mam521

Texas common law marriage is not going to fly for immigration purposes. It's "too married" for a K1 visa, but not married enough for a CR1 visa. Get fully MARRIED. Head to your local county clerks office, get a marriage certificate, wait your 72 hours and have an officiant marry you and file the marriage license with the State. It doesn't have to be big or fancy, just legal.

Once the visa is issued and the greencard fee is paid, you can specify when you pay the fee, where it needs to be sent. It's embarrassing that the process takes so long that you, the petitioner, could theoretically move a number of times before the visa is issued.

For you, it won't matter as the petitioner. For the beneficiary, if they haven't received their passport and crossed the border yet, they can update the address information when they activate their visa at the border. If they move after they have activated their visa, they are required, irrespective of whether they have documents in hand or not, to file form AR-11 within 10 days of moving. The AR-11 should also trigger those documents to be sent to the correct address, should being the operative here.

You learned exactly what USCIS warns - never book travel or get rid of a property until you have the visa in hand. I don't honestly think the CO's have any real idea of timelines. They're just along for the ride, like us laypeople. Fingers crossed your case gets tidied up under a truncated timeline!

On one of your NOA's, there should be a code. https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uscis.gov%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fimages%2Ftopic-landing%2FUSCIS_File-Online_760%402x_0.jpg&tbnid=4f3k5UWWaD4psM&vet=12ahUKEwjW-LXO162EAxXAFt4AHU1vBgIQMygAegQIARBM..i&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uscis.gov%2Ffile-online%2Fhow-to-create-a-uscis-online-account&docid=s_mrEG7u8A2HCM&w=1520&h=920&q=NOA code to add a case to myuscis&ved=2ahUKEwjW-LXO162EAxXAFt4AHU1vBgIQMygAegQIARBM

If there is updated information, then yes, bring updates to your interview.

Typically a mailroom receives documents on the specified dates, but it doesn't mean your CO has actually had the document cross their desk and deposit itself into your file, unfortunately. You can send an inquiry. I wouldn't panic yet. Montreal moves at the speed of sloth.

@HoneyBadger26 your husband can still begin work even without the SSN. Read the I-9 form. He can provide his passport with his endorsed I-551 which serves as a List A document demonstrating both identity and work authorization (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). The SSN can be updated in the near future as you work out the details on where the card actually went to. If his employer has questions, they can refer to the USCIS I-9 Central page. The HR team should have received updated training on this. @Shades8 you are correct. There are no I-94's for LPR's. The information @HoneyBadger26's spouse is being presented is for individuals with work visas, not permanent residents of the US. As for the greencard, @Shades8, MyUSCIS should have the information. Also, you can further track on Informed Delivery from USPS when it's mailed out.

If you've been an LPR for 16 years, you could have naturalized any time from 11 years ago onwards under the 5 year rule, irrespective of your spouse's status.

It's the Government and this particular division is funded by the fees you pay. Absolutely no canapes lol

We will, but our mortgage is dwindling down so less and less interest paid = less and less of a return!

It's shockingly informal, considering what it is. I was a bit surprised. The formality up to the Oath itself felt more like a date at the Driver's License office. You'd have thought it would feel a bit more important. I find a lot of American things are like that though. I'm Canadian and Remembrance Day is an important and solemn day. The US doesn't treat Veterans day in the same way.

Ha...should have been 30 months. Underlying point remains - gotta be physically present to apply!

Excellent news! Watch your MyUSCIS account - I had my oath ceremony instructions from there before they'd even sent the notice in the mail. Neither ceremony is super formal. Smart business casual is fine. Hubs did his at the auditorium and yes, it took like 4 hours. I did mine at Gears Rd and it only took about 1.5-2 hours. No one was super formal, but pretty much everyone were smartly dressed and not sloppy.

Agree with @OldUser - you have to be physically present in the U.S. for 18mo in the preceding 3 year period before applying. If you are out of country for more than 6 months, it will be presumed that you've broken the physical presence rule. If you plan to be gone for 10 straight months, I would highly recommend applying for a re-entry permit. You are going to have to build a stronger case for ties to the US and a strong marriage. Your current evidence, as you stated it, is pretty weak. You may want to reconsider applying under the 3 year rule and apply under the 5 year rule. You need 3 years (913 days) of physical presence under the 5 year rule and won't be required to prove your marriage is legitimate and strong in the same way you do for a 3 year filing.

I know. I've been following the Montreal DS-5535 thread since it's inception. It's a rob Peter to pay Paul scenario of shuffling the buck.

My heart breaks reading this. No one should expect a DS-5535. Active discrimination at it's finest. Good luck and I genuinely hope you don't get a DS-5535.

Good luck today!

Be thankful Montreal even took your DCF. It's pretty rare that they do DCF, period. Normal processing takes 18-24 months without a 221g or a DS-5535. Add the later to the mix and you're looking at an additional 6 to 18 months, possibly longer. Just fair warning that the group here has been waiting to reunite with their spouses on a permanent basis, so they will be happy you get to reunite with your partner, but aren't going to be empathetic to a DCF wait versus a normal processing wait. They will ask you if you had chicken pox. If you say yes, that's good enough. It's a bit of an outlier. As for the other documents, they may not have been able to proceed until they had them. If they were e-mailed and not attached to the DS-260 - not sure how that's going to factor in. Usually it takes Montreal at least a month to answer an e-mail, typically more like 6-8 weeks. Yep, Montreal is pretty unfun to deal with!

He has his greencard with extension letter. It sounds like they are in ROC, not AOS. I do agree, a trip to the Embassy for an emergency passport sounds like the best course of action.

You'll be truly free once you do citizenship Good luck with your move!

The "visa" option is for people working, not immigrating. It's extremely confusing and unless a knowledgeable finger printer was working with your parents, it's a commonly made mistake. I had an RFE for the same thing because I had asked the finger printer whether the "visa" option was the correct one - I didn't believe it was and they were new - the promised to ask their supervisor and didn't and, of course, it lead to a RFE and a delay. So, new one looks good and don't beat yourselves up for a less than transparent PRC! Good luck!

Which part? Over 18 and the 5 year rule? Yes. They are not considered derivatives of their mother after 18 and have to follow the general qualification and processing path. The 3 year rule is dependent on the continuation of the marriage that brought the beneficiary to the US in the first place. Minors who obtain citizenship as derivatives gain it by whichever way the parent did (3 year or 5 year filing). The rule here is that the parent actually files and obtains citizenship.

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.