superspur

Hi All,

We moved to NY state from Vancouver last Christmas. However, we kept our apartment in Vancouver as we weren't able to sell it. It has now sold so we are back in Canada packing up and preparing to ship all the stuff we left here to our home in NY (we have been here about 3 months as my wife doesn't work and I can telecommute to my job).

We are confused about the 3299 customs form though - we are technically returning residents who have been out of the country for 3 months, but everything we are shipping has been in Canada for several years. Will this be a problem on the customs form? It looks odd that we checked "Returning Resident - 3 months abroad in Canada", then further down the form checked "Foreign/household effects aquired abroad and used more than 1 year".

Bit of an odd situation - anyone have any advice?

housewife:

I forgot, we listed our apartment on there as well. We just took the 2010 tax assessment by the city, our title deed, mortgage account statement and MLS listing (as it was up for sale). It wasn't essential as we had enough in other accounts, but you shouldn't have to pay to get an evaluation done.

We also used the MLS listing as part of our proof of intent to re-establish domicile.

Congrats birdnerd!

Now I can show assets 5x exceeding the poverty line and I can place that money in US $ in a US account now. DH can show the same although his money is obviously in Canada but it is be readily available it is RRSPs etc. We are older than most of the people here I think. So we have saved for this and planned. We have been married over 20 years. I can show some Canadian savings as well.

We had $0 in US-earned income and we didn't have any co-sponsors. We qualified on assets about 90% of which were held in a Canadian bank under my name (the beneficiary), and held in about a 50/50 split between Cdn $ and US $ in a mix of cash and investments (more than 3 accounts) but more than 5x the poverty line. It seemed to confuse the interviewer a bit as I think they look first for US earned income on the affadavit (which showed $0 income earned as income has to be earned in the US) and then on my partners US tax return (which only showed money earned in Canada) but they were fine once they saw the bank statements so I wouldn't stress about it.

Got my passport and visa package back from Montreal earlier this week - was about 2 and half weeks after my interview. The visa is stuck in my passport and counts as a temporary green card for 1 year.

Stupidly I forgot to note the tracking number of the Expresspost envelope I gave to them so I wasn't able to track it from Montreal I think they have switched to DHL or something now though, but this may still be relevent to those who were asked to take an Expresspost envelope with them.

Congrats Superspur! That's great news, and thanks for all the info you posted back in your review =)

Please make sure to let us know how long it takes to get the DHL package back in the mail!

I had a question I was hoping you could elaborate on.

You mentioned in your previous post, "The interviewer spent a fair amount of time going through the financial support docs".

Can you please elaborate on the types of financial docs you provided, and the types of questions they asked? How did that part of the interview go?

Thanks and congrats again! =)

They went through the affidavit of support and seemed to be looking for certain things (US income, joint sponsor, US tax return), none of which in our specific case were relevant (they skipped over the bits that were and had to go back and look). I don't think ours was typical hence why it took longer, but we had all the correct documentation for it (bank statements etc) so it wasn't a problem, just took a while. They are pretty clearly what qualifies you so if you meet all the requirements and provide documentation backing it up I can't see why it would be an issue.

Thanks for sharing the details superspur, I really appreciate it. I'm just worried since we don't have any of the big domicile proofs for me (the USC) and even my husband likely will move first and then get a job, so we're going on like no proof at all.

Did they ask why you're moving? Is it enough to say I'm tired of Canada and miss my family?? Seriously though, our main reason is to be with my family again for family support with our kids, etc - I hope they'll find that to be a good enough reason!!

Thanks again

Yes, they did ask why we were moving - our reasons were for family as well, similar to yours. Also as mentioned by OBX, the US citizen has to move first or at the same time as the beneficiary.

Further to the above, did you need the Xpresspost envelope, or are they sending your passport back DHL?

I took an expresspost envelope with me - the letter they handed me said something about DHL but I was told to ignore it as I had the envelope. I guess they are switching to a new system or something.

