DualMatty

She went for her interview in Montreal (4 months after mine, we were a bit delayed on our end getting all the documents together to tell them we were ready). They kept her passport, but put her in administrative processing without requesting any other documents or information. The job here is amazing, the place we found where I'm living is great and it's close to her family in BC. We'd like to establish here and stay. She for sure can't visit during administrative processing, and we can't endure this overall situation longer than 2 or 3 months. Anyone know what we can expect with this 221g administrative processing?

So we're almost finished compiling our packet 3. There's something I don't completely understand - at first I was considering the K3 visa because I read that it was a month or so faster than the CR1, even though later on it would kinda suck to have a K3 vs. CR1. But in DCF, I guess whatever visa you choose is just as fast, because you're bypassing NVC? The interviewer asked me which one I wanted for her, and it seemed like whichever one was going to be the same time, so I chose CR1. Does that make sense? The speed so far has been pretty good. It's slow to e-mail back and forth with the consulate, but given they kept their promise on the initial timeline, I guess we trust them. There have been a few hiccups in terms of information we could have had sooner, but so far not too bad. The worst thing is how the border interprets our situation and how it's too risky for her to visit in Washington state. I have to go up to Canada to visit her. Honestly, I think there's gotta be better ways for the system to work in terms of that. Thanks

Hi all, My wife and I are in DCF in Montreal where we both lived a month ago, and now where she’s still living in our apartment. I did my I-130 interview in early September and we received our packet 3 in late September (yay!). The packet instructions tell us to go to the CEAC system and use a case number to fill and print a form with a bar code confirmation. We haven’t received a case number though so we couldn’t get into the system. We have a little paper slip with a « Case ID » on it from the waiting room of my interview… but that number doesn’t seem to be it. I guess in a uscis filing the NVC would give us a case number as they forward us to a consulate. But we started in the consulate; so I’m not sure if a separate email will be coming from nvc that the consulate requests from them. Or maybe it’s the monthly thing where the NVC sends things out on a monthly schedule? But my impression of that is that people are already in the CEAC or NVC system and each month visas become available to start interviewing for. We aren’t able to get into that system yet with the info we have. I e-mailed the consulate , but I’m seeing here if anyone knows the process and if all seems ok for us to wait for that. thank you

Well, I’ll have more information later. But for now it looks like DCF is working out for us. Had the first meeting where you hand in I130 and I130A. They were professional, friendly and understanding and estimated a pretty quick timeline.

We’ll be at the border with the job offer , our lease in Montreal , our 3 passports , our Canadian drivers licenses , job records, school records , etc

I’ve read mostly about K3 and how that can be a bit faster (like a month or two). Is k1 still a thing? Has anybody done these K visas over CR/IR for this purpose, to save a couple months ?

Thanks that’s super helpful. This “domicile” thing is new to me and still confusing. I think we’re in the right space , but I need to look into it more. can anyone give a quick summary of what domicile requirements are for dcf? thanks

This job is a great opportunity, luckily my spouse is willing to go into this process, she’s got family in BC across the border, and we can keep our apartment in Montreal near a bunch of friends and the consulate (praying for that DCF!!). She’s ok going back and forth a lot. Kinda glad that rescinding citizenship isnt practical , If it were the fastest way I’d do it, but also I do feel American and would like to keep it. I just wish there were a visa type for this - like a visa tied to a new job of a US citizen for spouses if the USC has been living abroad for more than a certain amount of time. I mean don’t they want us back? I am really looking forward to living in Washington. The snow boarding , the lifestyle , I often feel more at home there than in Quebec, and my French is good even. If that type of visa existed itd help incentivize Americans to move back. Or at least jt wouldn’t block us from doing so. Thanks for everyone’s input so far. Hearing others experience in similar situations is the most helpful. We want to do this “the right way” - we heard about adjustment of status but it seems scary. I’m a Jew so I have an innate residual fear of “having my papers in order” at border crossings. But I also feel like when we come and go, the border guards will be ok as long as we’re not truly abusing it.

Cause USCIS filing is their bread and butter I mean. All this is pretty disorienting. I hope it works out.

I meant other than DCF, if DCF is allowed, and if she's allowed to visit during DCF, and if DCF actually takes 2 months (or not much longer). DCF feels like a hail marry because there's no way to call them, you can only email and not be sure when you'll hear back. I'll pray for DCF to come through. I'm just pointing out the absurdity of this situation: If I could magically make my American citizenship disappear, I could have already gotten the two of us visas right? TN and TD I was told from the hiring company are 1 to 2 months. Hopefully we're only separated half the time for a few months total... that would be ok, still frustrating, but understandable.

ok thanks all for the input. So looks like continuing DCF as I've been doing is the best bet. I had some lawyers tell me that DCF actually takes longer, and some sites were saying you have to stay in Canada during the processing. But maybe they just mean that you have to be in Canada to be present at the consulate when required, which is obviously not an issue. Hopefully it is actually 2 months like it says on the government website, and hopefully they consider us for that process and it allows us to spend time together during it and it'll be finished much sooner. Maybe the lawyers say that DCF is not ideal because it's their bread and butter? I dunno, but I'll pray for DCF to come through.

she's an artist. with the salary of this job, even with 2 apartments, we wouldn't need her to work

Our priority is not necessarily the long term, but the short term separation. We wouldn't mind if it's harder for us down the line / have to file more things down the line, if we could spend less time apart over the next two years. Voting and working for her is not an issue. Essentially we want to go on TN/TD equivalents... if I lost the job we would definitely return to Canada. Washington state is awesome, it'll be an amazing experience and we hope it lasts... but anyway rent is triple there, if I lost the job we would just return to Canada. Are there options in this vein? Thanks

We do have the same citizenship... we're both Canadian. If I didn't have my American one in addition, we could get a TN/TD in a month or two directly from the job.

Is there another option other than I-130? Like a non-immigrant visa? If the best option is for me to rescind my American citizenship to get a H-1B and H-4 visa or TN&TD on our Canadian passports, that seems absurd...