mam521

It's been a minute...between that hurricane and work... 128 hours we went before we got power back. When I expressed my delight, passively aggressive jealous neighbor from across the street made a comment about me having a whole home generator. Yes, I do have one because I chose to invest the many dollars to purchase one. It still doesn't mean I'm delighted to pay the many dollars to run it day after day. And he's the one too cheap to even purchase a portable - he ran an extension cord across the freaking street from the senior citizen neighbor's house to his place to plug in his fridge. He didn't even offer anything in return, either. Hubs and I cleaned up their yard from the hurricane and checked in periodically to make sure they're good. Anyway, last week and this week, we have an employee across from China for training. Unfortunately, Hubs got the 'vid so I'm solo teaching at the moment. I'm worried though - I have a cough and a bit of a scratchy throat...I can't afford the 'vid because I have to take Kid1 to Toronto on Sunday!

Be aware that it's 6mo before you have IRS implications in addition to CBP limitations on your visa. This isn't a fixed year, but a fixed interval, so if you enter in Feb and stay until July, and try to reenter in December and leave in Feb, you'll have 9 months of accrued time in the US over a 12 month period. This is going to cause some big, red flags.

Smart people who have big enough generators to run their pool pumps are doing so. It’s a great way to entertain the kids who are bored stiff! Our county judge is now all over Centerpoint(less) and demanding some transparency. He has 3 other transmission companies in his district who’ve been open and transparent. This is ridiculous.

Well, it's Friday and I'm writing this with the hum of the generator still running in the background. People in the hood are turning understandably delirious as they go through the stages of power loss grief. Pretty funny posts coming up on FB as a result. That said, about an hour ago, power linemen rolled into our area where the transmission lines are just behind our section of the neighborhood. Our county judge, who has been beyond less than impressed by Centerpoint's response to this whole scenario, is also in the hood, just down the road. The judge has openly stated that 3 out of the 4 transmission companies he's had to deal with have been open, honest and frequent in communication. Then, there's Centerpoint... @Neonred the inverter generators are wonderful units. Our portable is a little Honda inverter. Unfortunately, it's a bit too small to run an AC but it happily kept the fridge and freezer online as well as the beta fish's aquarium heater on and a lamp and phone charging capabilities available to us during winter storm Uri in 2021. The AC is the big one that's really impacting people right now. The temps are cooler but the humidity is ridiculous. I watched a guy remove the tree that was embedded in the neighbor's house yesterday. So much damage and I feel awful - the home owners are both teachers and their kids are small. Not sure where they'll end up going. Anyway, the guy was very skillful and calculated in his work. He got it off of the house so he and another guy could tarp it up just in time for a thundershower to roll in. They were back later in the evening to cut up the massive trunk on the ground. People are starting to get violent towards the linemen around here. It's not their fault. It's a massive failing on leadership's fault. It's no different than getting mad at a cashier in a store instead of asking for a manager. Don't shoot the guy that can actually fix your power, bro!

Oh come on...hotels are totally chicken friendly! 😂

The whole home was an investment, but I'm confident that it will have 100% paid for itself by the time we get power back. We're at 59 hours and counting on this thing with this storm alone and I am so relieved we can essentially live life like normal. Other than the additional teenagers that are hunkering down. Hubs figures it will cost us about $90/day in natural gas. Even running a smaller, less efficient generator off of gasoline is more expensive because the price of gasoline or propane is more than our natural gas. But, when we think about if we left town, hotels, meals, fuel, etc with 4 animals and 2 kids in tow plus having to ditch the entire contents of the fridge, it's not such a bad deal. Rooms around these parts were price gouging with LaQuinta charging $600/night for those who could get one. Most people have had to bail to Austin or Dallas. Some have even gone to San Antonio. A transfer switch with a trifuel generator could work well enough, too. Less cost, maybe can't run everything, but still a far better solution than nothing. The transfer switch is nice because you can then just flip the breakers for inside that you want and don't need extension cords. If you have natural gas, you can get the gas company out to give you a tie in and just run the generator on it. Yeah, insurance will typically give $500 to replace food but not only is that insufficient, especially with meat prices these days, but replacing everything is challenging and a pain in the rear when everyone is in the same boat. Can't replace hunted meat until next hunting season, either.

