the past.

Sorry for the bother if this question is answered elsewhere. It's not in the samples because the samples just say NONE or N/A (can't remember which at the moment).

YuAndDan

I had read the guides---January of last year and in September and again in October, November and December and then once again in January of this year. I couldn't remember how to get to the examples either.

Since I had misplaced my paper copies of the samples from the Guides, I searched the forums for the answers and was unable to find them. I had noticed that others had asked specific questions about the numbered items and thought that I would give it a whirl.

But, hey, thanks for the immediately clickable links to the samples that I can access via my profile box (by selecting to read this topic).

---------

I had not been able to open the samples for a few hours and I panicked. It turned out that there was a glitch in the Adobe programme on my computer. I went to Adobe and downloaded a patch and things have worked fine since---with Adobe.

Thank you, misa, for the answer about people crossing with me. I really had no idea what they were asking there.

I cannot get the DS-156K, though, because the link at the government website doesn't work---it only opens up the DS-156 again. What I was wondering was if it is acceptable to the consulate to fill out the Adobe form that I already have (expires September 30, 2007) and print that---even though it would not have a bar code on it. The instructions that I have inside my pkt3 says to go to a particular website to fill in these forms. That web page doesn't exist anymore. When I fill in the address in the address bar and hit the arrow, I get redirected to another web page. This other web page has clickable links to yet another web page with ALL the fillable forms listed. DS-230 isn't there at all. DS-156K opens DS-156. DS-156 also opens DS-156.

But, I guess I will have to email the consulate again on Monday to find out what they think that I should do.

Thanks for all of your help. It is appreciated. I am very frazzled from the mix up earlier about my packet 3 and the resulting lack of sleep combined with the stress has made me a bit crazy.

Elsewhere I have mentioned that I emailed the US DoS about the DS-156K problem and about the lack of any link at all for the DS-230. I indicated the address at the tops of each of the pages so that they might be able to trace the problem more easily and fix it. Dunno what we're supposed to do in the meantime.

26. How long do you intend to stay in the US?

Assuming I get a K-1 visa, wouldn't that be for the next 30 or 40 years?

What do I put here? N/A?

32. Do you intend to work in the US? (If YES, give name and complete address of US employer)

Well, I am not allowed to work in the US without the EAD.

Is it NO? Is it N/A? Is it YES, but later when I am eligible?---and I have no idea for whom

34. Names and relationships of persons travelling with you.

Do I put my fiancé's name since he hopes to travel with me when I move?

Or, are they looking for people who are already my relatives?

38. bullet 2. Have you ever been refused admission to the US . . . etc?

Since I have to say YES because of lack of proof of ties to Canada, will I be implicated in all the additional fraudulent activities?

I do see that if I answer YES to any of the bulleted items that I will be required to appear in person before a consular officer. Euh? (I just think it's funny considering the circumstances of the visa for which I am applying.)

Since the link for DS-156K is dead, would anyone be able to tell me if the practice out-of-date DS-156K that I have is significantly different in the questions asked?

I have emailed the Department of State (who are closed right now) and told them about this including all the step by step URLs that lead to it. Earlier, I was not able to link to the DS-230 because it's not even listed in their set of pdf fillable forms.

I don't know what to do now except check it again on Monday to see if the messages were passed on to a webmaster and the problems fixed.

It's always something, it seems.

I had the same problem and I sent an email to the webmaster to tell them about the missing link. Hopefully, it will be rectified some time over the next week.

I used the copy from VisaPro.com. However, it doesn't fill the lines properly, so I have had to refer all of my places lived for more than 6 months to the accompanying page.