Stillness

Another Canadian adjusted from a visitor visa here.

Should have no problems with the birth certificate, I ordered mine from Alberta shortly before we sent off our AOS and had no problems whatsoever.

As far as the lawyer question, we hired one, and I don't regret it for a moment. Aside from the visitor visa and overstay, there was nothing really remarkable about our case, but at the same time, we both felt much more secure having the lawyer handle all the paperwork for us. The main issue with a visitor visa adjustment is the intent on entry, any documentation you have to prove you fully intended to return to Canada at the end of your visit will help you there.

I think bluegreen answered everything pretty well so I won't ramble on, (and congratulations on your interview!), just thought I'd throw in a few words of support as well.

Congratulations to all the new approvals since I was here last, been busy the past week or so. Good luck to everyone still waiting.

A slightly late reply, but I would point out that I myself had been in the country for some time with only my passport for ID, which in some cases was quite frustrating. I also overstayed, which was a source of stress as well. In the years I have been here, not once has a police officer ever asked to see my ID as I was never the person driving. While it is a possibility in some states, generally I would consider it to be a low risk unless you anticipate close police scrutiny.

I absolutely would not have left my passport at home though, risk of loss or no, it was my only solid form of ID, I carry it with me still, even though I now have my green card, and will most likely continue to keep it in my purse until I have a local driver's license in hand. To be on the safe side, keep a photo copy of the passport and any documentation supporting your AOS on hand.

You of course have to gauge your own situation as you see fit.

Green card arrived in the mail today!

As others have said, it varies. Did you apply for work authorization (i.e. EAD) at the same time you filed for the AOS? If so he will be able to work once that has been approved and he receives the card.

My biometrics appointment was also on a Saturday, a lucky break considering we had to drive almost 2 hours to get to the office.

Congratulations to the approvals and those who have received their green cards/welcome notices.

That said, this forum was created to prevent misinformation when adjusting for other types of visas, so it makes me see red to see people providing the same misinformation they've always provided.

Please correct me if I pass along any incorrect information, as it certainly isn't my intent.

The whole issue tends to get fairly cloudy, and sadly even talking to professionals will yield different answers sometimes, which really struck me when we encountered it. How could one lawyer tell you one thing, and another something completely different? I know it baffled me. We went with a lawyer who seemed to know what she was talking about, and I haven't regretted hiring a lawyer for a moment.

The entire thing is really kind of frightening, especially the whole issue of legality. In my case by the time we got married and starting looking things up, I was already out of status by some time and being told "it's illegal for you to adjust, go home and do it right" was horrific, considering I would have then faced a ban on reentry had I left the US. The fact is that while falling out of status was stupid of me, and certainly I shouldn't have allowed that to happen, I did not enter the country illegally or under false pretenses. I intended to visit and go back home. That I stayed, fell in love, and got married was completely unexpected, but I've never been happier. My AOS is completely legal, no matter how much others might choose to frown on it, or others adjusting from similar visas.

So far as determining the intent issue, I think that can be very tricky, and vary a great deal depending on the situation. A good lawyer should be able to gauge the case and give some kind of recommendation. While I think it is certainly nice to be able to hear from other people in similar situations here, I would not presume to actually give anyone any kind of legal advice, save to see a lawyer. Still it can be helpful to hear about other's experiences with adjusting from a tourist visa. Maybe we should start a thread entirely for sharing experiences of adjustment from tourist/visitor visas, people do seem a little reluctant to talk about it in detail, myself included, and talking through things might help to clear up some of the common misconceptions people have. Just a thought.

Either way, best of luck to the original poster.

B)-->

That's nifty. He should have no problems getting a Canadian passport once that is in effect.

As lots of others have already said, the main issue with adjusting on a visitor visa is intent when you entered the country. I came to the US on a visitor visa and we have just been approved. Our lawyer prompted my husband to write a letter about how we met, circumstances of my initial visit, and to be clear about the fact that it was intended as a visit and nothing more. Getting married just a week after entering the US will tend to look suspicious, if however you can also present proof of your wife's connections to her home country that would certainly help.

At our interview no one questioned my intentions when I entered the country.

It is my understanding that on a visitor visa you do not have the right to appeal if your case is denied. If denied, your wife would have to return to her country and you would have to petition for a spousal visa for her to enter the country again.

