maliseetchief

Hi all thanks for the replies.. my bf is a treaty Indian and can live in both countries.. so if I understand correctly, if he were to become USC he could sponser me without marriage? We will obv get married at some point but not today or tmrw.. how long would it take do you all think for him to become a citizen? Thank you so much : )

Hi we are currently going through this process. My husband is a Jay treaty first nation indian born in Canada also, he's currently living in Florida. He had to go through the process of getting his permanent resident status in order to sponsor me. He is able to do this because we are married and have been for 13 years, not sure how that would work if we were just encaged.

When he applied for his permeant residence status (Sept 2014) he only had to file the paperwork and do his biometrics, no medical or interview required. Once he received his green card (Jan 2015), he filed an I-130 for me (PD July 2015), our case was mailed to lockbox in Chicago, IL then California it was approved Nov 2015. We received a letter from NVC in Dec 2015 with a case number for the Montreal Consulate stating there was no visa available and to wait for our priority date to become current. So now we wait. When all said and done we are looking at least at 2 year process minimum from start to finish.

Hope this helps some cause it's been a struggle to find anyone that understands the Jay Treaty and how it effects immigrating to the USA from Canada.

I'm the issue not him .. He does not NEED the gc except if I'm to move with him

Without the medical, interview or expiry date

All he needed was a letter from his tribe stating he was at least 50% native from the chief of his tribe, his Canadian issued native status card and his Canadian issued passport to receive his social security card.

To obtain his permant status he presented his social security card, the letter, birth certificate, passport and filled out a form at the immigration office, He see our part time residence address in the states. Once the paperwork was processed he had to do his biometrics (picture, fingerprints) then his green card was issued.

He comes from a very small tribe 300-400 members so he is one of the first that has to do this process. (Where one person is native and the other is not already a U.S. Citizen) Guess we're ground breakers lol

Ontarkie ... Thank you for moving my questions to where it maybe more visible ?

Boiler ... Frustrating to know we're going to be doing the long distance this for a few years .. But we're in it for the long haul

We're a small border town, so a lot of the border officers know us from crossing all the time and know our ties to the community we live in .. But thank you for the documentation suggestion ?

janetusman .... He does not have a 2 year or a 10 year permant resident card .. Under the jay treaty he can work and live in the U.S. without anything other than his social security card, which he has. The border does not exist to jay treaty First Nation people. He did not have to do the medical or the interview to receive his permant residence card. This is not a "normal" immigration process because of his jay treaty rights.

He has all the same right as a U.S. Citizen except to vote, If he wanted to vote he could naturalize. The only reason he has had to obtain his perminant resident card is to sponsor me because I am not status First Nation. I will have to do the medical and the interview.

that's where things get confusing, when speaking with lawyers, immigrations, customs etc .. No two people can tell us all the documents that need to be filled out. everyone has a matter of opion but nothing in black and white to back it up.

I know we can't be the first couple to be doing this legally lol

Thank you for a summery of the steps we are to expect along the way ?

Help ... I keep running into dead ends, several lawyers I've spoken to can't agree, can't get two Immigrations officers to agree on the correct procedure, US border is telling us something different, not finding much information on the internet. Very frustrated!!!

My husband who is a Jay Treaty Canadian born first nation and I are moving to the USA. He has applied and received his permeant residence status. (which we know he did not have to get because he can live and work in the states without restrictions, however he needs his permanent residence status in order to sponsor me because I am not native american)

Now that he has his permanent residence card, he is filing the I-130 form to petition my application so that I can move to the states with him.

- after he has filed this form am I allowed to live with him in the states while the paperwork is being processed or do I have to remain in Canada?

- If I have to remain in Canada, am I able to visit my husband in the states during the paper process?

- how long is a typical wait?

Once the I-130 application has been accepted, and we receive a I-797 Notification well file I-485 form. Again

- or is it this point I am allowed to live in the states with him?

- how long of a process is this?

also

- is my husband considered a US citizen? as he has all the rights of a US citizen except he can't vote.

sorry this is all over the place but I'm trying to get some idea of the time frame that we will be spending apart as he will be leaving on May 1st to start our life in the states without me.. so any insight would be greatly appreciated. TIA