mam521

If you bank at RBC or TD, they have comprehensive cross border banking packages. Since it doesn't sound like DH has a US credit card, I'd probably look at getting one based off of your Canadian credit with one of these major banks. I'd assume you have an ITIN as well if DH has been doing his taxes, so that can be associated to a credit card account in place of a SSN until you get one to really start building US credit. It's challenging to do anything south of the Canadian border without a credit card and a credit history. If hubs does qualify for a US CC through that US bank where the bank account is, get one there, too. I'd also sign up for Credit Karma and look at your scores. You'll want to try and bump em up as fast as you can. It's a bit of a shock to the system when you go from having credit to not. I'd also say keep a Canadian account or 2 alive, too. I ended up having to move back to Canada with my kids for 18mo while we were going through the process and I was extremely lucky I still had great credit in Canada. It allowed me to easily rent a house and buy a car without a big headache.

Learn something new every day. I hadn't seen D/S before but I have heard people on the forum saying their passports weren't being stamped. I wonder if the D/S is perhaps a response to the confusion no stamp caused!

This ^^^ Usually the people fingerprinting can tell if the fingerprint images are good enough, but occasionally, it's not quite good enough. Nothing to stress over other than it's an inconvenience.

Hate to say it, but Canadians are notoriously awful for wanting to sit on the fence - they get US PR but don't move or take their sweet time. Montreal, as a result, is a notoriously strict consulate for proving domicile. Canadians have pretty lax attitudes because they don't require a formal visa process to visit (and are one of the worst offenders for overstays). As a result, many Canadians forget that immigration is a privilege, not a right and the US isn't obligated to allow Canadians in. I trust your husband has been filing his US income tax while residing in Canada. That will be needed. You could choose to move your assets now and fulfill the requirements of the AOS. That form can be updated to reflect your husband's US work when you appear for your interview. If you own a house, you'll want to sell it before he (and you) moves to the US. Dealing with CRA NRA and tax withholding is a ROYAL pain in the rear. When you do finally get to the interview, your husband isn't required to be there. It's just you. He's not even allowed into the Consulate. But as it stands, if you're not yet documentarily qualified, you have another probably 3 months for the DS-260 et al to be approved once you submit and you have a 4-5 month wait for an interview after that. I would imagine that your husband would have some vacation time accrued in that time to come move you. You may also want to consider downsizing and keeping it simple on the Canadian end.

The unfortunate reality for you is that the US does take parental rights seriously and works to head off cases of parental abduction. Even in Western countries, parents who can actually co-parent effectively face challenges if they don't want to involve the courts. I am one of these people. The immigration process requires parental permission. I have 2 children that I immigrated with. I had 2 options: provide a court order labeling me as the custodial parent or get permission from their to immigrate. Luckily, their father is supportive, so he provided a barrister notarized permission letter in addition to our informal parenting agreement that was surrendered to the Consulate during our interviews. You should fill out your timeline which will help others provide more accurate answers: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=447133

You should fill in your timeline so people can better advise you: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=467271 Sometimes you can show up to a local port and import from there, rather than having to cross from the border.

It sounds like your case was accepted as a DCF (direct consular filing), which does not follow the "typical" processing workflow of I-130 submitted to USCIS, once approved, case is sent to NVC where the DS-260 is filled out and once that and the AOS are approved, it's put in line for an interview. DCF is not common in Canada, so you're likely going to have to do a bit of searching on the main forum for further information. Did you receive your German PRC? You will still have to do an immigration medical, so while you're waiting for information, make sure you have your immunization records. If you don't, I recommend having a titres test done now. In either case, if you're missing any required vaccinations, begin fulfilling this requirement while you're still covered under Canadian health care.

So, my question would be given the circumstances and knowing there's a chance B's visitor visa will be denied, what's the harm in getting married as soon as the PGWP is issued? Or sooner? Yes, it's significantly easier to bring B to the US when A is a citizen and there's nothing stopping waiting to file the I-130 after citizenship happens (you can file before and "upgrade" the petition, but it sounds like grad school will take some time anyway). If you guys are married 2+ years, B enters the US on an IR-1, not a CR-1. They get a 10 year greencard and you don't have to remove conditions. The whole process takes 18-24mo as it is, with the I-130 being the slowest part of the process at the moment. You could always pause the petition after the I-130 is approved and the petition is with NVC, planning to continue with it once a more final date for post grad graduation is known.

Do you have a MyUSCIS account? You can track from there. Also, sign up for USPS Informed Delivery. I could see the envelopes from USPS before I was notified by USCIS. Otherwise, it will be the one you paid the fee with. The I-130 is essentially the past - you've moved onto the DS-260 and now have the I-551.

Each petition is a separate entity. Of course USCIS is going to ask for the information regarding your marriage, irrespective of whether or not you think it's redundant, because it has to be included in your stepchild's case file. The stepchild's case is not directly married in the system to your wife's case and can be adjudicated by someone entirely differently, even if your wife and stepchild had been going through the process in parallel.

We just did expedited processing for my kids' US passports. Appointment date was Dec. 19, the passports were printed Dec. 27 and we go them back quickly (1 was before the new year and the other on the 3rd), all during the Christmas holidays. Apply now and she won't have any issues.

