kballtex

Beautiful family!

Congrats!

Thanks! And lgg I'm with you... amazing how long those 9 mo seemed to take, yet it really flew!

Hey all - it's been quite a while since I last checked in here, good to see more of us have gotten through this journey (though I don't really count it until my wife's gotten naturalized). Since we got our Visa about 6 months ago, we have moved house twice (once to get her and baby down here, again to a new place with more room). Also our kiddo is 6 months now and healthy and big!

21 lbs

27.5 in long

Many Thanks and I hope everyone is doing well!

-Andy and Family

1) It is May now, so maybe 6 months after that? It is really hard to say when exactly it will happen. Use the timelines as a guide, they were pretty accurate for us.

2) Montreal won't give you any preference or choices on interview except for extreme cases (my wife was due with our son right before our interview date, and they could care less).

It will take approx 6 months to reschedule an appointment if you miss it.

I'm not sure if this is anything people encounter often but if you are sending mail to their address in the US (PO BOX in Lewiston, NY) please allow some extra time. Apparently they only pick up once a week, on Wednesdays typically. (Spoke with someone at the post office about it, since my package had been sitting there for a few days)

USC Chiming in here - Where I'm from we're raised to be polite - perhaps moreso than some places in Canada (I get odd reactions when I say "Yes, Sir" and "no, Ma'm"). As for the general difference in attitude my observation is a culture of "sky's the limit, but not much of a safety net" (US) versus "there's a ceiling, but if you fall the safety net is pretty decent" (Canada).

So a lot of the attitude you might see there is just a by-product I'd say. Also the politics thing is a bit worse in recent times, but there are always going to be crazies on either side.

So its over $1000 less if we are willing to hop across the border with our items. Crazy, but it just might work (we're close enough that we can definitely work it out).

Just called them - looks like I may be out of luck unless they can get someone to drop a container here in Sarnia. They are telling me that the closest facility is in London - about an hour away. Guess we'll see.

I really liked the relocube, it holds a lot of stuff - it's amazing how much you can get in there really. That said, there wasn't one thing that didn't get scratched. - but that's more of a packing thing. We were careful, we wrapped all our furniture (we only took things like end tables, no dining room furniture or sofa for instance) - but we had totes (and totes) of stuff. When you squish that much stuff in to, what is going to be, a moving box, it's bound to get a bit damage. Also our washer and dryer, the dryer had a dent on top as, of course, we stacked stuff on it.

In comparison, we used 10 feet of the truck (we brought a sofa back with us) but nothing got damaged. Really depends on what you are shipping I guess.

I've not taken an honest inventory just yet but we're mostly talking about packing boxes, probably enough to fit in an econoline van, plus some bikes and maybe a set of drawers. Maybe an angry mother in law as well? Oh dear. If its less than the $1600 U-haul is asking for that wouldn't be bad at all.

We've used them twice, once relocube, second time truck. Our truck was spotless. My Sister also used them, their stuff shifted (ie: the bulkhead came down) and there was a load of tires apparently and they did get some grease on some of their stuff.

Upack gave them no hassle and gave them some money, can't remember how much, but she thought it was fair. They also stated that the trucks are not supposed to be carrying things like tires with Upack goods.

Haven't thought of the relocube idea, my folks were going to fly up and then drive our goods down. U-haul truck would cost approx $1600 one-way, not including gas. Maybe this isn't a terrible option.

Well i'm sorry they didn't accept the documents you had with you, however, good that you can get everything you need.

Do you have to return for another appointment or will they just let you mail them in or fax?

They're going to let me mail it in thank goodness. Didn't ask about the fax option, will have to take a look at the worksheet.

Went in today, looks like I have to get those transcripts. Looks like I'll be able to get these within a week or two. The Toronto Consulate experience was better than Montreal for sure. We were there at 10:05 for a 10:30am appointment, and I believe we were back out at 11:30am.

Awesome. Kind of tempted to do something similar once we have my boy's CRBA.

I will keep the appointment, appreciate the encouragement! I found a few extra things while digging through my old tax submissions. Found my full 1040s for the following years:

FY2004

FY2006-2009

I have documentation from my employer (printed from our HR system) that verifies the following:

1) I've been an employee based in the US since 6/6/2005

2) I left University with a 4 yr degree as of 5/15/2005

3) Employment Letter I used for the AOS

I would definitely give the consulate a call if I weren't about to leave on a business trip for two days. Please forgive my nervousness here, the sleepless nights with the newborn are taking a toll I think.

I'm not anywhere near my residence, I'm still in Canada so didn't bring every doc I own with me. Wish I had brought all of those W-2s! Is it terribly important to have extensive documentation on my Canadian wife's time in the US? She's back and forth to the states quite a bit due to living on the border.

Starting to contemplate taking a weekend trip back to Dallas just to get documents and then rescheduling the CRBA.

So they've already decided to roll out the EP option to more countries? Awesome. I think it saved a lot of time on my case.

Appt is Friday, and my Univ won't send anything electronically. I found some stuff on my work's HR website that might help..

I'm trying to sort out what I can provide as proof right now, fingers crossed that I can prove that 5 years in the U.S:

1) Driver License

2) Visa application copy with detail on my residences for past 5 years

3) Letter of Employment

4) Passport

5) Tax Transcripts FY's 2005-2008

Very frustrating, this is the last portion of stuff we need before the move.

