saskswan

Everything went great. They are so efficient at there. I arrived early and was finished before my appointment time.

Thanks!

I have my biometrics appt scheduled for tomorrow in Sugar Land. Anyone know if it was affected by the flooding?

I filed April 20th. We've been married since 2007 and I've been in the U.S. Since 2009. . I wanted to get my citizenship before my daughter turned 18 so she doesn't have to bother with it later.

I am in the same situation. My son is only 6-years old though. After I get my citizenship, can I just get him his US passport? His birth certificate, the Father section is left blank. So how do I go about getting him proof of citizenship other than the N600?

Thanks!

Just a note... when we moved here and I had to get my drivers license because I had a K3 Visa, my husband had to provide proof he was a US Citizen. They refused to accept his passport as proof. They said he needed to provide his birth certificate (if he was American) or his Naturalization certificate. So filing a N-600 might be a good idea.

My daughter's Birth Father isn't listed on her birth certificate either. They did try and question me about that at my original interview for our green cards. I can only think it may be an issue once again but hopefully we can get through it without an issue again.

No, you can't apply for somebody else.

The minimum age for naturalization is 18 years, so your daughter has to file herself once she's 18 and desires to become a US citizen.

If your daughter is under the age of 18 by the time you naturalize, she will come a US citizen automatically, by act of law, the Child Citizenship Act of 2000, whether she likes it, you like it, your husband likes it, or the Pope likes it. Nothing to do, nothing to file, nothing to decline, it's automatic.

I am only getting mine so she can have hers so that's great!

My daughter and I received our green cards almost 3 years ago (my husband is a US Citizen). Our other two children gained their citizenship through him. Because my daughter is his stepchild, can her naturalization application be submitted with mine? Or do I have to file mine then file hers after I receive my naturalization. Or should we consider my husband adopting her?

Has anyone gone through this? Any advice would be great!

Thanks! I am hoping that is what it is. I'll discuss it with my husband (who is out of the country) and see if he wants to call them again to be sure. They really know how to make you feel like you are never really immigrated!

If they issued your visa based on the I129 for a K3, then they are cancelling out your I130 which probably has been on hold since it got approved back in 11/2008.

I-130 Approval : 2008-11-03

I-129F NOA2 : 2008-11-03

NVC Received : 2008-11-08

NVC Left : 2008-11-10

Consolate Received: 2008-11-18

Package 3 Received: 2008-11-25

Package 3 Returned to Consulate: 2008-11-26

Interview date: 2009-01-07

K3 Visa received: 2009-01-08

I received my Greencard about a year ago. Since then we received a letter from the Department of State saying our Visa petition had been received and was pending our documentation. Blah, Blah, Blah. My husband called them and said we had adjusted status and were now greencard holders. They told us to write a letter to that effect and send it with copies of our greencards etc. Which we did. Today I received a letter in the mail that says: Our visa petition which was approved is now cancelled.

Should I be worried? There is no number to call on it. Why doesn't USCIS discuss things with the Department of State?? It seems weird!

On Dec. 18th we received an update that our applications were approved. Today we got the perfect present - two beautiful greencards in the mail!! Yay this is finally over for a few years!

Well it's been two weeks and absolutely nothing. Guess this journey is no where near over. I think 5 years of this has made me a little negative! lol

can you please tell me which docter you used to do the medical and how much they charged in houston? i need to get medical done. and sorry i do not have answer to uer question. thanks

We used Dr. Maria Tan in Missouri City. She told us that if we had used her partner they would never have questioned the medical. Not sure if that is true though. She charged us $95 for my medical and $75 for my daughters medical. Hope that helps!

On Nov. 24th we were mailed a RFE because they didn't like how our civil surgeon filled out the vaccination supplement. Just in time for everything to be closed for Thanksgiving. We went to the Civil Surgeons office on November 28th and had her fix the problems. We then express mailed the I-693 & a cover letter to the Houston Box number attn: the immigration officer handling our case. We have a signed receipt of Delivery for December 1st but they still have not updated anything on our case. How long should it take? They sure know how to make you sweat it out!