At 5:00 pm today.

Application Type: I485 , APPLICATION TO REGISTER PERMANENT RESIDENCE OR TO ADJUST STATUS

Current Status: Card production ordered.

On June 12, 2008, we ordered production of your new card. Please allow 30 days for your card to be mailed to you. If we need something from you we will contact you. If you move before you receive the card, call customer service. You can also receive automatic e-mail updates as we process your case. Just follow the link below to register.

And I have dinner made damnit so no going out to eat tonight, but tomorrow is pay day whoo hoo.

That is like 4 people today and the day isn't over.

*crosses fingers for everyone else to hear good news today too*

Yay! Congratulations.

Honestly you probably will want to consider hiring a lawyer.

At this point you do not want to leave the country as you will be slapped with a 10 year ban due to being out of status for so long.

Everything probably seems both very scary and confusing, I know I felt the same way. My husband and I were completely clueless about the whole process when we got married, and as I started to learn about it, it quite honestly scared me to death. The idea of a 10 year ban was especially horrifying.

The main issue that I can see based on your description will be the matter of intent...Did you enter the US as a visitor with the intent of getting married and staying here? If so, that is visa fraud and is illegal and will put you in a very difficult situation.

If however you entered the country with the intent to visit, and later decided/ended up getting married, you can file for the AOS in the same way everyone else does when they are already in the country.

You didn't include a lot of details in your post, so I don't know your situation, but you might look into a consultation with a lawyer.

While we hired a lawyer she didn't go to the interview with us. She doesn't go for any of her clients, possibly a combination of the long drive and thinking it is unnecessary. We were just fine, they didn't even ask about or mention my overstay in the interview.

Congratulations to all the approvals!

You're married now, so yeah, I'd fill out the application in your married name, and provide a copy of your marriage certificate as proof. Put down your address here in the states as clearly you are living here now.

http://www.britainusa.com might have some useful links and such for renewing your passport, also if there is an embassy nearby you can call them if you have any questions.

I have one more question: do you have to show copies of every page of your old passport or just pages with your visa and entry stamp?

Thank you for your help

I would just show copies of the main pages with your picture and information, and the pages with your visas and stamps.

Congratulations!

Some people seem to get a lot of touches, others not so much.

My I-765 was touched after my biometrics, after the card was sent out, and got a final touch some time after I received the card. My I-485 didn't get any touch or update at all from Feb. until mid April around the time I got the interview letter and didn't update or change again til I got my "card production ordered" email the other day.

Periods of silence in between updates seem pretty common, and while I know how nerve wracking it is to wait and hear nothing, try not to drive yourself insane with worry.

The key issues are this, when was he born? (before or after 1977) and the fact that his mother became a US citizen in the late 1960s...before the new nationality act. Before 1977 you automatically lost Canadian citizenship by becoming a citizen of another country, at the same time, from the text of the 1977 act:

"As noted, changes introduced by the 1977 Act permit dual citizenship. Before that time, Canadians who voluntarily acquired another citizenship, except by marriage, lost their Canadian citizenship."

So....except by marriage, meaning she might be exempt from having lost her Canadian citizenship... see the act text here: http://dsp-psd.pwgsc.gc.ca/Collection-R/Lo...itizenship(txt)

If she was still considered a Canadian citizen at the time of his birth, and if he was born after 1977, he is a Canadian by decent. If he was born before 1977 and his birth wasn't registered with the Canadian government, then probably not...

The long and short of it is that you will have to probably call and talk to someone to really find out.

Edit: Just noticed the original poster said the mother married in the late 60s, but did not get US citizenship til the 1990s, so what I said bears no relevance, but I'll leave it in case anyone is curious about the nationality act. All that really matters in this case will be if his birthday is before or after 1977.

Sorry for intruding , we wd be late June filers.Wanted to know if this is sufficient ??

My hubby is here on a b1/b2 visa and for 3 months now...so how can i get joint tax returns ?? We have

a)one saving & one chekings account in both names

b)Joint YMCA membership as a family( that proves that we are living together)

c)Joint Hollywood videos membership

d)Marriage certificate

e)Recommendations from my family,friends & tenant about him and his visits here.

f) Lots of photos of him during his visits with different people, marriage photos.

g)Marriage License bill

h) Different bills of cinema halls , wallmart, to and fro plane tickets etc etc

i)Phone bills , greetings cards, courier envelopes.

