Buffum

So our date's pretty set in stone at this point. We've already sent out invitations and booked venues, etc. It's alright though, we were planning on missing the brother's wedding before the mix-up at the embassy interview so nothing it too devastating.

I sent the Montreal Embassy an email last night just to get it as a "final say" kinda thing, and they speedily replied this morning.

Kindly note the applicant cannot travel back and forth while they have a K-1 visa. If they return back to Canada, their case will be considered abandoned and the process will be null at which time they will have to start the entire petition anew. They must not leave the United States until they get married and adjust status to CR1. If the applicant has a need to travel while on a K-1 visa than you must contact USCIS and apply for a travel document, only with the approval of USCIS can the applicant leave the country.

With this topic and the email from Montreal, I told my fiance the bad news and it went okay. She wasn't too upset, and said she wasn't too surprised either. Everything's well!! Thanks for all the help and concern though, guys.

Sorry to bother again, but is there any truth to this article here?

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/can-fiance-k-1-visa-quick-trip-canada-mexico.html#comment-123853

Alright so it seems there was definitely a communication error between my fiance and the person at the consulate.

It's gonna be rough telling her she can't go to the wedding, but such is life.

Read hot topic #3. Different country, same situation.

So we've heard that we can make short trips to Canada after we're married before we get her green card.

from where?

on what basis ?

holding what visa ?

since you heard it, who told you ?

Report back, when able...

She has a k1 visa which I know is a one time visa, so I don't understand how this would work.

So me and my fiance are getting married with the K1 visa this summer in the United States.

Her brother is getting married in Canada two weeks later, and we'd like to go.

So we've heard that we can make short trips to Canada after we're married before we get her green card. I've also heard horror stories though of people not being allowed to come back into the United States without their green card.

Can you help me out here?

Check out these DOS FAQs: http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/en/immigrate/family/fiance-k-1.html

Good luck on your immigration journey.

So the website you linked me said:

"The I-129F petition is valid for four months from the date of approval by USCIS. A consular officer can extend the validity of the petition if it expires before visa processing is completed."

What can I do to get a consular officer to extend my validity?

My fiance just received her Package 3 today in the mail, and we're very excited. However in the package it said it could take around 6 weeks for our case to be reviewed and only after could we schedule her embassy interview.

Unfortunately, our I-129F expires in 5 weeks, 1 week short of the expected 6 for package 4. I know that everything gets renewed automatically if you have an interview date set, however it looks like we wont be able to set our interview until it might be too late.

Should we be worried? What can we do to prevent our I-129F from expiring?

Alright thank you. I'm just a little on edge because our K1 approval expires next month.

I know they renew it for you if you have an interview scheduled, but we haven't done that yet since we haven't received our Package 3.

I'm asking because our K1 approval expires next month so I'm a bit impatient...

We were initially doing our visa processing through the London embassy, and my fiance received her package 3 for the London embassy.

Unfortunately, she had to move back home to Nova Scotia due to an emergency so now we're doing our visa process through the Montreal embassy.

My question is: although she already received her package 3 from the London embassy, will we still receive a physical package 3 from the Montreal embassy in the mail? if so, how long will it take and how long will it take to fill out?

We're a little crunched for time, switching embassies took longer than we hoped and it left us with a lot to do with little time left (around Christmas nonetheless). Thanks for all your help and support!

Thanks for all the advice. I just submitted an inquiry with Montreal, so hopefully I'll hear back from them within 2 business days like their website stated.

I tried calling but I kept getting a dial-up sound and then a hang-up, and I had no way of contacting the London embassy with my America phone.

I'll keep you guys updated! Thanks again.

So this is unexpected, but my fiance just found out that she has to move from London back to to Nova Scotia this week, which is her native country.

We got our NOA2 last month, and the consulate received our package last week.

So now that my fiance is moving back to Nova Scotia, our interview will have to be at a different embassy.

What is the process that we have to take to arrange this? Is it possible? I'm worried this might throw a major wrench in our visa process.

That is correct, did you book your interview through NVC? you have K1 visa right? And when you check the status do you select the Immigrant or non immigrant visa? I'm so confused by this, I was talking to this lady from NVC yesterday and she told me that K1 is non - immigrant visa and even on the DOS site it lists it under non immigrant visa. but when I want to check my case status on the DOS website I have to enter it as the immigrant visa!!!

