annierob

Hello everyone! Preparing to file online early 90 days/3 year rule.

This is maybe a ridiculous question, but I’ve been going through so many threads, have not found anyone asking. So maybe that should already answer my question 😅 but just in case…why not ask.
 

For part 9 (time outside US): do we give for 5 years, as they request? Or since I’m filling under the 3 year rule, is it ok to put only the past 3 years? Because otherwise, of course 2 years out of the 5 are outside the US (which looks really bad), since I was officially able to cross the border 3 years ago (like of course I was not in the US until I got fully approved).

I feel ridiculous asking, but I also feel ridiculous showing that 2 out of the past 5 years were outside the US. Like I’m sure MANY people fall into this category.
 

Appreciate any insights!

On 2/14/2022 at 3:23 PM, mam521 said:

I went across 1 day after my 2nd year wedding anniversary.  

 

You have to pay the greencard fee online.  I don't believe that you can pay the fee at POE because it's CBP versus a payment to USCIS.  Ours was paid like 2 weeks before we crossed.  It's simply a fee and has no bearing on your status, so go ahead and pay it now.  

 

As long as you cross the day after your 2yr anniversary, the status will change.  I asked inside at the POE if they'd update it to IR-1.  They said it has nothing to do with them (CBP) and that it will trigger in USCIS's system.  It did.  My greencard came with automatic IR status.  If it comes as CR status, you file an I-90 with the supporting evidence and they change it.  My 2 kids immigrated with me and for whatever reason, Kid1's status was correct, but Kid2's hadn't triggered, so I had to file the I-90.  

 

Safe travels and enjoy your reunification with your husband! 

Thank you so much!

That made me feel so much better, and went ahead and paid it.

However, so sorry to hear about Kid2...that's so frustrating! Hopefully everything will go smooth, but I'll keep that in the back of my mind in case that happens to me too.

Only a few more days...! 2 years after we applied for the visa, I will finally be able to be reunited.

This group has definitely made the last 2 years of my life a little more bearable! 

On 2/14/2022 at 1:11 PM, alphabetagamma said:

Good luck for your move coming Sat. I did ask for the address change and the officer confirmed. Then I gave a call to USCIS as well and they confirmed the new address. I'm having a hard time with the online account though - tried to reach out to USCIS as I keep getting an error when verifying my identity. I should get a call from them in a week or so to troubleshoot the problem. But if you have online access to your account after paying the fees, you can validate your address there too. 

That's super helpful, thank you. Having a hard time as well with my online account, so I'll call USCIS like you. I hope you'll get your call soon and finish up this last little detail!

Good morning all! It’s been a LONG time since I’ve been on the thread. Got approved back in Oct, and finally, will cross over next Saturday (the day after my second wedding anniversary) so I can get an IR1. That’s the only reason why I didn’t cross sooner!

Has anyone lately had the experience of crossing over and changing their CR1 to IR1? I know that it should be automatic, but as always, people on this thread have some experiences and tips to share.

@alphabetagamma Thanks for sharing your experience. Glad to hear it seemed fine to change your address to receive your SSN + GC in person at the POE. I’ve got to do the same, and tried changing it online prior, but I got an email + letter (to our new address in the US which I was requesting the change to!) saying that “Our records do not indicate that you are authorized to access information related to this case”, which makes ZERO sense. Still trying to figure out how to change my address, since USCIS requires you to advise them within 10 days of moving, so fingers crossed that perhaps changing it at the POE will update it in their system.

Also, would it be smart to pay the entry fee prior? Or best to pay while I’m there at the POE to make extra sure I get the IR1? For some reason, I have this nagging feeling that paying in advance of the 2 year wedding date (and crossing over) will affect the change from CR1 to IR1.

Finally, anyone lately crossed over the Philipsburg POE (Quebec / Vermont border)? Any experiences to share?