The Houston metro is pretty deenergized. We have a whole home generator which is nearing 100% ROI as it's run solid for 48 hours now. We purchased after winter storm Uri and are not sad about it with how terrible the power is in these parts. It's run for long periods of time in the past, but never quite this long. Centerpoint, our electric provider, hopes to have a million people back energized by the end of today. Entergy, the other provider to the more northern parts of the metro (The Woodlands and Conroe areas) seem to be faring a bit better and have managed to knock a huge chunk of the outages off of the list. Normally a Cat 1 wouldn't be a big deal, but one of the local meteorologists had a chat going with one of the NHC meteorologists to try and understand why it was a such a challenging and seemingly damaging storm. The NHC guy noted that Beryl was poised to become a Cat 2. 6 more hours over water and it would have been. As a result, it had a closed off eyewall and was chalked full of energy as it was beginning rapid intensification. The storm hit us with a lot of momentum and didn't lose much energy until it was north of the metro. Hubs was here during Ike, which came up the Houston shipping channel as a Cat 2. He said the sustained winds during Ike were higher with less extreme gusting due to the sustained winds. Beryl's sustained winds weren't as high but the gusts were bad. You can see a lot of the trees took torsional forces as they've busted in a twisted, spiral pattern. The other challenge was a lot of the toppled trees are old growth pines that are these towering sticks with heavy tops and a limited root stalk. These big, heavy, sappy trees just toppled right over. I watched a pine topple right onto the neighbor's house and smash through the second story when we were coming into the edge of the first side of the eyewall. The winds were super intense. Thank goodness they weren't upstairs. The tree landed right on top of the baby's nursery - on the crib! The limbs have apparently penetrated the second story floor and are in the kitchen. This isn't an isolated incident, either. Reports like that are coming in from all over the place. After the storm, we went and cleaned the yard and assessed any damage. I have a very old, very large oak in the back yard that I'm always a bit concerned about. I do have it serviced on a regular basis by a competent tree company to ensure it's health. It dropped some limbs, but did well otherwise. The other trees did the same. We pulled out the backpack blower and cleaned up the front of our house and the elderly neighbors as well so our yards don't look like a war zone. There were a lot of small bits and sticks that came out of the trees. We cleaned out the debris in the drains so if we get thunderstorms, the street will still drain. All in all, about a dozen over sized contractor bags later, we look almost like nothing happened. Anyway, now we're stuck in high temps with high humidity and heat advisories. The lines for fuel and ice are long. People are looking for propane, too. We went out to grab some things from HEB this morning since they are a Texas chain that run proper backup generators at all of their stores, enabling them to actually stock meat and dairy (we've accumulated a number of teenagers and other squatters because we have a generator so we're feeding the army and providing coffee to those who murder without it) when other stores cannot. The line up to get ice was already down the length of the store and we got there half an hour after it opened. The lines for gas stations have been hours long and are clogging up intersections, making it hazardous. There are no traffic lights and anyone who's driven in Houston knows people severely lack in driving knowledge and etiquette - its every person for themselves! Hopefully the linemen don't pass out and die in their PPE in the bucket trucks. Lots of outta towners mobilized, yet again, to come save Houston's proverbial behind. I'm still surprised at how ill prepared some people were for this one, especially after the storms in May that took out the power for a week. I'd warned one of my colleagues who's new to Houston and relies on prescription medication for a heart condition on Friday to make some preparations. I received an e-mail from her yesterday, thanking me for giving her the heads up not to panic, but to prepare. She got her meds on Friday, ahead of the mess, as suggested, and has been able to hunker down and ride it out. So, hopefully TBone and mini man have made er through, basically unscathed!

Simply as a visitor? B status visitor? Not likely an issue. Just be ready to show proof of ties to home. IR/CR are family reunification visas. The reason they appear to be prioritized is they have no numerical limit and aren't subject to the visa bulletin like other categories are.

I will start by saying it helps the ENTIRE VJ community when talking about statistics when you FILL OUT YOUR TIMELINES. When looking at immigration, you have to consider a couple of things. First, USCIS and the Department of State aren't the same entity. The I-130 is handled by USCIS and can go to any one of the processing centers and can be shifted to a different processing center in an attempt to load balance work. Certain case types are exclusively handled by specific processing centers. Luckily, the I-130's are typically dispersed among the major centers. Secondly, when looking at consular processing, you have to look at NVC and the consulate. These are Department of State entities. Not all consulates are created equally and volumes of cases handled by the consulate are not equal globally. Spousal visas are not the only cases consulates are responsible for handling and if you toss high fraud countries in there, it's an even bigger challenge. When you hang out here for some time, you can begin to appreciate the 💩 that goes on and how much people try to dupe the system. You also see people wanting advice on how to commit fraudulent acts - it's pretty eye opening and it's those people that spoil it for everyone else. Third, these organizations are fee funded. You want more staff, then you're going to pay instrumentally more money in fees. You want them to have better IT - gonna have to fork over more fees. Everyone is complaining about inflation, well, it'll happen at USCIS too and people already complain about the fees they have to pay. Fourth, government matters. Immigration rules change depending on who's running the country. Trump had put restrictions on immigration and required forms indicating proof of healthcare for impending immigrants. Whether or not it's constitutional doesn't matter - it slows the process when it's stuck in court proceedings. Biden rescinded some of Trump's policy but he's tied up in litigation with Texas over policing the border. We have seen a big uptick in the number of DS-5535's being handed out at consular interviews since covid. Circumstances like these slow the process because they require people to review and vet the cases. I came through what is considered one of the tougher consulates, especially for being a first world country and direct the neighbor to the US. My I-130 took just under a year. I was originally in the US on a work visa and in that time, I had to pack up my kids and our pets from our family home and leave the US for 18 months while our case was pending. When I did finally get my I-130 approved and then had my DS-260 approved, it took another 134 days for our interview letters to be issued. DQ to interview was 160 days. All told, my case, from NOA-1 to interview was 634 days. So, it took nearly 2 years pre-covid. I wasn't handed a 221g for extended AP. I wasn't handed a DS-5535. We just when through standard processing. We don't see all that happens behind closed doors of USCIS and DOS. The estimates are based off of 80% of cases. USCIS received 10.9 MILLION cases last year, an increase of 1.9 million over the previous year. The DOS issued 10.4 million temporary visas. It's unprecedented and it really is a case of doing less with more. I realize @Willie_Overall doesn't like it when I say immigration is a privilege, but it is and that privilege was granted to over 30,000 Filipinos who were issued immigrant visas in 2023. As it is, spouses of US citizens have an easier time because there isn't a yearly numerical cap on spousal visas, unlike most other visa types. What other country is dealing with 10.9 million immigration applications? None. It's more than the next 4 countries people are seeking residency for combined. Chaos would ensue if you let an additional 10 million people in just like that. Look at Canada - there is a major housing crisis and astronomical strain on the social programs offered because they let too many immigrants into the country along side an aging population.

