Lois K

Hi all! I've been following all "V" versions of this thread from way back before COVID and all the delays since. Haven't posted in a while because our journey moved on from immigration to citizenship. But for whoever else needs to hear it. We did it. Every hurdle, every delay, every minute piece of paperwork to get exactly right. We made it through the whole process and as of last week hubby is finally a US citizen. Good luck to everyone else in their journeys! You'll get there too!
 

Hi all! I've been following all "V" versions of this thread from way back before COVID and all the delays since. Haven't posted in a while because our journey moved on from immigration to citizenship. But for whoever else needs to hear it. We did it. Every hurdle, every delay, every minute piece of paperwork to get exactly right. We made it through the whole process and as of last week hubby is finally a US citizen. Good luck to everyone else in their journeys! You'll get there too!
 

Hubby has his interview/test Monday at the Portland Oregon USCIS office which is about two hours from home. Looking at the reports here in VJ related to Portland, it looks 50/50 whether or not he gets sworn in same day or not. I enjoyed seeing that some people got sworn in on leap day this year, that will be a fun anniversary for them. If hubby is sworn in on Monday, it will be April Fools day and that's kinda hilarious to us.
 
I didn't go up for his biometrics exam, but I'm coming Monday, just in case there is a ceremony to attend! He's a native English speaker from Canada so we're not worried about that part. He's been studying the civics and should be good to go there too. Paperwork is all organized and ready to go. The main worry will be managing the nervousness, and that gets a lot of us, I know.
 
I will hopefully be back with good news for the VJ community soon! 

"On Jan 16 we scheduled an interview for your Form N-400..."
Feb 20.
Which happens to be our anniversary. 

...Canadian spouse in USCIS for interview now...

Finally got interview notice for N-400!
Feb 20

Hi all,
 
I had my interview this morning (June 1) and was approved. The VJ forum has been immensely helpful to me throughout this journey and I thought I would share my experience in case it would benefit anyone else. Please let me know if I should post this in a different forum instead.
 
For the most part, my interview experience was quite similar to what other VJers have shared. Here's a rough order of events:
Arrive ~5 min prior to your appointment time. They would not let you in before that. My interview was at 7:45am; I got there at 7:40 and there were a bunch of people lining up in front of me with appointment times at 8 or later. They let me in and the rest had to wait outside until it's almost their scheduled time. Check in and security check - they issue you a ticket number at check in and put a sticker at the back of your passport (I believe for shipping purposes). They have tiny lockers to store things like cellphone, car keys, smart watches, etc. Do not bring any big electronics or big purses.  1st call to the window: provide documentation (see more below) and answer some basic questions 2nd call to the window: oath, Q&A, return of documents and next steps Documents requested:
Ticket number (that you received at check in) Interview letter  Passport  Marriage certificate Birth certificate  Police certificate (note: the officer asked whether I had an updated police certificate for Canada as mine was done in March 2021. I said no as my understanding is it is valid for 2 years. He did not make any comment to my statement, but he did step away to speak to someone else, presumably about this. It made me super nervous while I was waiting for them to review my documents!! But this never came up when I was called back for the second time for the actual interview so I guess it was not an issue) Updated tax forms for the petitioner (my husband has not yet received his 2021 tax transcript, so I gave them his 2021 tax return and 2021 W2 and there were no issues) 1 passport photo, which they returned to me after scanning Q&A
Your name / DOB  Your petitioner's name, what he does for work, status in the US Address where you will be staying in the US  When/where did you get married (anniversary date), how did you meet and how long have you known each other  Is this you / your husband's first marriage Do you / your husband have any children What do you do for work Where have you travelled to in the last 5 years  What is the longest period (approximately) you've stayed in the US  Have you ever been arrested / denied for entry / turned around at the border  Any questions about the pamphlet At the end of the interview, the officer said they would be issuing me a visa and I should expect to get my passport back within 2 weeks. They kept my passport and the original police certificates and gave me back my marriage/birth certificates. The officer told me it would take about 2 weeks to get my passport back but I already received a tracking number at noon ET today with ETA of June 3, what a pleasant surprise! It was such a relief to get this over with!
 
Final thoughts: I was extremely anxious (couldn't sleep much leading up to the interview) and kept worrying about whether I've missed anything. Turns out that things will eventually work out as long as you do your homework (which you definitely are if you are in this forum). Good luck all!! 
 
P.S. I have not provided my timeline as mine was a bit distorted given I was initially in the F2A category and was only upgraded to IR1 recently when my husband became a US citizen. Happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful though.

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Hey all! I haven't swung by in six months. That's such a difference from when I'd be posting here multiple times a day. I love living with my hubby! Just starting our seventh month in the same house (after 8 years of dating and 2 years of being married).
 
A funny thing happened the day he crossed - his passport visa was stamped with the wrong date. He crossed on Jan 1 2021 and whoever was in charge of updating the stamp only updated the day and month, not the year - Jan 1 2020. So his passport looks like his visa was already a year old as of the very same day he got it. Needless to say, we were super anxious to have that green card in hand.
 
Although we got the SS# within days of his arrival, the green card itself arrived at the three month mark. We were delighted that it had been automatically updated from a CR-1 to an IR-1 since the day he crossed was our two-year-and-three-day anniversary. So although the wait was long, the final document was accurate and did not require any additional follow up. Sweet!
 
Now instead of phone calls, texts, zoom chats and eager refreshing of our email accounts, we get to worry about grocery lists and who needs the car on what day. What a difference! Hang in there everyone! It's such an awesome place to be!   

Received my passport back with IR-1 visa
Planning to cross on 7/29
 
Good luck everyone, the waiting is hard but it will be all worth it when you reunite with your spouse ❤️ 

The short simple answer is no, you don't need to upload it and can bring your documents to the interview and you don't have to update your i864 if nothing has changed. BUT, I would highly advise from personal experience and from what others have expressed in the past to:
 
a) bring updated documents, even updated i864 with new tax info
b) bring all kinds of evidence you have. you got the transcripts, 1040, and W2? bring ALL of them
c) upload documents a few days prior to the interview as well as bring the originals+photocopies to the interview. it will save them (and you) time scanning the documents once you're there and I've read the CO have commented in the past it's helpful and in my interview the CO said "this is gonna save me some time" and ended up asking me no financial questions and (this is completely subjective and in my head) felt the CO was happy I got my documents together and was prepared for the interview which made him more relaxed.
 
So, I'll answer your questions from my experience and based on the above - did you take a new AOS and recent tax return? yes. tax return or transcript? both. upload documents? yes. updated AOS? yes.

Here's the next thread for our ongoing discussion... Thanks @KartineeKartoons
continued from here: 
 

In college, I once upgraded to first class because the free baggage perks was cheaper than paying extra for each suitcase. That was years ago, but may be worth a quick check to see if it holds true. Plus, you know, first class. 

I took the 747 bus from airport to Lionel-Groulx station which is the last stop for the  bus. Then, I took the Metro (subway) at the station into downtown. The entire journey was about 35 - 40mins and cost $10. I used same ticket on my return journey next day (Ticket is valid for 24 hours and can be used on both bus and Metro). 
If you plan on taking the bus/metro back to the airport, ensure you leave ample extra time because the bus runs about once or twice within an hour.
Goodluck with your interview.

Hello everyone!!
got my SSN in the mail today, 9 days after my appointment at the social security office (there was a holiday within those nine days also). Happy that I can get a bank account, credit card, insurance, etc!