mam521

$540 to file to replace the GC with the married name.

Yup, as long as the names match, it's good. Just be forewarned, its $540 for the greencard. And she'll still have to change the passport. I'd honestly just put the 3 years in and put that $540 toward the $725 filing fee for the N-400!

To legally change her last name in Canada, your wife would have had to have notified federal agencies like CRA, Social Security and the province to update her health card as well as update her passport. If you wanted her greencard to come in her married name, she would have had to have updated her passport to reflect the married name so the visa that is affixed to the passport matches the passport. If married name is important, and for the sake of less headache, can you get a new urgent Canadian passport in her married name? Otherwise, you'll have to file an I-90 once you're in the US to change it at a cost to you. The other option is to do what many others do - they just wait until they naturalize to change their name when they file the N-400. Of possible interest. OP's spouse got a new passport ahead of the interview.

I naturalized at the end of April last year with required work travel booked before my ceremony was even scheduled. Attend your ceremony, get your certificate and then when it's within 10 days of travel, call DoS and ask for an emergency appointment. The caveat here is that you may not get an appointment where you live - you may have to travel within the US for your appointment. Additionally, you may not get a same day passport. It's often next day passport, so you have to be prepared to spend 2 days sitting in a passport office. When you do get your appointment, you will have to provide the passport officer your evidence of travel in addition to your passport application and naturalization certificate. You will get the naturalization certificate back when you pick up your passport. Make sure you CHECK the passport for correctness before you leave the building. Mine had a typo which lead to an additional 3 hours of waiting for a reprint of the passport.

I think the point is you believe in this moment that it is unnecessary, but it could become very necessary and then costly, both financially and physically (time) in the future when you could save the headache and file now.

Final update. We have received the passport cards for the kids. They came from Tucson. The required submitted documents have also been returned. I suppose next stop is to apply for citizenship certificates for the kids.

Not sure on how long NVC is taking to documentarily qualify petitions. Montreal is seeing about a 3-6 month wait between DQ and interview. Montreal does have a seemingly higher instance of DS-5535's being handed out, though.

You should fill out your timeline so people can better serve you. Knowing what consulate you're dealing with will help to understand timelines.

This is how mine was handled in April of 2023. Returned upon receipt of the passport.

Do you already have an approved I-130?

Likely no less than 6 months, possibly more than a year. The thread posted above are all Montreal interviews that were handed the DS-5535.

I naturalized in April and got my passport right away. We just got passports for my kids in Dec. 2023. The post office took my physical naturalization certificate and sent it with their applications. You'll need the actual certificate unless you have certified copies of the original.

https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=464705 No expected date and no guarantees it's the 3rd week.

As a person that owned a house and sold it while in the US, sell it before. My word - dealing with CRA is a pain in the rear to begin with, but dealing with CRA NR division is even worse, if that's believable. Tax withholding coupled with clearance certificates...sell before!

It's advised you wait 10 days before you apply for your SSN. After that, it's not long. Register for Informed Delivery and you can watch for the envelope to appear in mail tracking. You can begin working as soon as your visa is endorsed as it serves as proof of identity and employment authorization. If an employer tries to deny you the opportunity to begin work, show them the instructions for form I-9.

If the status has been changed to IR1, then nothing else needs to be done. You'll have to wait for your interview.

How do you live off of ZERO income for 8-10 months until EAD comes? Yeah, the OP is living with his father, but is still earning an income. Does one really keep on working illegally, with the hope that the violation is forgiven? Would the Canadian employer even allow remote work from the US? I'd think that is NOT advisable.

Another update: We've received both kids' passports. Appointments: Dec. 19 Issue date: Dec. 26 (both passports) Receive date: Kid 2 - Dec. 29 Kid 1 - Jan. 3 We have NO idea why the passports were sent on different days, despite being issued on the same dates. We also don't know why one came Priority 1 day and the other Priority 2 day. Regardless, they popped up in my informed delivery. Now we wait for the return of the (stapled) documents and the passport cards.

If he was 14 and had his social, he should have been able to. Regardless, we agree, it's really problematic for people not to be receiving that stamp! Bad decision, CBP & USCIS! Bad decision!

Dealing with USCIS is one of the most unfun things you can do and you want to minimize it as much as humanly possible! Do consular processing. Avoid AOS and hopefully ROC. While my process was pending, I could travel to and from the US, I could visit my spouse and he could visit me, we could travel internationally and most importantly, I could work my job in Canada. After I interviewed at the Consulate, I entered the US with my greencard in hand. I didn't have to do anything else. I walked into the SSA and got my SSN, I could travel in and out of the US freely, I started accruing time towards my citizenship. We chose to enter 1 day after our 2 year wedding anniversary so my kids and I would receive 10 year greencards and not have to go through the headache of removal of conditions (ROC). If you adjust, you can't work initially (and you're currently breaking the law with potential impact by working remotely despite it being for a job in Canada, FYI), you can't travel outside of the US initially, you have to pay to adjust, then pay again to remove conditions. Removing conditions, if you read on here, can be a pain and often people aren't issued their 10 year greencards in due time and are stuck with extension letters and a ton of hassles dealing with USCIS. I also don't know how your approval odds would be considering you'd have ZERO income between the two of you. As an outsider looking in, it makes a helluva lot more sense for you to go back to Canada, keep working and apply for consular processing. You can keep visiting as you have, but put as much money away as you can and don't serve as a distraction to your partner so she can finish school and get a job to sponsor you. As I've said many times before, immigration is a privilege, not a right and the amount of time it takes to get through the process properly is minor when you consider marriage is supposed to be a life long commitment. Additionally, starting a marriage under financial duress is a surefire way to end up on the short path to divorce court.

Fail on my part. I read 6-7mo, not YEARS for the OP!

If you get married and apply for consular processing, you enter the US with a greencard in hand, able to apply for a SSN and work straight out of the gate. If you get married and adjust status right now, you cannot work until work authorization is issued, you cannot leave the US until your travel document is issued, you have to not only adjust status, but will have to remove conditions on your 2 year, conditional green card (when you finally get it). Not sure how you two would survive financially without you able to work for likely 8-10 months. You still haven't said if you're working remotely. This is prohibited. If you are working remotely, I suggest you stop immediately. That can cause complications with your case, no matter what direction you choose to take on your immigration journey.

Your stepson will have to attend an interview if he has to go through the I-130/IR-2 process. The custody arrangement is going to have to say your husband has sole custody or custodial parental rights and the mother NOT having custodial parental rights or else she'll have to sign a declaration stating she knows the minor is relocating permanently to the US. Your husband indicated he had this child when you guys filled out his K1 paperwork, correct? There may be some follow-to-join benefits available. I'd look into that, as well.

Did you call and let USCIS know your status change? No one can tell you exactly when your interview will be. Please fill out your timeline: https://www.visajourney.com/timeline/profile.php?id=464705 and if you look in my signature, you'll see a link to a tracking spreadsheet. Follow the instructions at the top to be added. These statistics help people like yourself take a reasonably educated guess on when you might see an interview.