KaeAlexandria

On 10/10/2018 at 11:59 AM, Isabel&Will said:

Ah woops, sorry I didn't realize. If you could come let me know how it goes that would be fantastic and greatly appreciated!

And yeah that makes sense, I suppose they could probably tell from the more general descriptions as to where they would want to investigate. Thanks again and best of luck! 😊

Hey there! So I crossed and am officially a resident of the USA now (yay!!!).

I crossed at the Calais/International Avenue border crossing. When we got to the window my fiance just said; "We're activating a K1 visa, and he have all of her belongings and a cat here in the van.", so the officer had us pull over into the waiting area into a specifically marked little car port.

We got out and went inside, and the first person we spoke to was the very nice female officer who was going to check the van. She was VERY HAPPY we had a full inventory; the way I formatted it as I mentioned was I put "Bathroom Box #1 - Makeup, hair products, hair brushes, misc jewelry." on my inventory sheet, and then labelled the outside of the box with that as well.

She asked us what prescriptions we had and if they were in their proper containers, if we had any fresh produce, if we were carrying cash over $10,000, and if my cat had his vet papers and updated rabies shot (though that was only because she knew we were going to NY state which requires it, they don't require it technically at the border for cats). She then went outside to have a look inside the van; she took a dog, and only opened one thing (a bag I forgot to put on my inventory that had my laptop in it). Then she came back inside and said we were good to go!

The officer inside activated my visa package, stamped everything, took my finger prints and photo and got the package ready to send to USCIS. MAKE SURE THEY DON'T GIVE IT BACK TO YOU. They joked that a few agents had done that. They asked me some standard questions ("Do you intend to work?" -- No, because I can't yet. "Do you know your US address?" -- Yup, it's blah blah blah blah NYC, NY, USA.) and then cooed over my cute kitty for a minute, and sent us on our way!

In total we spent about 30 minutes at the border and it was a breeze.

Hope this helped!

1 hour ago, Isabel&Will said:

Thanks for the heads up, I have been trying to figure out what the best system would be to take inventory. Were you very specific about the exact contents and quantities (e.g. 1 bottle Herbal Essences Shampoo, 1 bar Dove soap etc.) or were they ok with the more general info?

So as I mentioned I'm crossing October 20th so I haven't actually made it yet, but I can come back and let you know when I do.

For now, I haven't been very specific. I just said "Hair products, make-up" etc etc, not "2 x shampoo, 2 x conditioner, 15 x eyeshadow..." and most places online seem to say that's fine. They will most likely ask to have a look at a couple things, as they do for the majority of people.

18 hours ago, TimonLovesSkylour said:

As long as things go well at the interview (October 10) with getting my visa and passport back, we're hoping I'll be able to make entry to the US on October 26, 2018 (please also let me know if this part of the timeline is overly optimistic or anything).

This MAY be possible as long as all your ducks are in a row, however be prepared just in case they want additional documents / a new form of a document that you have. I did my interview Aug 15th, and they wanted a new medical from me. Got the medical to them the next week, they took 4 weeks to process it, and another 2 for me to send my passport and get my official "VISA ISSUED" status.

However, that very easily couldn't be the case, just want you prepared!  Wishing you the best of luck.

Hey there! I just got my approval for my K-1 visa so me and my fiance were just planning the same thing and it sounds like we may have a similar amount of stuff (I have kitchen stuff, a lot of collectibles and games, and 2 books shelves + 2 carts).

Our distance is a LOT shorter than yours (Nova Scotia --> NYC) however what my fiance is doing is renting a cargo van in NYC, driving to Nova Scotia, loading me up and driving back. The reason he's renting it in NYC is that UHaul only rents cargo vans locally (no long distance drop offs) but it STILL ends up being cheaper for us then renting a 10' Uhaul. For your distance however, it may be cheaper to rent the 10' Uhaul and drop it at your final destination.