I wouldn't worry but we have a trip booked to go to England in March and I still don't have my greencard. My visa expires in 4 weeks too.

I don't think you can. Possibly once you get your EAD (as long as it doesn't expire for 6 months). I came to Texas on a K-3 and it was horrible getting my drivers license. #1 bring proof of your spouse/fiance's citizenship (passports are not good enough if they were not born in the US). They need their naturalization certificate. My license is contingent on my visa. It expires when my visa expires. So I would wait until you get your greencard.

We had our interview November 15th. We were told everything was in order except she had a question about our vaccinations. She said she would fax the doctor and if she didn't reply she would send it back to us. She sent it back to us on Nov. 24th. We went in on Nov. 29th and the Doctor said she had replied to them twice. She then again answered their question.. stamped and sealed the forms (copied it for us as well). We sent it in and now wait. :S They took our I-94's so it looks like we're stuck here until they decide something.

We went for our interview today. Which went so quick! They basically only verified our names, address, phone #'s, last entry date & place and asked for copies of the kids birth certificates. They did question my daughter about her biological father (whose name is not on her birth certificate). Then she said - everything looks fine except one thing...

Apparently the civil surgeon forgot to verify which immunization she gave me. So they have to return the form to her (via fax) and wait for it to be returned before they can give us our approval or not.

I was hoping this would finally be over!

We filed in August and Got our Biometrics appointment for Oct. 1st. Our interviews are now Scheduled for Nov. 15th. We are in Houston too. If I were you, I would check into it, since it's been months.

The weather here is amazing! I haven't gotten a tan yet - mainly because I've been unpacking.

I'm so glad our trip is over. Thanks for all the well wishes! I can't imagine anyone ever having a worse trip than we had! But today my mom called and said it's -34 and they have snow up to their yingyang so I'm so happy I'm here and not there!

Well here it goes!

We left ND finally Thursday morning and drove for a few hours then stopped for lunch. My husband gets out of his van and says "my tire is going flat again" so he went to a local garage to get it fixed. We enjoyed our lunch and left again.... he started out driving fairly quickly then kept dropping his speed. He calls me and says - there's something wrong with the wheel balance on my van. He decided he didn't trust the guy who fixed it so we would keep going until we got to another larger center.

We couldn't find a tireshop but they had a Walmart so we went there. The kids and I went shopping while John went to get his tire fixed. He came in to find us and said - they think it will be about an hour. So we shopped.. picked up a few odd's & end's and spent way too much money again! Finally they finish and we get loaded up and leave again.

By the time we reached Souix City it was snowing again.... and we keep going, the closer we get to Des Moines (where John's kids are) the harder it was snowing. It was dark, the traffic was thick and we kept driving. Finally we get to Des Moines. Spent some time with his kids (so they could get to know Lily (our 8 month old). Two of his kids weren't talking to each other so it made Dinner really interesting. The younger two ask us to go shopping in Walmart again. John agree's. So off we go again. It was about 10:00 at night so we only drove about 1 hour before we pulled over for the night.

The next morning we wake up to about 4 inches of snow. We go for Breakfast and get on the road. Hard to believe in this day and age that they don't plow immediately after the snow is done but apparently in Missouri they don't in all counties. We watched car after truck after car go in the ditch. At one point some genius was passing John and lost control and went in the ditch.... does that stop my husband from driving - nope..... we keep going. We get to Kansas city about lunch time. The roads have been sanded and aren't that bad but still there are these idiots that think they are invincible drivers. We are delayed waiting for them to pull a few cars piled up off the road. We get on the road heading towards Wichata. A black truck gets between John and I.... at this point John decides the road is good enough to do the speed limit, he pulls ahead. The idiot in the black truck must have decided that he can't let a minivan go faster than him so he hits the gas and some ice........

