2Ps

4 minutes ago, Kai G. Llewellyn said:

Yeah, stamp the passport. And no, CBSA doesn't usually stamp passports of PR's though they sometimes do it on request.

 

I've heard it can take around 2-4 weeks at the moment. Of course, once you become a Canadian citizen your PR card is null and void and cannot be used as a travel document anymore. So if you leave Canada without your naturalization certificate, you may use your foreign passport to re-enter if driving by land, but expect some delays while they verify your citizenship.

Thanks for your response. So is it better to be in Canada until you get the citizenship certificate and then apply for passport and then leave Canada? I was planning on having my sister mail the passport to me once the process is completed. 

The lawyer did mention that I can apply for canadian passport from US, but it will be more complicated I guess...Seems like I should plan to be in Canada for at least a month....

On 3/2/2022 at 11:08 PM, Kai G. Llewellyn said:

This is fine. You do have to do the citizenship ceremony when physically in Canada. So advise them that you can come up to Canada when required to carry out the Oath. Additionally, you may want to ask the CBSA to stamp your passport as proof you entered on that day. They are iffy about doing it for PR's but your mileage may vary, failing that, you can do a Privacy Act request to get proof of when you entered Canada, but that doesn't have a quick turnaround. You will probably need a Canadian mailing address to receive the citizenship cert.

 

I am also a Canadian PR living as a conditional LPR in the US, having applied for Canadian citizenship. Got my test invite earlier this week so I'll be interested to hear how you get on.

Awesome good to know. So I spoke to a citizenship lawyer and he mentioned that it was for the OATH and to give them a date an create a booking to show when I plan to return to Canada. He said the new liberal govt allows citizenship although you live outside Canada.

Do you mean if I drive, to stamp the passport ? I believe they stamp it when you fly, correct? Regarding citizenship certificate, I was planning to have it mailed to my sis who lives there, do you know normally how long it takes to receive it after the ceremony? 

3 hours ago, waterlooengineer said:

 

Hello,

 

IRCC is asking this so they can schedule an oath date for you. You can provide them with a date in the next few weeks/months with a flight ticket showing the arrival date to Canada.

Do keep in mind, that you need to be physically present in Canada during the oath (even though it is virtual now) and it takes a few weeks for the Citizenship certificate to arrive. 

Hi waterlooengineer, 

Thank you for your response. If I give them a date of arrival, do you know if they send you the OATH date within a few days of returning back to Canada? or is it going to be a few weeks? 

I was just thinking of having the citizenship certificate mailed to my sister even if I do come back to the US.

Also I meant recommendations for immigration lawyers in the last sentence*.  That would be very much appreciated. I emailed 2 lawyers so far, but haven't heard back.

5 hours ago, 204 said:

You can continue your citizenship process and hold your Canadian citizenship in the future. Couple years ago, IRCC removed "tie to Canada" as a requirement when apply for citizenship. 

Hi 204 thank you. Do you know exactly on where this condition is stated? I thought I read that the intent has to be to stay in Canada.

Hello everyone, I have a unique scenario.  I hold a conditional greencard and I can remove the condition at the end of this year. Before this, I was a permanent resident of Canada. I am originally from Nepal. Because Nepal doesn't allow dual citizenship and I liked living in Canada, I had applied for Canadian citizenship on 2019 , but the caveat is I had already applied for CR1 in 2018 because I am married to an American. I do plan on moving to Canada at some point and I applied for Canadian citizenship after consulting with a lawyer. I passed my citizenship test for Canada back on April 2021 and I took the test from seattle.  I recently got a message from Canadian Citizenship Office in Vancouver asking: 

1)  when I plan to return to Canada ( to provide travel arrangements)

2) If I am already in Canada, to provide proof of travel documents.

While I plan to return to Canada at some point (maybe retirement), it won't be for long term in the immediate future, but was planning to visit my sister there. I emailed the lawyer who originally advised me, but she has moved firms and I haven't heard a response back. I need to respond to the Canadian Citizenship Office, but don't know how to respond to the questions above. I was so close with my citizenship process.

Should I just say I plan to go to Canada on so and so date as I was planning to visit my sister there....so torn, as I do not want to jeopardize my Green Card in the US in any way either. Should I just give up my hopes to be a Canadian?

