mercy

Nice! Brian's moving out here May 12 His mom's birthday is May 8, so we wanted to wait a little bit. Only 42 days, not like I'm counting or anything...

It'll fly by! Any wedding plans? We've booked an elopement thing for May 24th, which I am so, so excited about!

I figured the visa would be approved, so I gave my notice at my apartment and job already; I'll be going over on the 24th of this month. Now that the visa worries are over, it's time to start worrying about packing and moving What about for you two?

I think this was me! The elevator didn't go up and the doors reopened? Our interview was really easy and we were approved I was so happy to see your thumbs up and am glad to hear the other girl was approved. I hope the rest of your journey goes well!

All of March is currently available!

I'm really sorry to hear this. I hope you are doing okay. I went through this same situation almost five years ago (I am now marrying another American and am now going through the whole crazy thing again), and coming back to Canada was the easiest part. I just showed up at the border with my stuff and no clue. They sent me over to secondary where I filled out some papers saying I was returning and I had to make a list of all the things I had in the car--I had some stuff left behind that I was planning on getting later, so they had me list that too. They were really kind and it was easy and quick. When I was ready to get the rest of my stuff, I just brought the paperwork I got that day and had no problems.

For whatever it's worth, no one ever asked about him--I didn't need his signature on anything, nor proof that I had permission to take the belongings or the car. The car (which was mine originally) was in both our names, and when I registered it in Ontario, I just did it in my name, and they never asked about him. If you have a separation agreement, it wouldn't hurt to have, and you may want it anyway when you file for the divorce, but I don't think anyone will give you a hard time.

You'll also need to surrender your permanent residency within a year of returning--I live near the border and just did this when I crossed one day.

I'm wishing you all the best. I'm sure this is an overwhelming time.

Great; thanks! I am a natural born worrier, so... On to the next thing to worry about, I suppose.

So eight years ago I never thought I'd be doing this all again, but here I am--old VJ account and all. I married a US citizen back in 2006 after going through the K1 process. I did the AOS, which was approved quickly, and removed the conditions as soon as I was able. I ended up moving back to Canada not long after that and separating from my husband. After it was clear that was for good, I voluntarily gave up my permanent residency at a POE (less than a year had passed since I left), and divorced in Ontario. Since then, I started dating my long time best friend who happens to be American, and we recently submitted a K1 application. I did everything by the book last time, including giving up my residency, but I'm still concerned with how it might affect our case now. Anyone have any experience with this?

Can I make an infopass without a case #? That's what I'm worried about, that without the case number, I won't be able to do/find out anything.

Yes you can make an appointment without a case number, here are the instructions on how to make an appointment.

Don't forget to enjoy the journey in all the rush to "get legal".... It's the one thing we insisted on.. taking time to laugh and enjoy our "legal" ceremony. I didn't want it to be just something we "did" for paperwork. But another step in our relationship and our time together. Just wanted to caution you guys in all this race to the Visa/AOS finish line

Totally agree. We'd already had our non-legal ceremony, so for us it felt like a technicality at that point. But if you're not planning a ceremony until later, definitely make something special out of it. Enjoy it, go out for a special dinner, have family there, whatever.

I don't think anyone understands my question I've done everything to prevent it from being undeliverable, but with as many problems as I've had, I thought someone might know what to do in the case we never receive anything. Oh well, I'll just hope we get it.

Everyone here is just trying to help. Honestly, the best thing you can do right now is try to relax. Unless you want to get proactive and go down to the post office and talk to someone about why you keep getting undeliverable mail (or figure out when the mailman comes and hang around outside the mail room to talk to them), relaxing is the only thing you can do. I see this is your first experience with USCIS, it's definitely scary and overwhelming, and I know it's hard to do but you will go crazy before the end of this process if you start stressing over the uncontrollable things or the "what ifs".

IF after a month or more you don't get your NOA's, you can call the customer service line or make an infopass appointment at your local office.

Mercy stole my advice .

But to reiterate - as much as I had studied the paperwork before hand, I still neglected to realize that our joint sponsor had to give us his birth certificate and it really held us up. Just fill out ALL the forms now, that way you are ready to go the nano-second you do a civil ceremony. Also figure out now what the rules are for getting a marriage license and then getting married. What ID will you need? Is there a waiting period etc.

Mo

Great minds think alike!

Good point about joint sponsors needed proof of citizenship. I hadn't realized either, but bless my father in laws heart, he noticed it in the instructions.

It can seriously be done, we went straight from the court house to UPS and sent out the applications immediately. It just takes a little bit of prep.

My suggestion is prepare all the AOS/EAD forms in advance of her arrival. Get copies of your tax returns now, fill out the forms, gather as much of the evidence as you can, etc. Find out if you both need to be present to apply for a license (if not, you can get it ahead of time) and how long it takes to get one (we both had to be there, but got it about 10 minutes before civil ceremony) and also how long it'll take to get a copy of the marriage certificate. Inquire as to whether you can take it to be registered, because sometimes it can take them a couple weeks to do it, whereas we walked it down to the registrar ourselves and had it within a couple minutes. Literally get married the day she arrives, or as close to as possible and send out the applications that very day. There is no way to guarantee she'll get work authorization in time, so it's the best you can do.

I couldn't even read the whole thing, it literally made me feel ill. Who could actually do that?

According to the New Hampshire DMV all he needs is his EAD, you just have to make that drive though I think is the issue. Looks like they won't do it at local offices. But if or when he gets his EAD card (usually a month or less after sending in the AOS) he should be fine to get a licence...

