sean.law

Thank you!

My review:

http://www.visajourney.com/reviews/view-dos-cis-reviews.php?entry=18873

Just an update.

Interview Jan 28. Issued on the 29th. Waybill on Feb 2. I expect it should be delivered any day now. Looks like I might be able to POE this week. Pretty much 6 months since I first sent in the I-130. I'm super lucky but have everyone at VJ to thank for giving me so much info so I didn't make any mistakes, thus giving me the fastest possible time.

I was refering to not being able to post a review of my consulate experience.

Visa was approved! I wanted to post a review but for some reason its telling me I ned to register first, which I already am. Maybe its because Im on a mac. I dont use macs and cant even find the damn apostrophe.

Anyway it went very smoothly. My job history didnt even come up. He was very nice and I was done in about five minutes. Current wait is 2 weeks to receive the visa. Thanks everyone!! Ill post again when I receive it

Hello! I have my interview tomorrow and am worried I'll go into AP since I have a Masters in Science (immunology). However I (and my immediate family) are all Canadian born so that may work to my advantage. My wife is dual (born in US) but has lived in Canada her whole life, her parents are Canadian and American. We're both the same race. It's our first marriage and we've been together for a long time before we were married. Not sure if any of these things matter but sometimes they seem to!

But I am still worried about 221g! I've prepared my CV and will have it ready in case the officer would like to see it. If I get the 221g, perhaps it would be better to submit my CV by email though? Assuming it needs to be sent to Washington, DC, an email would get there faster instead of a paper copy. But maybe after seeing my CV and discussing it the officer may decide to not do a 221g?

I am worried since we have a lot planned for next month and it all relies on me getting the visa. So I'm really hoping I can get the visa in a month, two months max! What do you guys think?

Hello!

I have my interview this week so decided to check into how long it takes for MTL to send out the passport. I found that for some it can take a very long time (months). Those people are often on administrative processing (AP). I also found out that having an advanced degree can be the cause of this.

I have a MSc in biology and am worried that this will require a more extensive background check. I was born in Canada however and have never lived anywhere else so this may help me.

Due to the prolonged waiting in AP, we may run into a situation where my wife (the USC) needs to leave the US and come back to Canada (famly issues).

Is maintaining US domicile required while pending AP?

Thank you for your responses!

I figured having the mail forwarded would be the easiest thing to do but I have read that the USCIS puts a big "do not forward" on the envelope for the green card and social. So I didn't think this was an option. Honnybear, did you go into USPS to do this? There were no issues with forwarding? Can you provide more details on this?

Also, how long after POE did you go to the Social Security Office? Were you able to get your number before getting the card? Maybe I should give them a call...

Thank you!

Hello all!

Well I'm nearly at the end of my journey. I owe all of our successes to this wonderful forum and I will never forget you guys! I have a final question that has been bugging me, and I can't seem to find any specific information.

Here's our situation. I live in Canada, and my wife (the USC) lives in the US (Washington). I listed the WA address as the address to send the green card and social. After I get my passport back I'm going to start looking for jobs in the US and we'll be moving shortly. Because we won't be at the WA address, we won't be able to receive the green card or the social.

Am I able to give another address (from a US relative) so this relative can then forward these items to us? Otherwise we will have to arrange something with the new tenants at the Washington apartment which I don't feel completely comfortable doing. I am also worried because of how important domicile is in Canada, that I don't want to give the consulate the idea that the address we have in Washington is "flimsy" and therefore my wife isn't truly domiciled.

I also have another question if you will allow it!!

Because I may get a job relatively quickly (and moving!), I may need to get my SSN quickly. As I understand it, once I cross the border this activates a number of things including getting my SSN. Can I then go to any Social Security Office in the US (since I'm not sure where we'll end up), and show the stamp in my passport to receive my SSN? My understanding is that I don't need the card itself, only the number, to start working. So I would like the number immediately while waiting for the card to arrive.

Thank you!

In the end I realized that the NVC had updated their AOS and I had to fill out the new form for my wife and the joint sponsor. This cost us an extra two weeks whereby she got a job in the US and she moved down there. Therefore we put US address for everything, and US domicile. However I had an attachment that indicated she recently moved and so included proof of US domicile. For a Canadian, establishing US domicile is absolutely necessary for getting the IR-1 visa so that's why I went to such lengths.

Hi all! Just got my interview date assigned. Case complete on Dec 09, interview email on Dec 15, interview on Jan 28. Feel free to add me to the spreadsheet.

Just saw my third N/A! Scan date 10/28, no supervisor review. I can't call yet since I'm going to work and they're probably super busy so I'll confirm later. But this is good. This is very good!!

I'm Oct 28 scan date but I'm afraid to call and get put on supervisor review...Although it seems like many people are getting it reviewed quickly lately. Not sure if I should wait a bit longer or just call in and take a chance??

Looking more closely at the I-865, it looks like this is submitted electronically to the USCIS. So it seems to me that there probably won't be any confusion with the I-864 at the NVC . So I'm going to go ahead with my original plan with the US mailing address, Canadian residence, and Canadian domicile and include all the evidence we have that she intends in good faith to move there. I'll include her Canadian job because that's where she is currently employed with the $0.00. Once she moves, we'll submit the I-865 to the USCIS.

I believe this should be fine!

I'm seeing that I'll need to submit the I-865 to indicate that her address had changed. I'm wondering if this would cause any delays in processing. If she were to move in 2 weeks (for example), then we would have 30 days to submit the I-865. At this point they may not have even looked at our AOS package, so I imagine this would create confusion and could delay things.

I'm really unsure what to put for domicile as well. I want to put Canada because that's where she is currently, but she has all her mail going to the US address, bank in the US, driver's license in the US, etc. so I'm tempted to put USA. But she just works here in Canada and spends most of her time here.