When you go to cross the border we have seen MANY websites say that you need a full inventory of all of your stuff. What I did when I packed my stuff up (I was staying with family because my lease went up, so the majority of my stuff is already packed and in storage waiting for the move) was write everything that was in the box down in a notebook (like "Hair / Make-up, Over the counter medicine, bathroom shelves, shampoo / body wash -- Bathroom Box #1") and also wrote that on the outside of the box itself. This will apparently really help facilitate a quick border crossing.

Good luck, and I hope your process goes quick!

Update: Today my visa was issued! It's being mailed and should be here by Friday. I'm so excited!

I also thinks that was correct in my thinking earlier. To clear up what I meant: I was trying to see if the barcode that you print to mail in your documents would direct my passport to production (where they stamp it and print the visa) rather than to the document review room (where it sits in a pile waiting for someone to review it) since my passport had already been checked at my interview and didn't need "review". This gives a lot more insight to what that little barcode on the front might be doing, which is great!

Thanks for your answers, I appreciate ya'll taking the time :)

I got an e-mail telling me my medical has been accepted and to please send in my passport, which from reading here seems to universally mean they would like to stamp it and send you your visa.

I understand that, but my question is specifically if we know if the passport goes through the same process. Also, my medical only took 4 weeks

Alright, so I have a weird question that I'm wondering if anyone has any insight on.

I recently completed AP for a medical they wanted redone at the Montreal Consulate. It was only 4 weeks from mailing in the new medical to them asking me to send them my passport so they could stamp it and I was approved! Yay! At my interview they had insisted I take my passport rather than leaving it in case I wanted to visit my fiance, as we travel back and forth frequently.

The way it was explained to me when I sent my new medical was that it goes into a giant room into a stack with all the other supporting documents for all the visas that need to be processed and gets seen on a first come first serve basis. Thankfully for us, that was only a month.

My question is this: The consulate usually says they return your passport within 10 business days with the visa, but that is when you LEAVE it there at the interview. They received my passport this past Monday 10/01. Does my envelope with my passport in it go into that same room as my medial did, and sit for another 4 weeks before being pulled out of the stack and looked at? Or will my passport go directly to be stamped and returned within 10 business days? Basically I'm trying to figure out if I'm looking at a ~ 5 week wait or ~10 business day wait.

Any insight is much appreciated, thank you!

Update:

Quote

" Processor comments Dear Applicant, In order to continue processing your visa please send your Passport. Sincerely, OP70 Best regards, The CSRA Visa Appointment and Information Service Team"

Four weeks from when they received my document! I'm so lucky!

1 hour ago, Ontarkie said:

Unfortunately you are dealing with Montreal. 6-8 weeks is hopeful. Recently members who have had to send them documents have waited more then 10 weeks. All you can do is hope for the best and you get to be one of the very few that has a short wait. 

Thank you. I was searching high and low for examples of anyone who'd done AP in Montreal recently and only found one. You wouldn't happen to have links for the ones you've seen, would you?

2 minutes ago, Ben&Zian said:

Just standard while they review. Most likely a couple weeks probably seeing as all they needed was to review a medical exam report; but AP can be unpredictable too.

Thank you! Unfortunately that means I will probably need to talk to my landlord about staying longer -- eep!

Hey there,

I had my K1 Visa Interview on 08/15/2018. There was a very unfortunate error where two sources (my lawyer and a USCIS clinic in NYC) told me I could do my medical in the USA. Obviously that is not true, and so after my interview I received the form that requests I submit additional documents (a new medical). However, the interviewer said other then this oversight I was all good to go -- that she was putting her approval on my interview, and pending the positive results of this new medical I would be most likely be approved for my visa.

I got the medical the next morning (8/16), received it the next week and had sent it off by courier 8/21 Tuesday. On 8/24 Friday the tracking shows it'd been received.

As of today 8/28 Tuesday my case has changed to "Administrative Processing" (AP). Does anyone know how long this step in the process takes or have any relevant experience to share? Or even a way to get more information if this starts to take weeks? The forms say 6-8 weeks, but if that is the reality then it is possible I'll need to talk to my landlord as we thought I would be moving out around this period, and there's other things we will need to plan / work around.

Thank you in advance for anything you know!