I think it's important to remember that immigration is a privilege, not a right. You're asking immigration to allow a person that is not a US citizen permission to enter the country and are essentially pinky promising that the person you want to bring will be a benefit to the US, not a nuisance. You could move to your wife's country if the wait there is less. There's nothing stopping you guys from being together. You're just finding it inconvenient because it doesn't suit the circumstances you'd like it to.

Yes, but an immigration judge is supposed to hear both sides of the story. In the case of not filing ROC, all UCSIS has to say is no petition received and it's over. They don't even need to show up. There's very little a petitioner can do to change their minds with this filing and it's written as such in the USCIS rulebook (I think it's chapter 3 or something). This is one of those petitions you do NOT want to miss filing. True story. Pay up, sucker! I guess you can get away without a reverification if you don't have a job or don't switch jobs. The problem here is the employer can get in trouble for employing someone who doesn't have work authorization. The I-9 rules have been changing and as it was, many HR departments didn't understand them to begin with. What a mess!

@yangshang0: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=383127 @Anonymous35460: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=472840 This will help others on the forum with estimating timelines.

How has this person remained employed? And have they been filing income tax? I don't know how because failing to file ROC = no valid status, both work and travel. The IRS would have had to have had an address. By not filing ROC, the burden of proof 100% lies in the beneficiary. USCIS basically hands it to the judge and can essentially say did not comply, therefore must be removed. No more proof required to present to the judge. This is a big no no, let alone a three year big no no!

Please fill out your timeline: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=459921 What was the reason for the 221g? Were you asked for a resume? Is your career in STEM? There is no definitive answer on how long AP will take, unfortunately.

The I-130 approval is only the first step in the process. There are successive steps after that require more time and further approvals.

Some smaller credit unions are also willing to open accounts without a SSN.

Do you have an approved I-130? Please fill out your timeline: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=473200

Self delete

Should probably renew or apply for a new passport while you're back in Canada. Everyone living abroad should have a passport. Canadians are just lucky that there's some handshake type agreements between CBSA and CBP that allow them to enter without a passport by land only. If there was an emergency and you had to fly, you'd never be able to board a plane crossing international borders.

If you have a record, they will accept it. Call and confirm. Never listen to heresy. We've had many, many MANY people come through here and I've never heard of anyone having any issues when they've presented vaccine records or titres tests. If you search the doctors names in the top right corner, you'll have many, many reviews pop up. Most are positive and the delays with medicals are sometimes that of the doctor's office, but sometimes that of the Consulate and their receiving times for documents.

I wouldn't believe things you read online and would call directly and ask. Many people here have used titres tests in the past. If anything, it's likely better because it proves you still have the actual immunity. Some people get vaccinated and never actually develop long term immunity. I can't comment to the Ontario panel physicians. I was coming from Alberta to interview with myself and my kids and only had 3 weeks from interview letter to interview, so it made the most sense, time and budget wise, to spend a week in Montreal and get both the medicals and interviews knocked out.

No idea. I don't think it has an expiration date on it because it's measuring a point in time. At X point, you did or did not show immunity to this virus. Same with vaccine records. Unless it's a vaccine that is given on a regular interval like Tdap, the doctors assume you're immune if you can show a date you were vaccinated on. In the case of diseases like chicken pox, if you've had it and tell them, they will believe you. They can check for it but I guess they trust you'd have no real reason to lie about chicken pox. Anyone who's had it or shingles knows it sucks!

If you had them as a kid and have retained immunity, it will show up on your titres test. I had HepA/HepB before traveling internationally when I was in Canada so I wasn't missing anything coming from Canada. You have plenty of time to work on titres and getting anything you're missing. I wouldn't wait though. You'll be DQ'd in no time and then the panic will set in lol.

No, because she will have to do her medical anyway and will discuss with the civil surgeon. The civil surgeon will complete form I-693 and will include it in her medical packet that will get sent to the consulate. The CO may just double check that the I-693 is complete.

Yes. The registration is really signing up to have your passport delivered back to you. You can choose Canada Post or pay extra by courier. Don't freak out if you can't register immediately. Sometimes it takes 24-48 hours before the system will allow you to get in there and get it done.