I got stuck in the worse timing for my timeline (if you check the spreadsheet, I have THE longest time from my DQ to my IL: 351 days - yup, I’m part of the group that got stuck in limbo while the consulate was closed for 8 months). Can’t believe that last time I saw my husband, was in July 🥺 (since I had to leave the US and not overstay the 6 months).

So if I can do it on this insanely long timeline, and then wait 4 extra months to cross over…you guys can do it too 💪💪💪

3 minutes ago, TEXbound said:

Oh my goodness gracious! What a disaster. Our medical is on September 29. Does that mean we are the first to do x rays across town??

Oh my, it's actually Sept 20. You should have gotten a confirmation email with the details, check your junk.

These are the details from the email:

8 hours ago, TEXbound said:

I am second guessing our booking of the medical exam.
 

I called the number from the website that lists the company as Medisys Corporate Health, but they said they moved from Sherbrooke Street and gave me an address at Maisonneuve Blvd. the confirmation email says for Telus Healthcare, not Medisys. The appointment is with Dr. Llana Galperin. 
 

Has anyone done their medical in montreal lately? Does our appointment information sound correct to you?

 

 

kelley 

I did mine last week, it indeed change to Telus Health.

It's in the KPMG building, which is surrounded by construction. Really hard to get it, you need to go in by the door from the inner courtyard. It took me 4 hours, and as of Sept 29, the x-rays are done all the way across town at their other clinic on du Boisé! 

Good luck, it was a really long wait to get everything done for me. But at least I got my x-rays done there.

6 minutes ago, MTLSINGHZ said:

Yes that’s what the lady told me she didn’t have any slots available before 25 so had to book fo 29th and yes they provide the service for NEW xray location as per the lady explained 

Oh no! So sorry to hear you need to go there, it's SO far from downtown...

Best of luck to you otherwise, hope it's smooth sailing from here!

8 hours ago, ME_RHEDZ77 said:

Finally I saw your post! our friend @From_CAN_2_US keeps on waking you up to check your email. LOL😂 I'm so above the sky very Happy for you! Just a few more deep inhale and you'll finally and totally reunited with your spouse!

You are the sweetest! Thanks for the kind words, and thank you to everyone on this thread. I wouldn't have been able to stay as strong without this group!

5 hours ago, MTLSINGHZ said:

Yes that’s the correct adress one that you wrote , on the travel.gov it’s the same old one they didn’t updated it so anyways thanks and yes i think i won competing booked the appointment 😝😝

Ugh yea, I waited for 1h20! Got an appointment tomorrow!!! 

FYI, for anyone in Montreal, in my confirmation email, there's this note:

IMPORTANT: Please take note that if your protocol includes an x-ray and your appointment is booked after September 20th, the x-ray will be completed at our Du Boisé Clinic, located at 6100 Av. du Boisé, Montréal, QC H3S 2W1. Instructions on how to get there will be provided on-site during your appointment and transportation arrangements between the two clinics will be offered.

10 hours ago, Mintaftertaste said:

see you there- mine is at 8:30 am!

I'm at 7:45 am! WOW! I was traveling today, and catching up on everything!  If it wasn't for @From_CAN_2_US, I would have not opened my emails until now! HAHA

17 minutes ago, Twiz&Toz said:

I been checking my email and this page every 30 seconds.

I'm gonna give it until 2 pm today, and then hope for some good news on Wednesday!

11 hours ago, Twiz&Toz said:

Fingers crossed for letters tomorrow. 

Fingers crossed for today. And if it's not today, then it will be this week (hopefully).

1 minute ago, goddy said:

What time of the day does the IL usually get sent out 

In August, they went out around 11 am EST

Does anyone know if you absolutely need to move all your things once you cross over to activate your visa? 

I may want to activate my visa, go to the US for a few months and come back to Canada to move my things only then. Not sure if that's possible?

5 minutes ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

Hopefully this week!

 

This batch will be very telling. Hoping our speculation is correct and with fewer DQs in November/ December, ILs will cover atleast until end of November this time around.

 

I can't believe how ahead the other consulates are!

We shall see indeed! Hopefully more people will get good news in this batch. 

