wheresmyrainbow

To clarify, if the young children are the only ones applying, and don’t have to attend interview, that means no one would attend interview so no interview at all? Makes sense in my head but not sure if that’s the way DOS/consulate thinks? I haven’t been able to find info on where the approved medical offices are located - is it only in Montreal, or surely they have one near Vancouver (I hope!)?

I (USC) would be applying for my adopted children only, who are very young/preschool age. We live in Vancouver and wondering if they would require us to travel all the way to Montreal for an interview, when I think children do not normally require an interview? For DCF process, I've read the USC only attends when submitting the I-130, then could technically leave Canada while the immigrant waits out the rest of the process. In my mind, that should not require any of us (me or kids) to travel to Montreal - any thoughts?

Yes I understand I do need to file taxes, just for various circumstances over the past 2 years it's been very challenging. I intend to file and get everything caught up after we return to the US. We shouldn't owe anything but I understand it still needs to be done. To clarify, I am a US citizen, and I would be petitioning for my adopted children. According to what I've read, due to Child Citizenship Act they will be admitted as LPR/green card but immediately change to citizens, therefore the I-864 and financial sponsor not needed. On the I-864 form instructions, it says: Are There Exceptions to Who Needs to Submit Form I-864? The following types of intending immigrants do not need to file Form I-864: 2. A child who will automatically acquire U.S. citizenship under INA section 320, as amended, upon being admitted to the United States. Children become U.S. citizens upon admission to the United States as a lawful permanent resident (LPR) or adjustment of status to an LPR if they are under 18 years of age, unmarried, and residing in the United States in the legal and physical custody of their U.S. citizen parent. They also need to meet the definition of child at INA 101(c) which is applicable to citizenship. (For more information on definition of child, see USCIS Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part H, Chapter 2, Definition of Child for Citizenship and Naturalization at https://www.uscis.gov/ policy-manual/volume-12-part-h-chapter-2). Adopted children need to meet the requirements applicable to adopted children, including having a final adoption (See uscis.gov/adoptions) I just recently learned about that exception so I hope my understanding is correct because that's very exciting!

No we haven’t, but I believe the I-864 is not required in our case (our kids will become citizens as soon as they enter US) so I’m hoping for that reason it won’t be necessary? good ideas to show housing search and yea there would be a job offer.

I have maintained an address with a relative for my US-state drivers license, voting, and bank account. But when we move back to the US, we'd be going to a different state (would have a job offer in a different state). Is there any issue with that change as far as maintaining US domicile?

Correct, trying to prepare

It’s not definite yet but anticipating in the next 4-5 months. Is there a way I could pass on citizenship? They were adopted from a non-Hague convention country, do not meet the “orphan” criteria so doing the family-based process where we live with and have legal custody for 2 years before we file, as you said with I130.

No they are not USC’s yet, applying to bring them to the states as a LPR but they will automatically convert to citizen once we are living in the states. That’s my understanding of the process.

Considering DCF for my adopted children, we have to live together for 2 years before we'd be eligible. So I'm looking at ways to best prove that. 1. Photos - I thought I would screenshot each photo on my phone to show the date/time it was taken, that way I can show regular presence together throughout the 2 years. I was thinking maybe I would add the photos in a power point document, but I'm not very technically savvy so not sure if that's the best way? 2. Affidavits/letters - I thought we could ask various people to state what their relationship is with us and how they witnessed us living together and caring for the children? Wondering if there is a certain format that should be used, if it can be scanned to me or if I need the original, and if it has to be notarized? 3. We are also compiling proof of flights, different residence permits, school and immunization records to show we were together and caring for them as our kids. Any ideas welcome!

Considering doing DCF for my adopted children in the near future. My kids are very young so I'm assuming we won't need to get police clearance for them. Will I have to show police clearance for myself? I'm a little worried how I would obtain it for my previous location as there is no online way to request it, and I can't afford to travel back there. On the consulate website's list of required documents, it just says police certificate for countries of previous residence, does not specify who for.

Sorry I don’t understand?

We are in Vancouver. Would definitely consider Calgary but preference would be Vancouver to not have additional expenses. Thanks for your reply.

Hello, I plan to apply for my adopted child. If you're familiar with the USCIS options for immigration via adoption, we are doing option #3 the family-based petition process, which is having legal and physical custody for 2 years before we apply. It seems this is not very common, so I'd really love to hear any advice or experience anyone has. Or even if you have any information on how the DCF process goes in Vancouver/Canada, are they usually very accepting of job offers as a special circumstance, how long the DCF process takes here, etc. Thanks in advance!

Yes unfortunately I found that out. Hoping we could snag an earlier opening for this fall.

I don’t know if we will apply for Canadian PR, our work permits are good for 3 years and can be renewed after that. If we end up going back to the US after only a few years it wouldn’t make financial sense to get Canadian PR.

Hi everyone, this situation might be a little complicated but I hope the group can give me some advice. We are US citizens, and we adopted 2 relatives from my spouse's birth country (not naming for privacy reasons). I know about the requirement to have legal and physical custody for 2 years before we can apply for immigrant visas/green cards. We had been living in the birth country (which is a developing country) for almost 1 year when we got a good job offer in Canada and we decided to move. (Crazy that Canada will welcome us as a family but the US will not!) We applied for tourist visas for our kids so we could stop over in the US to visit family on our way of moving to Canada. They refused the tourist visas under Section 214, did not have strong ties to home country, and the consulate interviewer made some comments during the interview questioning why we waited so long to go get the kids and live together (the process took several years because of COVID, court in birth country, and some bad advice we got along the way). I was so shocked at the attitude/condescension, and while I understand the kids didn't have strong ties, we had proof of job offer etc. They didn't even look at it. From reading others' stories, it seems this is not that surprising. Anyway, we've moved to Canada and establishing our life here. At some point in the future we will apply for immigrant visas but for now we just want to visit family in the US. I would like to re-apply for tourist visas for the kids but I'm worried about how it will go. By the time we interview, we will have reached the 2 year custody point. Our ties in Canada will be (if these count?): our 2 jobs, 1 child will be starting school, the other child will be in daycare, and we are renting a home. Any advice on things we can do to prepare or what are our chances of success? It also worries me that being in a 3rd country might weaken our chances. We are on work permits, not permanent residents. Thanks for reading!