The next thing I know this black truck is slamming into the lefthand barrier and bouncing off and flying across the road....... missed us by inches!!! Hit the righthand barrier and was flying back across the road at us...... We managed to avoid getting hit barely! The entire time this happened (felt like hours!) John just kept driving - didn't see any of it. I get stopped... luckily the people behind me and the idiot in the black truck managed to stop. At this point I realize John is just continuing to drive.... so I get going again. I'm barely able to hold myself together - the kids are crying and Hayley (my 10 year old) is freaking out... begging me to stop driving and to get a hotel. I finally catch up to John (at this point he realized I wasn't right behind him and slowed down). He pulls off into a Wendy's. I just fell apart.... I come from a town with ONE traffic light and here I am in a city with a bunch of idiots that can't drive in snow or ice. I have a husband that can't realize that I'm not behind him because someone just tried to kill us... We pulled over for a few hours and got some road condition reports - decided to change our route to go straight to Wichata because the storm didn't go through there.

I was okay until we started driving through Wichata, I was just too nervous to drive at night.... we drove a bit longer but finally we pulled over when I called John and said I just can't drive anymore.

The next morning we managed to get an early start and had a relatively sane drive until we got to Dallas..... The traffic was horrendous!!! I mean bumper to bumper... even when we got I-45 from Dallas to Houston - there were just insane amounts of vehicles. We drove and drove and then we stopped.... litterally on the road. There was a traffic jam by Huntsville, TX. We sat on the road between Huntsville and Houston for over two hours. We moved a little bit but not much above 10 mph. Lily was screaming at this point. We are trying like hell to just get to the house. Finally we make it to Houston... Little did I know but John decided to take us on the biggest roads he could find in the city... I-45, Beltway 8, I-10!!! I have drove in cities like Edmonton, Saskatoon, Calgary but never in traffic like this..... I was totally nerve wracked! But we made it to the house without a scratch.. Thank God!

So the way I look at it now.... something was trying like hell to keep us away from here..... so we must be meant to be here. This is our home.

That was my journey in a nut shell...... I'm here - I refuse to drive for a while. And the kids/dogs/cat are so happy to be in a house - the culture shock really hasn't set in yet. lol

Just wait for the second installment! Pretty soon they'll be changing the name of Murphy's law to reflect my trip! I'll post more tomorrow! Today we have to get home!!!!!!! Finally!!!!!!!

Well we made it just past Des Moines today! We went this way because John's (Adult) kids live there. Now we finish our Journey tomorrow or Sunday (depending on how tired we get). Only issues we had were a bit of blowing snow and John having a faulty rim on his van - we had to stop twice to get it resealed. Stupid how there are no KIA dealers around when you need them!

Things are looking up finally! At this point all we can do is laugh when things go wrong!!!

We are finally moving!!! We planned to leave on Friday morning (Feb. 20th) that ended up postponed to Saturday because of some issues with health insurance etc. And this has been such a hilarious series of unfortunate events I had to share…

We finally get the van loaded (after the guys had to pull everything out of the van to find Hayley’s Birth Certificate that we needed for the border)… We meet my mom for Lunch and head out…. Approx. 1:30.. 20 minutes out of Meadow Lake I realize I forgot my Camera – John races back for it while I continue with the kids…

About 10 minutes out of Saskatoon I notice John’s Van catch a pothole in the road… He pulls over a couple minutes later he is having low tire pressure warnings in his van. We go to Canadian tire they fix it – by the time he drives over to where the kids and I are – it’s low again so he takes it back. Guess what – his rim is bent and they don’t have one that will fit his Van. They seal it and hope it makes the journey. Off we go again…