@irisheyes123 Fingers crossed!!!

So the ILs in July were sent on Friday the 9th, and August was Wednesday the 11th. Let's see what happens this month!

6 minutes ago, MadKittyCat said:

GUYS I WAS APPROVED! I just had my appointment at 8 am and I still can’t believe it! I will write a review and update my timeline later, as I’m going to go enjoy Montreal for the day. But I am just so happy I had to update y’all! Thank you to everyone’s advice and support on this thread, it got me through this long wait!!!

Yay! Congrats!!! This stage is finally over for you! Best of luck with your move and settling in to your new life  

23 minutes ago, 6ixtoSoCal said:

My wife received her passport back on Monday and we crossed the Niagara/Rainbow Bridge border yesterday to get the POE stamp and activate the immigrant visa!

We opted to get the stamp ahead of our flight on Tuesday, as I've heard airports can be busier for this process, and additionally we would be stressed worrying about luggage on baggage carousels while we're activating the visa if there was a delay.

Even though we were successful, I don't recommend doing this for other couples.

Covid-19 has made this an ordeal (like everything else) and I (American) was almost refused entry back into Canada due to not having a negative Covid test, even though all we did was cross CA->US, technically stepped foot on US soil to activate the Visa, and turned around US->CA in less than an hour.

Now we just await the SSN and greencard!  We created a USCIS account for her and absurdly, ridiculously, my wife's profile information was entered with NMN right next to her middle name, so it reads FirstName MiddleName NMN LastName.  I found another thread where this didn't turn out to be a problem for that group of people, but the incompetence is mind-boggling.

On "my.uscis.gov" looking at her pending case for "i-551 permanent resident card", should there be more updates beyond 'payment received' or does it take a bit of time to update with another case status?  Just not used to this page, so trying to recognize what to look for.

I can't believe this process is finally done after such a long time and so many emotional hurdles.  Good luck to all the other couple out there and hang in there!  This forum is therapy for everyone going through this process, and I don't feel like we would have been able to get through without it.  We feel like we can breathe again

I’m glad to hear your journey is done, and you can finally start living your life! Congrats, you must be so happy and relieved.

So ridiculous the border gave you a hard time coming back into Canada. I was thinking of doing that too, since I live 1 hour from the land border, and didn’t want to deal with that flying out West. Maybe just stick to going to the airport super early.

I feel like I’m one of the only Montrealers on this thread. Anyone had experience flying out of YUL and activating their visa?

12 hours ago, OG Fan said:

We received our interview letter today, for September 27th. I'm so sad to see that some people from our DQ date didn't get their IL today too, but hopeful that you will be next. Praying there may be more ILs that go out tomorrow. Sending you all lots of love and strength, almost there! 

Aw…congrats!!! It’s definitely a little heartbreaking for a few us, but so so so happy for you and everyone who got their IL.

I highly doubt they’re going to send more ILs this month. From the spreadsheet, it hasn’t been the case this year yet…sadly.

Well…at least the other Oct 20 peeps are definitely next in line. We’ll just get our IL the following week (I’m guessing Monday, Oct 6…but let’s see if it’s before)

Best of luck! And courage to all who are still waiting…! I hope it will not take nearly 365 days to get an IL like me and the other Oct DQ dates ✌️

1 hour ago, ME_RHEDZ77 said:

You have our back. For sure You'll get there. I know it's draining to keep on waiting and frustrations comes when things don't come on how we may want it but I believe it will make us to be more tougher of being patiently waiting.

 

I wish someday I will meet here in LA folks who will be moving here in SoCal. Have a coffee, chatting and laughing as we share the experiences in this US Immigration Journey and all will say "So here I am, Yes! I finally surpass the hardship and done!"  

YES TO THAT!!!

5 minutes ago, Twiz&Toz said:

Starting the new 30 day count down for next batch of IL.

Countdown started! Congrats to all who got their ILs today..positive energy for the next round!!! And again, thanks @ME_RHEDZ77 for all the positivity today. We'll get there!