Not to be a downer, but it takes longer than that now. My greencard was approved before anything happened on my EAD, and while my AOS was approved really quickly, it was two months. According to the timelines here, it's between 90 and 110 days.

Hopefully one or the other is approved quickly so he can start driving again and not go stir crazy. Can he not drive with his Canadian license until then? I didn't get a WI license until I had my greencard (I figured if I wasn't a resident of the US, then I wasn't a resident of WI either).

I generally love to fly. I like take-offs and landings, and looking out the window. I like the little personal TV's on the seats (makes the flights go so much faster). I even like the food, mostly!

However...babies crying for long periods of time, kids being nosy or kicking the back of your seat repeatedly, no matter how many times you ask their parents to get them to stop, the assh*le who always ends up in front of me who slams his seat back into full recline immediately and for the whole flight, getting dehydrated and only being offered water/drinks once or twice on a 8 hour flight. I can never sleep on planes either.

The best part about flying though is offering to get bumped off the flight in exchange for some goodies. Joe and I did this during the summer when we were returning from Frankfurt. They put us on a flight the next day, set us up in a nice hotel, gave us 3 meal vouchers each, and flight vouchers for 550 euro each. We're going back to Germany on the 16th on NWA's cash. We've got our fingers crossed that it'll happen again.

Why not get legally married at the court house now, and then do the big Hawaiian wedding as planned? If you want either AP or maybe your greencard (if all goes well) approved and in your hands by the end of June, you'll want to start the process ASAP. I'm pretty sure you'd get an RFE for the certificate if you sent in the license.

We got married at the court house and walked the certificate down to the registrar ourselves and had it in our hands within 5 minutes. I sent my AOS/EAD/AP out that very day.

You can get ketchup chips here at Wal-Mart sometimes from Herrs and I'll never miss Tim Horton's.....ever!!!

http://www.herrs.com/Products/Products.html

Uggh those are so gross. I was so excited the first time I saw those, but they have nothing on Lays.

I'm going to Canada at the end of the month, can't wait to stock up on Canadian goodies!

me: Loopy Apple Sniffer

Joe: Snotty Girdle Sniffer

http://www.ecotality.com/blog/?p=350

I love that this cites Wikipedia. Nothing says well thought out and factual like a Wikipedia citation. Oh, and blogs too.

So you have refuting facts? You have looked at them? I have seen both sides quote off of wiki and blogs as sources... so again, can you refute what the blog says? or just want to toss out "Oh its that kind of site!"?

I never said I agreed or disagreed with their point, but thanks for the assumption Truthfully, I do tend to disregard anything/one who uses cites Wikipedia, and I certainly don't feel bad about that. It smacks of laziness and inaccuracy to me. Wiki and blogs are questionable sources at best and I prefer something a little more solid.

http://www.ecotality.com/blog/?p=350

I love that this cites Wikipedia. Nothing says well thought out and factual like a Wikipedia citation. Oh, and blogs too.

the Canadian version is different from the US version. The ingredients are different, and the Canadian tastes more cheesy. As Kath mentioned, even regular cheese here in the US isn't very cheesy. I have to agree. I usually buy imported cheese, at exhorbitant prices mind you! because anything I've ever tried that's made here in the US just doesn't resemble cheese IMO. Its like rubber and with very little flavour.

My husband thinks I'm crazy because I flat out refuse to eat "Kraft Mac & Cheese". It's so gross! He actually doesn't think that Kraft Dinner tastes different, so I'm glad to hear it's not just me. I just finally got used to the taste of US fast food, and I'm still iffy on the Chinese food here.

US grocery stores may have more "choices", but it's mostly just more packaged foods, definitely not fresh stuff. I miss the huge grocery stores of Canada. It is cheaper there though, so that's a plus. I've been our main grocery shopper for the past 10 months or so, and I still get confused about what kind of milk to buy.

Oh, God, now Mexico won't let him in without a passport!!!!

And he'll need one to get back in to the US. Guess he'd better pick one country and never leave it.

Instead works...while you period is on, it is also a cup that catches everything. It's yucky when you take it out, but he won't know

No strings, no wings..

No leaks?

No leaks! At first I always wore them with pads, just in case, but turns out I didn't need them.

Oo I have been watching the video on the website on this instead thing. Does anyone know if it feels like a Nuvaring? I was not a fan of that

I've never tried Nuvaring, but I can tell you that if the instead cup is inserted properly, you can't feel it. If you're interested, definitely give them a try, you can buy them at pretty much any drugstore.

AND, since this is just girls, I'll pass along my favorite discovery that I wish I'd known about long ago: The Diva Cup. It's a silicone menstrual cup that you insert during your period: I change it every 12 hours on heavy flow days and once a day on light days. It took a while for me to get used to it -- about 4 months --- but now I love it, LOVE IT! I've only purchased a couple of packs of pantyliners in the past five years. It doesn't smell. Saves lots of packing space. Doesn't fill up landfills. Saves you tons of money and lasts for years and years. And since it sits inside you, you can be completely naked and cuddly in bed during your period. I got it from a Canadian company online -- www.divacup.com.

Along this same line, if you aren't interested in taking hormones, try the Instead Cup. It's sort of like the Diva Cup, except it's disposable and worn like a diaphragm so you can have sex while wearing it without any "mess". I absolutely loved it, and not being able to wear them any more is the only downside I've discovered to having an IUD.