Apparently the "Your interview date was provided to you by the National Visa Center" text is just default text. There was no interview date actually given, and we have to schedule that with the embassy.

When I check the status I select 'immigrant visa'.

Congrats Buffum, have you tried tracking your case at the DOS website and saw what does it says?

"Your case is in transit to the Consular Section. Your interview date was provided to you by the National Visa Center."

This is the correct website to check, right? https://ceac.state.gov/ceacstattracker/status.aspx

Just received my Case # from NVC

So I followed your guy's advice on being persistent and decided to call them every 5 minutes today. After calling them 7 times today I finally got through.

They had our case and they told me that it was actually getting sent to London today.

Thanks for all the help guys!! Hope it goes well for everyone still waiting.

Call (603) 334-0888, right at 8 am eastern time. I got through almost always on the first try.

Good luck!

Alright, thanks. This is a different number from the one on VJ and the official NVC page. Where'd you manage to get it?

We got our NOA2 on 2015-09-24, so it's been about a month. My fiance hasn't gotten anything from the embassy, and we haven't heard anything about our visa since we got our NOA2 in the mail.

We've tried calling the NVC a couple of times now (about twice a week since we got our NOA2) but we always get the message that says that they're dealing with other costumers. Is this happening for anyone else? I'm starting to question whether or not there are actually any phone operators at the NVC. Is calling the NVC worth the inconvenience?

You have to wait until you are married to apply for Adjustment of Status.

Read here, this person was under the same impression: http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/567479-green-card-at-the-same-time-as-k-1-fiance-visa-process/

Thanks! Apparently my fiance's mother read it was possible on some other immigration website.

Probably one of those websites that say you can't visit while waiting for your K1 to be approved.

God speed.

Is it possible to start the Green Card process while waiting for your NOA2?

I was under the impression that you had to wait until after you were married to apply for a Green Card, but my fiance's mother wants to make sure we're going for the green card as soon as possible.

Sorry if this is a silly question. Thanks!

The general consensus is that wet signatures are better, but I've heard of cases where the signature was a copy and everything went fine.

The safe bet though would definitely be the wet signature. Also remember that the G-325a requires a signature as well.

The birth certificate is really only needed from the US Citizen. It's used to show that you're actually a citizen. That's why the alternative to it is a US passport or a naturalization certificate.

Your evidence is also on point. You have the boarding passes and passport stamps, and along with your secondary evidence you should be good to go. I'd argue you don't need the letter, but I guess with evidence the more the better.

It looks like you have everything you need. Just making sure, are your passport photos 2x2?

The photos, copy and plane ticket and screenshot is good. The stamping on the passport is important but i dont know how the rules work with canada and us. I think its okay but i feel you should include more writing of you guys actually having messages being written back and forth to eachother and it should bee messages speratically from different months you were away from eachother. If thats all you have then go for it but if you have more evidence that your not including because you don't think its that important it doesnt matter! include it! the more the better! goodluck! i included, receipts, photos, screenshots, emails, phone calls, reciept of engagement ring, boarding pass etc !!!!

Thanks for the quick reply! We have plenty of letters sent back and forth and stuff. We've been in a relationship for about 2 years.

I was just under the impression that they didn't really need 'proof of ongoing relationship' until the interview stage, and that when sending in your package they're really only concerned with proving you've actually met within the past 2 years.

I think you're probably right though. Adding proof of our ongoing relationship would probably support the fact that we've met. I'll be sure to include that!!

We don't have any sort of receipt. I didn't really think to keep any...

I DID use my credit card while I was in Canada though. Would a screenshot of some transactions off my bank's website be sufficient?

We're just about done completing our i-129f package, but I was a little concerned that our proof of having met within the past 2 years is a little scarce.

All I really have are:

-5 photos of us together

-copy of my plane ticket

-a screenshot of a facebook convo we had after I bought my ticket

-a letter talking about how excited she is about my visit in June.

I'm from New York and was visiting Canada, so they didn't stamp my passport.

I also stayed at her parent's house, so I don't have any hotel receipts or anything like that.

Bump! (sorry, let me know if this is against the rules)