Any advice?

I want to submit ASAP because our Canadian address is temporary (bank foreclosed on the condo we're renting) and I (the Canadian) may not have a place to live soon.

Hello!

About ready to send off the AOS and I've got a few questions that I was unable to find direct answers for.

Here's our situation.

I'm the benficiary, my wife the sponsor. She is currently living and working in Canada. We have a joint sponsor in the US who meets the requirements. She has the following as proof of re-establishing domicile:

Apartment with lease in US

Driver's license in US

Car registered in US with US insurance

Electrical, phone bill, bank, all tied to US address

She's just waiting on a job offer before she physically moves there. We're close (30 min) to the border so that makes it much easier. Since she's living here, for Part 4...

For her mailing address, we used the US address (this is where all her phone, electrical, bank, etc is being mailed to)

For her place of residence, we used the Canadian address (because this is where she is living)

For domicile we used Canada since she sleeps during the night and works during the day in CANADA....

We attached a letter indicating that she intends to re-establish domicile AS SOON as she gets a job. We list all the things she has done to re-establish domicile including the interviews. So my first question is...

1) In our situation, did we fill out the I-864 appropriately?

Onto my second question...

Since she is working in Canada, her income will not transfer once she moves. So we filled out $0.00 for her income. However she marked herself as "employed" and listed her Canadian employer. We attached a letter stating that she works in Canada and this income is not transferable, hence the $0.00 for income.

2) Is this correct, or should we put that she is "unemployed"? Because technically, in the eyes of the US, she is (since her income will not transfer). This is also reflected in her tax transcripts. Since it's not transferable, we are not submitting any documentation showing her current employment. Evidence will be submitted by the joint sponsor to show current income, etc to meet the poverty line.

Of course, we can wait until she gets the job and moves and eliminate all doubt, but we feel like with the evidence we have, we're good to go with NVC. The consulate will want to know she's moved in and has a job, which (after 2+ months of wait time) is a certainty. So we're jumping the gun and hoping to submit in the mean time.

Thanks guys!

So in the end you still got the visa even though your husband didn't even have a job in the US? They didn't press you anymore about domicile? Did you bring proof of him trying to find work?

Hello!

So we've just got our case number from the NVC and paid the AOS bill, so we'll be ready to send in the AOS/IV soon enough. My wife (the USC) has the following for proving domicile:

- Lease for US address

- Various bills in her name at US address (electric, phone, bank)

- Driver's license

- Voter's registration card

What she's still working on is getting a US job. Since we have a joint sponsor who will be covering the financial part of the requirements, I'm not sure if this last one is necessary. I'm wondering if we can submit what we have to get the ball rolling. Will this be enough for the NVC to schedule an interview? At that stage she'll have a job so I could bring the evidence and show the consulate and hopefully get approved.

I'd rather send things in sooner than later, but don't want the AOS to be denied due to domicile.

NOA2 yesterday!

This is crazy. We didn't plan for it to happen in 25 days! Now we need to move it! We need to establish domicile, etc. NVC might be waiting for us!

Oh if I can just add another question. I've asked this before but I'd like your opinion, Ash (or anyone else!!). Do you foresee any problems with admitting during the interview that we intend to move from west to east coast once we have the green card? I ask this because I sense they will ask me why I want to move to the US, and the whole reason we are moving is to live on the east coast. It's just easier for us to do it from the west coast. Therefore the west coast address (what we're setting up now) is temporary. And since domicile is something that is intended to be permanent, do you see a problem in discussing this?

Nice. Thanks for re-assuring me Ash! Oh and good luck on your medical tomorrow! woot!

Yes we're trying to establish domicile before we submit the I-864. We're awaiting NOA2 and hope to have a residence and job lined up in the US before we submit the AOS. She will get her driver's license, car insurance, voter's, phone, etc. with the new address. In my experience we'd be able to use the airbnb address for mailing, etc, and if that's a problem then it's a no go for sure. She has her passport, SSN, bank in the US, income tax, so that's good to go.

We'll still need to submit all this evidence, correct? Besides including the US address and income on the AOS, we should still send in proof that she's working, living there, voter's, income tax, etc., right? We have a co-sponsor whose income is adequate so hers I don't think matters so much. We'll be submitting all of his proof (pay stubs, proof of employment, income tax) to cover the financial support side of things. But as proof of domicile, she should still include all of this for herself?

Good points. I think it might be better to find an apartment that does a short term lease with month-to-month, or just worry about subletting if we need to with a year lease. Thanks! And good luck on your interview

Thanks! I agree - lease is a lease, right? That's a good point about making sure it doesn't terminate shortly come interview time.

It's a CR-1 BTW.

We're on the West Coast now, wanting to move back to the East once this is all finished. I've got a good job here that I don't want to give up until it's time. The border is close so we can see each other. She can move now to the East for sure, but then we'd have trouble visiting each other.

Yes, credit is for sure important but we have some money saved up that would cover the 6 month term and good references (have had 4 apartments over the past 5 years with no missed payments), so I think we're okay.

I know about the I-864 instructions. I have read them. I just wanted to know about any issues arising from renting via airbnb vs through a normal process using a landlord. I suspect there's no issue (lease is a lease) but wanted to confirm with the community.

In my experience (rented an apartment for 3 months), I got by with no lease or credit check through airbnb. I'm sure it's up to the landlord. You're right, they may do a credit check, but we'll cross that bridge if we have to. Our credit card is 5 months old so we should see something soon (I've heard 6 months?).

Besides the point however. I want to know if there's a problem with an airbnb lease that terminates vs. having a lease that ends with a month to month clause.

I'm not sure airbnb "landlords" even do credit checks.