Hi everyone, I was thinking someone here may have already done this, so need some pointers. I've got an appointment next Friday to get this last piece of paperwork settled so we can move down as a family. I think our appointment is 10am or so, but I recall at Montreal if you show up earlier than your appointment they let you in anyhow. Is this the case for US Citizen Services at the Toronto Consulate? Are the lines crazy there as well? Also what did ya'll bring as evidence, as I'm not a PR in Canada, just here visiting more or less.

I guess what I'm really asking is how much detail do they want on my times in/out of the states? I have just started to try and get a grasp of that but I'm at 13 times within the past 9 months. I'm not even sure if I can account for much before June!

Hi everyone, I was thinking someone here may have already done this, so need some pointers. I've got an appointment next Friday to get this last piece of paperwork settled so we can move down as a family. I think our appointment is 10am or so, but I recall at Montreal if you show up earlier than your appointment they let you in anyhow. Is this the case for US Citizen Services at the Toronto Consulate? Are the lines crazy there as well? Also what did ya'll bring as evidence, as I'm not a PR in Canada, just here visiting more or less.

Hey there friends - after sitting down and winding down from our journey so far (we're not yet moved across the border yet, but the wife has her visa) I decided I've heard enough from one of our senators about Immigration reform this Immigration reform that. So I wrote a letter and mailed it off before I left for Canada.

Not sure if it's going to do any good for us personally but maybe it helps some others. It just really frustrates me that I know personally someone who worked here for years under false social security numbers, took advantage of in-state tuition etc and after their marriage got legal status in just a few months. There's gotta be a better way.

Boop-No problem..Glad to be able to help you here...

Good luck with your interview, and good luck in bringing the baby along too...

And yes, do post about that afterwards too, baby and all!

Btw..Personally I think it is better to bring the baby along...

What better "proof" of a "genuine marriage" than an actual baby! lol....

Kballtex-Congrats on your baby! Congrats on passing your interview too!

Glad that you had no problems bringing in your baby to the interview..Wow..4 days old..that's early..awww....Glad everyone liked them there too.

I know what you mean about the stroller too....yeah it's more troublesome to travel on stairs with that..

Lol...As for feeding the baby in the waiting area...likewise, I had to do the same thing too..

(though for me it was kind of awkward to nurse my son while an IO was talking to me in the waiting room...talk about awkward!..... ..oh well...babies have to eat, regardless...lol...)

Ant

I think the fact that he was getting restless from his dirty diaper sped up our interview. "Get me outta here!"

Yep you should be fine. One thing I will point out is after you enter through the front door/security area you have to travel down a flight of stairs before going into the elevator. The stroller for us ended up being a bit of a pain as I had to fold it up / pack all our stuff up underneath and hope it didn't fall out. Pretty sure at one point my wife was feeding him in the waiting area.

Enjoy and good luck!

The gal yesterday at the window told us the mail backlog right now at MTL is 8 weeks. I'd take that into account for anything you mail in.

So we began the trip to Montreal on 3/9 from Sarnia, since we had a 2 day old baby and didn't want to rush too much and was also our first trip with the little guy! Got into Belleville, ON that night, then drove to Montreal on 3/10. Actually worked out nice, except for rush hour traffic in Montreal. Yikes!

Stayed at the Hilton Bonaventure - rate was good, free breakfast vouchers (Hilton Gold!), and internet included. The night of the 10th while baby and mom were resting I took a walk to the consulate to scope out the location. So close, maybe 10 minutes walk? Add some extra time if you're moving with a stroller though!

Arrived at the consulate probably around 6:45? Met wrtc and EdmontonGirl and their significant others, shivered outside as people started to gather behind us including a lady from the Philippines who had been waiting 15 years for her interview date!

Doors opened around 7:30am which was great because baby had already gotten fussy and I was holding him inside my jacket to shield him from the wind and -2 C temps. Everyone seemed to think he was big for a 4 day old baby. Getting through security was pretty smooth considering the stroller (he had us fold it up and run through the scanner after removing everything from it, no problem). For those traveling with young ones - we brought some petroleum jelly, diapers, box of wipes, and didn't get any challenges. Had to lug him and the stroller and all down the flight of stairs, and then wait in a downstairs area for maybe 10 minutes until the security guard came by to let us on to the elevator up to the main waiting room. We were letter D, and I'd estimate we were at the window shortly before 9? The Consular officer was very nice! Gave us complements on the baby - I had almost lost my affidavit of support! Turns out I had it, so no problems here.

Then back to sit and wait and congratulate all those in front of us including the VJers EdmontonGirl and her husband, as well as wrtc and his wife. I believe we were after wrtc, and the interview was a cinch.

"How did you meet?" London, UK 9/2007

"Where does she live?" "Where do you live"

"Do you have any info on income other than 2008 taxes?" I had them, the woman at the window did not ask for it so I just handed it to her then.

"How old his he? (referring to my son)" "Wow you must really want to come to the states!"

"Welcome to the States!" (insert typical warnings and instructions here)

Time to pack and get us on our way to Belleville for the return trip!