Any suggestions for a good Canadian immigration lwho is well versed in US immigration would be very much appreciated!

On 2/25/2021 at 4:40 PM, wingman23 said:

Just to add my 2cents here - I just recently applied for it and it got approved. Applied Dec 2020 and approved Jan/Feb 2021. I quit my job Jan 2020 to migrate here but took my time to apply for the EI. Good thing that the evaluator still considered my application. I have to leave them a message and they called me back and explained to them my circumstances. Just a sound advise - please apply for it immediately so there will be no questions afterwards. 

 

In the application forms, you'll have a space there to explain why you quit your job because normally, you are not eligible for EI if you quit your work. For our cases, we quit because we needed to be with your spouse and you'll be able to explain it in the form as well. In my case, they required me to fill out another form to explain or provide information why I was out of Canada and mailed it back to them.

 

It's just tedious that we can't file our reports online. In my case, I receive the form on a regular mail and send it back to them. Long process but works.

On 2/26/2021 at 6:00 PM, INF said:

Thank you!!!

On 3/11/2021 at 7:57 AM, A&RN said:

Hello, 

 

New to this thread. Just moved to US on March 6th to live with my spouse on a CR-1. Is there an FAQ or some document I can use that summarizes this? I am trying to file EI till I get a job here. I called Service Canada EI and they told me that their system says I can't claim Canadian EI when I have moved to US. I had to then tell her that it is on the Government of Canada website and she said that's completely different than the information they have in their system on EI benefits in US. So... now she is checking again because I directed her to the link on the canada.ca website...

 

Thanks!

I called the general EI office yesterday and they gave me this no. 1-877-486-1650. They called me back the next day after I left a voicemail. And they walked me through the necessary steps.

Btw, does anyone know if we are eligible to work as soon as we cross the border on CR1 visa? or do we have to wait till we get the SSN?  (see question below from the form)

I only crossed the border on March 14th and SSN office says wait at least 3 weeks after your Is the date the day I crossed the border or when I receive the SSN? Any advice from people who have already gone through this process would be super helpful as I don't want to wait around....

On 3/17/2021 at 10:35 AM, bort_s said:

I thought Covid test was only required for flying into the US not for land crossing unless this has changed recently, hard to keep up with all the changes. 

On 3/17/2021 at 10:54 AM, Tofu said:

Not sure on this, but we will get one either way just to be sure!  Lots of variables these days.

I called the border before I crossed and they confirmed that it is only required for air travel. I crossed the border on March 14th.  Also see the FAQs here. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/testing-international-air-travelers.html#:~:text=On January 12%2C 2021%2C CDC,airline before boarding the flight.

2 hours ago, Lovewithoutborder said:

Hey everyone,

 

So here’s the dilemma I’m having. My interview is April 21st and my second wedding anniversary is June 2nd. If everything goes smooth at my interview and I get approved I should get my passport back around end of April early May. I really don’t want to spend an extra 4-5 weeks separated from my wife but at the same time I’ve heard that removal of conditions is a huge headache with the 2 year greencard where if I wait 4-5 weeks I’ll get a 10 year greencard. Anybody who has any info on the difficulty or stress of filing for ROC on a 2 year greencard, or anybody who has any opinion on whether I should cross or wait it out please feel free to let me know what you’d do in my situation! 
 

 

I was in the same boat, but I crossed the border 3 days before our 2 year anniversary (March 17th) after spending some time with my family in Canada. I was pretty bummed that we didn't get to celebrate the 1st one, so I crossed to celebrate our 2nd anniversary. At least, we would be together when we remove the condition, and hopefully won't be much of a headache like this past year.

Also, as you mention when I crossed the Peach Arch border, there were only 2 people behind me. And I was at the border for less than 1/2 hour. Good Luck!

On 9/21/2012 at 3:32 PM, shek said:

Hello all,

I am a US citizen. My wife is a Canada permanent resident card holder whose US immigration visa was approved earlier this year. She recently submitted the Canadian naturalization application, then passed through POE and moved to US to become a US permanent resident. Our question is if the US PR status will affect her Canadian citizenship application. Which is better when she reenter Canada, Canada PR card or US PR card? Currently there is a US immigration visa on her passport. Will Canadian immigration officer question it when she enter Canada?

Any ideas and suggestions would be really appreciated.

Thanks.

