mag2929

LOL thank goodness I finally got my SSN and was able to register for my work health insurance. This is all nuts! I have to redo my driving test here in California - I haven't done a driving test since I was 16!! It's stressful because I am used to driving a certain way, and it will be very hard not to make "mistakes" on the driving test. As a new driver you don't have the bad habits! But I still can't complain at all, because I am HERE, boots on the ground, moving forward despite all the little aggravations that come with new paperwork, etc. Still waiting on that green card though, hopefully will come soon. My particular employer wants that green card copy, even though they have my passport stuff. Plus no one seems to know what a CR-1 is - I keep on getting asked what it is lol. Fun times but definitely better than the previous 15 months!!
To celebrate my new Americanness, we went up to Santa Barbara for a nice hike, dinner and fireworks on the beach. It was heaven!

Just got home to Los Angeles!!! My best to all and also happy POE'ing to my educator friends!!

I saw that!! This is nuts. Hopefully it will go faster than they think. On another note- just POEd in beautiful Montana. Now uhauling it down to LA with plans to detour at Yellowstone and maybe Vegas:) what an awesome feeling. Crossing was professional yet friendly - no unnecessary hassle. I am so so happy. Husband with me!!

Yep, it's sucky. But it DOES eventually happen!! Although I totally understand - I didnt want to plan ANYthing until I had that visa in my hand. What helped me was you and others on here, as well as staying involved in my daily life and not thinking about the "what ifs" too much. Hang in there (I hate that this is all I can do for you!), and the admin hiccup WILL get resolved.
How is living your life going?

Hi all… ok. waybill came too. Maybe I can finally relax. Got another one of my super awesome (not) 16 hour shifts tomorrow, so will FINALLY be able to focus on work. My past few shifts have been difficult to focus on work. My awesome, handsome, wonderful husband is flying in June 13th, yay!!! Haven't seen him since Christmas… high time!! Love and hugs to all. M

Hi Trenz, my visa showed up as "issued" this morning thank goodness. I think K-1s go to AP temporarily before they get issued. I expect yours to be issued very shortly. Take good care!

I totally agree with you. I have looked at VJ posts and on occasion this does happen. Seems to have been happening more in May. I have been sitting here wracking my brain WHY this happened to me, I am not a multi-generational Canadian but I've been here since I was a kid and I am a Canadian citizen (and I don't understand how they would think an 8-year old immigrated to Canada as a transit to the U.S.) etc etc. The bottom line is - no one has a clue why they do this. A girl who interviewed with me and is also a bona-fide Canadian for a while still had to wait longer as well although she did get issued by end of the week. I am not sure if you guys have seen The Star in the past couple of weeks, but they looked at the Canadian immigration process and they found there were MYRIAD errors and problems with the processing. I have a feeling it's the same with this, except we have no recourse whatsoever.
And Trenz - I was told a week and a half, someone else was told two weeks, and one guy was told it was going to take a MONTH to issue his visa. So they also tell people various things. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they say, just like there has not been throughout my own experience. This is month 15 of this for me, so I AM very frustrated.
I will keep on emailing them. Meanwhile, email as well and keep on trying to get a hold of them. That's all we can do, although it does bother me that they keep a Canadian passport for however long they want without any recourse, again.
Thanks NLR - I think the patterns you describe are right. That's what I have seen as well so far.

I totally agree with you. I have looked at VJ posts and on occasion this does happen. Seems to have been happening more in May. I have been sitting here wracking my brain WHY this happened to me, I am not a multi-generational Canadian but I've been here since I was a kid and I am a Canadian citizen (and I don't understand how they would think an 8-year old immigrated to Canada as a transit to the U.S.) etc etc. The bottom line is - no one has a clue why they do this. A girl who interviewed with me and is also a bona-fide Canadian for a while still had to wait longer as well although she did get issued by end of the week. I am not sure if you guys have seen The Star in the past couple of weeks, but they looked at the Canadian immigration process and they found there were MYRIAD errors and problems with the processing. I have a feeling it's the same with this, except we have no recourse whatsoever.
And Trenz - I was told a week and a half, someone else was told two weeks, and one guy was told it was going to take a MONTH to issue his visa. So they also tell people various things. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they say, just like there has not been throughout my own experience. This is month 15 of this for me, so I AM very frustrated.
I will keep on emailing them. Meanwhile, email as well and keep on trying to get a hold of them. That's all we can do, although it does bother me that they keep a Canadian passport for however long they want without any recourse, again.
Thanks NLR - I think the patterns you describe are right. That's what I have seen as well so far.

I totally agree with you. I have looked at VJ posts and on occasion this does happen. Seems to have been happening more in May. I have been sitting here wracking my brain WHY this happened to me, I am not a multi-generational Canadian but I've been here since I was a kid and I am a Canadian citizen (and I don't understand how they would think an 8-year old immigrated to Canada as a transit to the U.S.) etc etc. The bottom line is - no one has a clue why they do this. A girl who interviewed with me and is also a bona-fide Canadian for a while still had to wait longer as well although she did get issued by end of the week. I am not sure if you guys have seen The Star in the past couple of weeks, but they looked at the Canadian immigration process and they found there were MYRIAD errors and problems with the processing. I have a feeling it's the same with this, except we have no recourse whatsoever.
And Trenz - I was told a week and a half, someone else was told two weeks, and one guy was told it was going to take a MONTH to issue his visa. So they also tell people various things. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to what they say, just like there has not been throughout my own experience. This is month 15 of this for me, so I AM very frustrated.
I will keep on emailing them. Meanwhile, email as well and keep on trying to get a hold of them. That's all we can do, although it does bother me that they keep a Canadian passport for however long they want without any recourse, again.
Thanks NLR - I think the patterns you describe are right. That's what I have seen as well so far.