I think many more of them are beginning to rely heavily on SAVE Verification. If you're not in the system, no go. If you're in the system and lawful for 30 days, all you get is 30 days. It's annoying, but as Crazy Cat has outlined on many occasions, there are advantages and disadvantages to CR/IR and K visa types, so choosing carefully is paramount!

Your I-551 serves as your proof of identity and proof of legal status until your physical greencard comes. You should be able to take your passport with that I-551 into your local DMV (or DPS in my case) with proof of residency and apply for your driver's license. Those state agencies can do what is called a SAVE verification which will check the USCIS database and verify your legal status. The bank might be a bit trickier, but, depending on the bank, you should be able to get a bank account. The reason there is hesitation is because the banks do have obligation to report to the IRS and to do so, they need your SSN. Additionally, it's challenging to build your credit rating without a file to report to. A local credit union can probably help you out until you get a SSN. At that point, you might choose to stay with the credit union or open an account with one of the larger banks.

Canadians aren't required to go through a typical consular processing path for L1 blanket petitions. They are able to go directly through a pre-inspection point at the airport, where the I-129S is filed with CBP. CBP take a copy of the packet and send it into USCIS, collect the fees and send you on your way. The worker receives the I-797 once they have already been admitted into the US. I believe the difference in the blanket processing is attributable to the NAFTA agreement between the countries. I'm not sure how that influences AP in the bigger picture, but any processing between entering the US and receiving the I-797 are done in the background and, at least in my experience, I didn't hear anything until the lawyers sent the I-797 to me to file for my records and the detatchable portion that was required to be carried with my passport was affixed to my passport. Similar experiences for my L1 colleagues from Canada.

Then take your information (I-551, other ID) to the SSA and inquire. Sometimes the SSN's aren't issued, despite having checked the box on the DS-260.

#2. Traveling with the cat - make sure you've spoken to the airline and have paid the pet fee to bring the cat with. The airline will likely have a requirement that the cat have a a health certificate issued by a vet stating the cat is healthy and fit to travel, issued within 10 days of your flight. You may be asked to see a rabies vaccination certification for the cat. Make sure kitty isn't drugged out. You can potentially use a calming spray, but some people want to give the pet a sedative and that's not typically ok when the airline wants to see that the cat is healthy. Make sure your carrier is good for that long of a trip. We have SleepyPods which are pricey, but have been a great investment. I know my cats tend to pee in their carrier within the first half an hour of me putting them in it. I now put a puppy pad around and another under the bedding in the carrier so I can just pull it and chuck it out. No one wants to smell kitty pee and kitty certainly doesn't want to be stuck in their urine for an overseas flight. Good luck!

I thought they were supposed to be voting on the bill on Jan 29th, but I haven't heard anything updated. Who knows...

I hope after all of your suffering, that you and your wife were able to finally be together and mend after such a challenging journey!

I think this is the important piece. If I was looking at a case where someone had been an LPR for over 16 years and was suddenly attempting to naturalize under the 3 year when eligible for the simpler 5 year, I'd probably question it. Anyway, good luck!

It was ruled unconstitutional in Ontario courts in December, but the Act has yet to be amended and is currently waiting for Parliament to vote, as I understand it.

@Cadtoverm My wife is an American, currently living in Canada with me in Montreal. We bought our house in Vermont when we got married and started the immigration process. At the time we thought it would be an 8 month process…. We are having a baby in 3 weeks, and was hoping to be able to move full time to be close to her family and live in our house. The uncertainty of this situation is really impacting my mental health. Thanks everyone for sharing your stories and information….. it makes a bit easier to go through the experience. Well, not that you want to hear this, but if the baby is born in Canada, it will be able to pass on Canadian citizenship to it's children, should they choose to have kids. You guys won't be saddled with a big hospital bill right as you were hoping to move and your wife will be able to deliver with her doctors that have overseen the entire pregnancy. I know, you'd much rather be "home". 100% get it. But hopefully it's not all bad...a new baby is pretty exciting.

Credit card. I have my card set up to notify me of EVERY transaction, so I see them come in live. Anything over a certain amount, the CC company texts and requests approval. Never had any issues and we're a number of petitions successfully through the system now. Banking with cheques is very antiquated in my mind. US banking in general seems behind the times. I was uncomfortable when I first moved to the US 10 years ago and they'd still walk off with your CC to pay a restaurant bill. We'd had tableside machines in Canada for years already and your card never leaves your hand there. We'd also had chips in cards for years prior. The fact that it took so long for the US to accept chip n pin was mind blowing to me. I was shaking my head when people in our neighbourhood were complaining about 6 or so years ago that the debit machines at the local Kroger had been changed and the "credit" option when using a debit card had been removed, so they were required to use a pin. Interestingly enough, we used to have to request our corporate cards to have a pin (and later, a chip) so that we could use them internationally because so many other places required it, but not the US. We had to have a "business justification" for the need. Fraud is high in the US, so a CC offers the most inexpensive additional insurance a person can have because it's the CC company that has to be insured. If your debit card gets hacked, there's no getting that money back. Some banks are definitely better than others for monitoring and communicating when there is suspected fraud.

No problem. Good luck!

By what you've stated, you have plenty of evidence demonstrating she lives at that address. I wouldn't stress about the mortgage or a lease agreement. Everything else points to her living at that address.

But do they have the official court order and are there associated visitation? If so, then permission may be required from the other parent to allow the child to immigrate. The US does take parental rights and access seriously and adhere to guidelines to essentially preventing parental abduction of a child.