Thanks !!!

Sounds like you've got a good collection there already.

I can't give advice on taxes, we took our information to H&R Block and let them handle it.

Do either of you have medical insurance? Insurance cards or papers showing coverage for both of you on the same account could be useful, the same goes for car insurance that covers you both, and bills/letters/etc addressed to both of you at the same address.

I had a huge folder/box full of files and papers, though in the end my interviewer only took the tax returns, joint accounts (including joint medical insurance and memberships, like costco), our apartment lease with both of our signatures on it (plus a letter from the apartment manager stating that to the best of her knowledge we had been living together as husband and wife), and that's about it...Didn't even want to look at the pictures, cards, letters etc.

Despite another poster referring to "hokie affidavits" I really don't think they are a bad thing to have at all, and our lawyer encouraged us to collect as much as possible. My outlook was that it is better to have too much proof instead of too little. But I also admit I obsessed a little over it and wanted to be sure I had as much as I could reasonably. Honestly I think that the fact that we did have so much evidence worked in our favor, she only wanted the more "official" copies for her file, but clearly we had a lot of proof, letters, cards, pictures and other things to show we were really married, and that's the important thing.

We used the checklist included on the interview notice as a guide on what documentation to collect together.

Nothing I say should be taken as sound legal advice of course, I am mostly just passing along what my lawyer told me, and my experience. Interviewers seem to vary quite a bit from place to place and person to person, but I'm glad I made you feel a little better at least, the whole process is stressful enough as it is.

For myself, I was advised that an expired passport would be a not so great thing, hence my rush to get a new one. Our lawyer seemed a little uncertain if they would even accept an expired passport, which is why I risked getting a new one so soon before our interview. We were also caught off guard at how quickly we got an interview, we were not expecting it for a few months. It was a semi-panic moment as we were afraid that it might not be processed in time and I would be stuck with only copies of my old passport for the interview.

Our lawyer told me to carry copies of my old passport just in case they wanted to see the passport I entered the country on, even though it turned out to be unnecessary in my case. I think the interviewers should be reasonable, maintaining a current passport is important, and generally you do have to send in your old passport when applying for a new one. Processing times for passports can sometimes be very long, and it is difficult to predict when you might get your interview.

So long as you have copies of the old passport and all your other papers in order you should be ok. Just relax and answer any questions they might ask honestly.

Congratulations!

Our lawyer advised us that things like reference letters from friends, family, employers, etc would potentially be quite helpful as proof. We also had things like the apartment lease with both of our names on it etc. My not being able to work made some things quite difficult and we had little by the way of joint bills, we did have tax returns, medical insurance through his work and that sort of thing. I even collected things like cards/letters from family addressed to us both, and even our costco membership showing both of us on the same account! hehe

Our lawyer said that all of these things would help, though at the interview we were asked for very little in the way of evidence. We did bring in a huge case of files though, and this may have made an impact as the interviewer declined to view the bulk of our proof saying she was already convinced.

Based on the advice our lawyer gave us, I'd say that any letters testifying to the legitimacy of the marriage would be helpful if they need/want more proof. Our lawyer indicated that letters/cards/pictures from/with his family would tend to carry more weight, as would letters from say employers, banks, doctors, and that sort of thing.

Anything that shows strong family and financial ties will strengthen your case, so I would go ahead and get all the letters you can, even if you never have to show them.

I would say that the current temporary passport and copies of the previous passport with stamps should be fine. I myself had to get a new passport before my interview, it arrived a week before my interview even! So of course it had no stamps or anything in it, and they didn't even ask to see any copies of my old passport, though I had them on hand.

I'd just explain to them that you had to surrender the passport with the stamps in order to apply for the new passport, and that they gave you a temporary passport in the meantime. Have the copies of the old passport with stamps on hand if they want to see them, I would think you should be fine.

Congratulations on the approval.

I just got my "card production ordered" email this morning, and notice that my I-130 finally shows up in the online system when I look it up. The I-130 still says pending for me also, even though my I-485 has clearly been approved.