Sometimes updates are slow. Contact the consulate.

I totally hear you as well, and I agree with mrs thb (she's a VERY wise person!!). This is not a "logical" process, and if you expect it to be such, you will just be continually disappointed. That said, being proactive and organized is a good way to stay sane and ensure a smoother ride during your interview.
I would suggest checking in with the USCIS at 5 months to make sure the file is being looked at. We did that and ended up with an RFE BUT that was only because our legal counsel wasn't well versed in which Canadian documents should be sent. If we didn't check at 5 months, when they say their average processing time is, who knows how long before we would have found out about the RFE. SO my advice is, to keep yourself sane, you can do little things like that along the way. Being part of this thread or the NVC thread or whatever is good to stay prepared and so ahead of the game.
During our interview yesterday there seemed to be a few people missing docs etc, and they left disappointed. As SuziQ found, you can NEVER be sure that they will not ask something that you were told wasn't needed but they wanted, BUT that still means you get your visa, just a bit delayed. SO being over prepared is probably not a bad thing in the big scheme of things, since we cannot read minds. At least I can't:)
So you are doing the right things. There is a lot of good advice on VJ (along with some not so good), but at least it gives you a leg up on others who don't come on here.
The NVC thread helped me a lot while I was there, but to be honest, THIS particular thread helped me the most. If you look through it, it does give you some info on what we were told, docs needed etc. that's fairly recent. Keep on looking at the EP times on the NVC thread, although brentos honestly, no ONE can predict how slow or fast they will go. They seem to have been getting better, even for those who got checklists which were reviewed within a few weeks, so stay positive. All you can do is try to stay positive.
I don't know if any of this helped, but there you go. My 2 cents. Take good care!

Yay!!!! BUT I think we have all become slightly crazy.

Ah thanks eki!!!! And thanks for reminding about Monday being a holiday. I guess its Memorial day. Yes, I think I will just bask in the light of actually have been told "yes."
And I will update the timeline TwoChickies.

Lol it must be a Taurus thing:) I just dont know why those were the only options lol. And I dont remember the last time I freaked out and landed in jail hehe. Thats really funny.BUT then he said he knew I was going to be fine. I think he is just so happy. He can finally plan. He doesnt know how busy he will be soon because there WILL be little baby Tauruses running around soon damn it!!!

My husband couldnt come but he was freaking out - lol, and he does not freak out as a rule. We were in there SO late that he said he thought I either passed out (???) or lost it on them and was in jail hehe. Those were his only two options;)

Thanks!!!!!! It did help, tremendously. Although having met her lovely husband I doubt she will want to do this process again:) I highly recommend her as a co-worrier to go through this process with:) I could not have done this without CanadianGirl OR ANY of you wonderful awesome beautiful perfect people. I am so grateful. I am just tired so I worry my thankfulness didnt come across.

Thanks:)

Lol I am exhilarated but really really tired. It will take time to process. But I am most def happy.

Ok - got the welcome letter ... Ceac still says ready but whatever. I am emotionally exhausted. But survived.

They didnt let us come in until 15 min before interview time. Sigh so we froze our butts off and will be binding our time at Starbucks I guess.

Just wanted to say - go get 'em TwoChickies!!!!!! You will rock your interview tomorrow and you will be DONE!!

yay! Congrats. That's my birthday you're interviewing on - that WILL be a good day;)

I can't answer re: taxes for sure, but refiling as married filing separately is a good thing… I am not sure they get a "receipt" - my husband never gets a "receipt" of any sort like we do in Canada (we get our notice of assessment from CRA), he just gets a deposit if he is owed a balance.
Re DS-260 - it's that confirmation page that you should have gotten an emailed copy of, titled Immigrant Visa and Application Registration Confirmation. It just says that you filed the IV and it has a couple of scan bars at the bottom, and has in red letters "this is not a visa."
Yes, th eloomis confirmation page looks like a three year old typed it up. And I bet you today's three year olds would do a better job.

Ok NAT, it's getting pretty REAL now!!!!!!!

I am away for a bit and the thread explodes!!! But you know ladies, your comments keep me sane sometimes!
NAT - grandmas are funny. You'd think the oldest person in the crowd wouldn't understand, and they have often lived LONG enough that they DO recognize that love is love. And people are people. And having your family or friends in your life is MUCH more important in the end than ANY belief. I am so glad you have such great support in her, it seems like it doesn't matter what family thinks of your choices, but it kinda does. At least it mattered to me when I was going through stuff my family didn't approve of. ANd trust me, I have STORIES
Anyways, I gotta crash. My "short" 16 hour work shift is over! Hugs, m