We get to Regina that night and the “pet friendly” hotel charges a $15 per night per pet fee… so they $100 room cost us $150. We get up and hit the road about 8:30. Three of us all sick with colds! We drive until I phone John and tell him I need to stop at the next town for Gas….. about two minutes later my engine light comes on…. We pull in at the gas station… fill up – restart the van….. now the engine light is on and there is a distinct noise…. I can’t even explain the noise it was so weird! John runs back in to the station and gets some numbers of mechanics to call. He gets one to come out to look at it.. he tells us he thinks it’s the transmission but he can’t work on it for two days…. Tells us to “limp it” to Estevan. We drive about 3 minutes down the road and John stops gets out and says – we aren’t going anywhere – it started slipping 3 & 4th gear. It’s only -44 in the wind so what the heck… lets stand outside and tinker on the van right! John takes it to Canadian tire (with the kids) and I go looking for a hotel. I find one and come back and take the kids to Tim Horton’s.. We waited for 45 minutes. John calls – It’s definitely the transmission (they used their computers) and they can’t fix it. So we go back to the hotel….. The next morning John takes the Van to the local Dodge dealership (at 8:00 am) at 8:20 he calls and tells me they have it in the bay and they are looking at it. Unsure of the cause (the transmission fluid is black). They decide to drain the fluid and flush it. They drain it and find filings….. it’s shot. So they had to rebuild it. Turns out the Torque converter failed and forced Engine oil into the transmission fluid.. blah blah blah This cost about $2500.00 and took until 9:00 Wednesday to fix. So we spent my Birthday in Weyburn… By the way Meadow Lake Restaurants could battle Weyburns in worlds worst places to eat! Even Dairy Queen managed to forget our ice cream on our banana splits!

We finally get on the road yesterday and manage to cross the boarder in 1 hour or so! North Portal had no idea what to do but they did what they thought they needed to do pretty quickly. It was amazing! We drove until Kenmare, ND and had lunch. Then we drove until Carrington and got some gas (I filled my van from empty for $32.00) Amazing huh! We then drove to Jamestown and had dinner (I’m in America and I am not suppose to say Supper!) and after dinner we left and drove to Fargo… The hotel we wanted decided 2 days ago to no longer accept pets so we had to change to another hotel. OMG – Sleeze motel move over! We walk in the room and it smells like Urine! The dogs go nuts running all over sniffing and sniffing.. I didn’t want them to sleep on the floor! It was 10:00 pm and we wanted an early start so we stayed.. at least the sheets were clean!!!

This morning we get on the road… The roads were horrible. Blowing snow and drifts. I kept thinking where the heck are the plows! Well about 10 miles out of Fargo I see this sign saying Christine to S. Dakota travel not advised… Well Little did I know that Christine was the town we came to about 2 minutes later looking for a place to have breakfast – but the café on the GPS didn’t even exist! (6 miles off the highway on very poor roads!) We managed to drive another 45 minutes before we finally give up (the visability was horrible and the drifts were terrible! Turns out they pulled the plows off the road because it had gotten to zero visibility). We pull off at a small town (Mooreton). The Café owner was great – she even let Lily use her grandchildren’s walker. She helped us find a hotel in Wahpeton (about 12 miles away). We drive here slowly and get to the hotel when John’s Engine light comes on in his van! At this point I’m ready to just go jump on the next bus! We checked in and they kindly let us have the room early. John found a mechanic to look at his van and he left. We went shopping at Walmart because we are running out of clothes (we packed for a 5 day journey, not a 7 – 8 day adventure). We meet back at the hotel both John and I got stuck at the same intersection….. we both got out and luckily his warning light is just an issue with ice build up on a sensor or a wire. All fixed!

Now we sit and wait – hopefully the storm ends soon, the hotel has finally cleaned the parking lot but we have a 2 ft high pile of snow behind our vehicles…. So lets all hope we can get out tomorrow! This has been one of the weirdest trips ever, at the rate we are going we drive 1 day – rest 3! Ha, ha, ha! For once the border services / immigration were the easy part!!!!

Hugs to all!

Gail

So we are off to Caravan from Northern Saskatchewan to Katy Texas this weekend. We have a 10 year old and a 8 month old we will try to keep entertained as we trek! lol

We are taking what we can in our two minivans and will transport the rest this summer. It should be an interesting journey. I think we are going through Portal so I will post how it went entering on our K3/K4's! My husband usually makes the trip in 2 1/2 days - we are planning to take 4 days or so.

Wish us luck!

I don't know if it's the same, but when my husband was applying for naturalization they sent out a letter a year later asking for him to go redo his biometrics... he asked why when he went and they said that if the application takes over a year that the biometrics expire. Dumbest thing I ever heard. But that was their reason... If after a year your application isn't processed they make you redo your fingerprints.

We received my daughters passport and certificate today! It's official we can finally move!!!!!!!!!!!!