Hello I am in the same situation as your wife. I am a Canadian Permanent Resident and my husband an American. I had applied for citizenship and was supposed to write my test in April which got cancelled due to COVID. I recently got my UD green card approved in Feb.

1. Did your wife end up having to give up her permanent residency of Canada? Especially when she filed taxes the following year. I read somewhere you have to file departure taxes...
2. Was she able to complete her Canadian citizenship application? Since I am assuming the green card visa was probably in her passport of the country of origin. 

Any suggestion would be very much appreciated. Thank You!

12 minutes ago, legendqueue said:

YAY!  When were you in there?  Isn't it weeeirrdly quiet?  I was in there from like 09:30 til around 11:00.  Really tall guy in a blue plaid shirt.

Sorry, forgot to mention I got approved on Monday as @Hawk Riders mentioned. I did go in at 9:30 am and was out by 10:30 am. I was a petite girl with khaki shirt . On another note, while I was waiting, I did wonder how many people were waiting from visa journey  . 

Also anyone have any reasonable suggestion for cross border shipment? So far, I have checked out U-Haul and U-pack and there's challenges with both as I am not in Vancouver and my stuff is still in storage in Vancouver and I am currently in Vancouver Island.... U-Haul is super expensive if I don't drive myself and I don't trust myself driving a U-haul haha...So trying to figure out the logistic....Just wish Canada didn't have the 14 days mandatory quarantine rule, so my hubby could just come and leave the same day. 

Hello is X-ray mandatory for medical? Currently, I might be about 2 months pregnant and I emailed Dr. Cheema's office replied this 'Please consult your family doctor in regards to your Chest x ray requirements during pregnancy as chest x rays are mandatory part of exam'. 

I don't have a family doctor and my first appointment with a doctor from a walk in clinic is Jan 22nd and I didn't want to delay with my medical and wait till Friday. I read somewhere in visajourney that it is recommended only after passing the first trimester. Could someone who has experienced this before please shed some light. Also it says ' Pregnant women receiving chest radiographs should be provided abdominal and pelvic protection with double-layer, wrap-around lead shields.'  Is that safe? 

Since my interview is Feb 9th, I wanted to get medicals done asap, but now I am confused... any advice would be wonderful.

Apologies if this has already been asked before, but does anyone know if all the immunizations are required before you go into your medicals/ interview if you are pregnant. We just recently found out that I am pregnant and I just took the flu shot today. I was advised not to take TDAP until 27 and 36 weeks. I just read that you are not supposed to take MMR  while pregnant. I do remember that I had to show proof of getting MMR back in 2004 when I went to university in the US, but I can't find the record anymore. I already had chicken pox when I was a kid, so I guess Varicella can be waived. 

Dr. Cheema's website says that you need proof of vaccinations. I am planning to get Titer test for MMR and TDAP doesn't have Titer test apparently. Can anyone please shed some lights if the titer tests determines that I have to get MMR, then will I have to get it at a later date?  Also what about the TDAP? Is there any exclusion for pregnant women? Any info would be so helpful. Thank you in advance.

On 11/25/2020 at 4:17 PM, Lovenature said:

My husband changed jobs so that's why we prepared a new one. 

Hi Lovenature,

Do we have to sign a new form or just the new employment letter will suffice? We asked our lawyer and he said just bring the document to the interview instead of uploading on CEAC, but wasn't very clear on his instruction if need to re-fill the entire form again. Sometimes I feel like paying everyone in visajourney instead of our lawyer. He always sends us one liner answers...

Thanks in advance....

6 hours ago, HD_BIRDS said:

Hi all,

 

Given the long wait times from DQ to interview date at the Montreal consulate, has anyone here been in the US already and decided to switch to AOS (reason due to COVID to avoid preconceived intent upon entering) after DQ? What are the pros and cons to doing so?

I was in Seattle for a month in Aug and my lawyer advised not to as it takes forever. I am here again till the new years and hoping they will resume interviews next week.... so tempted to switch to AOS since they are slowing down again, but we are so close...At least I am glad I can be with my husband for a while till new years, but the thought of going back  and not getting interview early new year freaks me out....

1 hour ago, DGF said:

For those that interviewed post shutdown, what did your accepted police certificate say?

