6ixtoSoCal

Haha yep, our thoughts exactly.  We're just hoping someone further down the line realizes the mistake, but I think that's being too generous

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

Hello friend!  Nice to see you continuing to shop for answers!  
 
Makes you wonder how anything gets done, eh?  Also explains why so much time is wasted fixing mistakes that never should have been made in the first place.  I often wonder how much less delay others would see if there weren't so many basic level screw ups.  

Hi all, I will offer a review and more detailed write up once I am home in the next two days but I'm happy to report that my visa was approved today! Wife and I are over the moon to be reunited soon. I'm glad to see others approved today as well! 😊

Hey all, happy to report that I had my "interview" and the officer "plans to approve my visa".
 
Everyone was really nice. I could tell that the officer knew really nothing about my case, like he was encountering my information on the screen for the first time. I felt like the interview was really just to make sure that you meet them in person, you have all of your documents in order, that you can answer basic questions about your case correctly, and if there are any issues that you have a conversation about it then.
 
Documents they asked for in my particular case: passport, original birth certificate, original marriage certificate, original divorce certificates (spouse), original criminal record certificate, 1 passport photo, updated tax documents, US address that would go on the green card, my address.
 
He asked me:
Who is your petitioner?
Where did you meet and when?
When did you get married?
Do you have children? Does he have children? How old are they?
Have you been married before? Has he been married before?
Where does your petitioner live? Is that where you are planning to live?
Have you ever been arrested or convicted of a crime?
Where have you travelled in the last 5 years?
Do you have a joint sponsor?
Did you read the domestic violence pamphlet and understand it?
Did you live in any other countries besides Canada and South Korea?
 
I also asked him if wanted my updated proof of relationship and he said no, he believed me. But he took a look at my photos from Christmas anyway, which was nice.
 
Couple things:
They didn't like my 2020 passport photos even though my lawyer assured me they would still accept them. They gave me a pass to leave the consulate and have them redone next door at the Pharampix. They absolutely need to be stamped within 6 months. Make sure to bring the originals for the everything (birth, marriage, divorce, criminal record from each country). Even if you hire an immigration lawyer, double check their work. They're human and deal with multiple consulates so they don't always get it right.

Hey everyone! a quick update on our journey -
 
I've crossed at Rainbow Bridge on July 30th, received SSN about a week later and my GC today (September 3rd)!
 
A cool tip I noticed wasn't shared before, once you move - register your new address with USPS and signup for informed delivery. it costs 1 dollar and it's a daily message from USPS with screenshots of email and packages you'll receive today. it made it so easy and relaxing not anxiously fearing the card won't get delivered. I'm adding a screenshot so you'll see how it looks like.
 
Best of luck y'all. hang in there!!!

Don't have experience when it comes to activating a visa, but from my experience, YUL US customs is by far the best 😂  they're always so nice and barely ask any questions besides what's needed. I'm sure that things will go very smoothly when it's time for you to go. The activating process itself will be very similar to how it is at other airports tho 

Yes, customs is always done before boarding (unless you have a connecting flight at another Canadian airport).

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

Thank you so much!

Yes I think maybe the airport is the better option given what was involved for us.  YYZ has customs before boarding, I imagine YUL is the same right?  I wasn't sure if the activation would be done in YYZ or LAX for us, but seems less stressful if you can get it done before boarding!  Good luck, and thank you for the kind words

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?

Also for the record, the green card doesn't say "nmn" on it. I'd imagine if it did it could be more of a problem.

Your green card will probably take over 90 days to arrive. I just received mine and crossed May 4th. The SSN is fairly quick, I see most people getting it within 2-3 weeks. You can call your social SSN office and ask them if there is a SSN on file for you. They can tell if one has been created as you answer a few security questions. In my case it was lost in the mail so I had to make an appointment and visit them in person and get a new one. 
 
You don't need your green card to work. You can use the visa in your passport for proof of residency. 

We're "ISSUED-final processing" <24 hrs after "ISSUED-administrative processing"!  So glad this forum exists to help people along the way with this stressful process

itshappening.gif

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!


 

We're "ISSUED-final processing" <24 hrs after "ISSUED-administrative processing"!  So glad this forum exists to help people along the way with this stressful process

itshappening.gif

Crossed the border yesterday with all our stuff and activated my wife's visa - we are now living in our new house!
 
Since a few folks were asking me about our moving process, here's the details:
 
I am a dual US-Canada citizen and have worked in the US for the last 5 years (even while living in Canada) so on Tuesday morning on my way to work I imported my pickup. I had all the paperwork filled out ahead of time so I was in and out of secondary inspection in less than 5 minutes. At the end of the workday I drove my pickup to my parents' house and got my brother to drop me off at the UHaul rental site, where I picked up the rental UHaul truck and drove it across the border back home. They had a few extra questions for me than usual (where did I rent the truck from, when did I rent it, did I still go to work, when will we be moving back down) but I got across with no issues. We spent the day on Wednesday packing up the truck, and then first thing Thursday morning drove to the border.
 
We crossed at the Lynden POE, so per the signage on the highway before the crossing I drove the UHaul through the commercial lane while my wife drove her car (with our cat) through the regular lane. No lineups so we both pulled right up to the booth. I had my Nexus card and a list of everything in the truck - the agent in the booth said since it was a rental truck, I was a US citizen, and the truck was full of household goods I could've used the regular lane. The only question he asked was what our new address was, and then I was good to go (he didn't read the list other than a cursory glance, and never opened the truck). I parked the UHaul in the old duty free parking lot on the US side and headed inside to join my wife in secondary.
 
Secondary for her was very straightforward, although it took about 20 minutes because the guy who was processing her paperwork was being trained. The vehicle import was what took the longest, but in any case they didn't ask her any questions at any point (other than the address where she was moving to), they were just going through her paperwork and filling out forms. She had a health certificate for the cat from our vet, but they didn't even ask about that.
 
Overall a very smooth process, and everyone at the port of entry was super nice and helpful!

Thank you for this response, you have no idea how much better reading this made me feel.  I feel lost and like my vision is clouded, so having an outside perspective is great and that's what makes this forum so great.
 
I'm going to guess it's either some horrible oversight or I think your theory about her name or social handle being related to someone who's not so good is what's triggering this.  I should know given how long everything else has taken that it won't get resolved as quickly as we're hoping, but still holding onto next week.  They took her passport so that has to prompt some *quick* response right?
 
I'm so sorry, don't trust me at all on this, I'm emotional and not a reliable source of info.  But how I got there is that I searched VisaJourney for the form "DS-5535" and I found a larger thread that mentioned those 2 countries specifically, but again I don't know what I'm talking about, so take this with a grain of salt.  I hope things work out for you guys and you don't experience this situation

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!


 

We have no idea what triggered it, we still don't know

On the FAQ it says the form can be required due to "education/travel history" (though I can't imagine that's it as we've only traveled between US and Canada over the last 5 years, and we're 10+ years from university days).  Our attorney said "This is standard processing for cases that have been pending at the embassy for a while.  The DS-5535 is to update the application with new information since the processing of the case has taken so long."

Our theory is that enough of our contact information had changed that may have triggered it.  Our home addresses changed, my phone number changed, I got a new job, etc.  But that's only our guess

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!


 

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!


 

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!


 

We had what feels like a huge break through for us this morning!  After the drama of having to send a DS-5535 after being initially approved, my wife's visa status flipped from 'REFUSED' to 'ISSUED-administrative processing" after ~1 month.  We are so happy and are celebrating today!