 

I have the one that says "Other" and am trying to decide if this is just a fluke or if I need to get myself down to commissionaires for a fourth time:

Mine says 'other' too. Did you figure it out? I am literally heading down to the RCMP this friday to get my police certificate renewed because I am planning to go to Seattle this weekend and  planning to stay there till end if the year.  My police certificate expires Jan and don't want this to cause issues when I come back as my interview might be feb/march based on the spreadsheet, hopefully....Would be so great if you could share this info. I am also adding 'specifically include the RCMP National Repository holdings' this time as I am not sure if I mentioned this on the last one.....FYI, you might already know if you are getting a new one done, it is at the Gravely location. Just thought I should let you know since I showed up at the Cambie location last time and was turned away as they don't do fingerprinting at this location anymore.....

@Lovepeace0303 @Cath&Claire @rafale1973 @Tofu  and everyone whose case is stuck at NVC, can we all voice our concern on their recent facebook post? I already did that last night and seems like they do read our social media posts... I am planning to go to seattle again next week and come back early next year since my hopes has been crushed slightly this week. I thought this post was a light at the end of the tunnel, but not seeing any interview letters has been a bit disheartening . I love this group though for helping with my mental health lol.

20 hours ago, DGF said:

NOVEMBER 2ND 8:15 AM.

WE'RE IN BUSINESS GUYS.

SO so relieved to hear this news today. Congrats to you and everyone who got the letter today. Now time to update our FAQ:

'Has Montreal started working with the NVC to schedule new interviews?

YES. Since OCT 13 😁😁' .

On 10/11/2020 at 11:19 AM, Lovepeace0303 said:

FYI it's time to start getting loud on social media if you haven't already. US Consulate Montreal actively made some regular posts on Friday. The more we start voicing that they haven't started new interviews and need to address their 10+ month backlog, they just might feel the pressure to move forward. 🙏

1 hour ago, lizarb said:

So for what I understood, we are supposed to receive new interview dates today or Thursday, correct? 
 

I really want to start getting loud on social media. Also, in the mean time, I will check with the lawyer we know to see what else we can do. 

Agreed I would like to be thankful to Montreal consulate on this Thanksgiving day. Let us hope they start sending out interview letter this week. Otherwise we should definitely voice our concerns on social media🙏

44 minutes ago, CanadaDude said:

I was recently DQ'ed (Mid-September 2020), but it's seriously aggravating to see how long people have been waiting for a Consulate that seems extremely reluctant to do its job, especially given the strain of the border closure and separation on families during this most difficult time. The fact that they only do IV interviews in Montreal is also pretty staggering because of the sheer volume of cases that one of the US's closest neighbor's would generate. They really should be sending the IV staff to the other consulates so they can knock this backlog down, otherwise people will be perpetually waiting 10 months for a gosh-darn 15 minute interview after an already 1-2 year process of waiting for their I-130s to be approved. What the hell are they doing with our fees? Paying for new furniture? Spa weekends? Get mad, this is unacceptable.

 Yes she spent our fee money to get a haircut  . Jokes aside... lets start a petition again if they don't resume NVC cases by next week. I am losing my patience with Montreal. It used to be one my bucket-list places to visit, now I am getting more and more annoyed by the entire city...

20 hours ago, Cath&Claire said:

People in the UK - DQ’d June - interviews scheduled for November.  

Ugh tell me about it . I wish I was from Europe, they seem to be efficient in general and also lenient regarding expedites. I regret not researching MTL embassy before I went with CR1/IR1 route. I wish I researched visajourney instead of my lawyer and 1 friend. But what can we do? Just wait and wait and hope they give us some good news next week.

12 minutes ago, DGF said:

I'm down if we don't hear anything next week. We've been waiting since Dec 2019 and haven't emailed them yet, I think it's time. What did you ask to get this response?

Here's what I wrote. I first got a generic response and the above response came second which I wasn't even expecting. And yes please you should. I've been waiting for you to get your letter like forever. I need to see a light at the end of the tunnel before Dec.

4 hours ago, Akaur said:

I just talked to nvc after a hour wait just now, they havent received any instructions from Montreal about resuming as of yet. 

This is what I got from Montreal (Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov)when I emailed them. Perhaps if all of us who are waiting at NVC email them non-stop, then that would put some pressure on them? I work with the city a lot and they always address the loudest ones first...just a thought.