Would you mind sharing exactly what you had as proof of domicile? This is the one area we're really worried about - I, the USC (choles's wife) won't be getting a job, so there's no job offer to show, we'll likely be staying with family to start out with (what did you use for your family lease agreement), and I don't have school age kids - those seem like the main proofs of domicile, so I'm wondering what in the world we should do now?

I was very concerned about domicile as well, especially after reading on here about how strict Montreal are on this. I went into it expecting to be denied until further proof was provided (we tend to prepare for the every possibility to ensure we have a plan).

For domicile we had a standard lease with family, drivers licence, voter reg card, bank statements, moving quote, MLS listing of our place in Canada, and an application for a professional licence in the USA. Essentially all the docs that other posters have suggested.

The lease was a standard lease for the state we are moving to - just google lease agreement for the state you are moving to and draw one up between you and your family who you plan to stay with.

I can't say what was the main factor they considered for our proof of domicile - we don't have kids and don't have jobs in the US either. I don't know whether it was the documentation we had or our personal circumstances (age, wealth, status in Canada, education, qualifications, family, reasons for moving).

Ok, here is a more in-depth review of my interview:

Arrived at the embassy 45 minutes early and there were already about 10 people in front of me. The embassy opened at 7.30am. It took about 15 minutes to get through security. There were 2 queues - one for US citizens and one for everyone else. After security we sat in a downstairs waiting room before being escorted into an an elevator to go up to the consulate. Once we were in the consulate we queued for a number (note that this appeared to be a bit of a free-for-all - to be number 1 in the queue you need to be 1st out of the lift upstairs, not 1st in the line outside the embassy!).

After waiting for about an hour, the immigrant visas started being called (around 9am). I was called up to a window where a woman asked me for a few forms - basically the ones listed on the interview letter. She then sent me to go pay (used a credit card as I thought the fee was $350 US but was actually $404 - didn't have enough US cash).

I was then called to a private window inside a small room for the interview. I was aksed a bunch of fairly standard questions (where do you live, what is your job etc). The interviewer spent a fair amount of time going through the financial support docs, then disappeared for about 15 minutes. They they returned, they went over domicile. The questions were essentially "You need to prove you are serious about moving to the USA". I had all the docs that people on here have listed lease agreement with family, voter reg, drivers licence, bank statements etc, pretty standard stuff. We are selling our place in Vancouver so I had the MLS listing - if you are currently renting a place in Canada I guess a letter to your landlord saying when you will leave would be good. We are moving to the US for family reasons so I explained what they were, and also what we were doing in Canada (I am not a Canadian citizen or permenant resident). After the questioning the interview said "Welcome to the USA" and handed me the letter.

I was done by around 10.15am I think.

Now just waiting for my passport to be mailed back and we can plan the final part of our move.

Some advice - label all your forms with tabs at the top. I seperated mine into 3 stacks with bulldog clips - one with the copies of my passport etc, one for financial support docs, and another for evidence of domicle. Made it easy to locate docs when they were requested. At one point they asked for copies of my partner's US passport (which I didn't have) - luckily they found a copy in our file with the I-130 docs - it may be worth taking a copy of your partner's docs with you just in case.

Also, Montreal is a fantastic city to visit if you haven't been, so try to make a mini-vacation of it if you have to travel to the interview from out of province.

At this point I'd like to give a big thanks to everyone here on the visa journey website who have helped massively with the myriad of forms that are required and helping to keep me sane the past few months

Special thanks to birdnerd for starting this thread to get all the Canadian DCF's together in 1 place

Congrats Superspur!

Thanks!

Regarding questions on domicile for those asking, we had basically what was listed in the thread posted earlier in the Canada forum. TBH I think they seemed to put more emphasis on the interview regarding our moving plans and what we would be doing in the USA (you are under oath).

question here....Has anyone ever been called by montreal or DOS when filing DCF wise? The reason I ask is because we just sent in our DS230 and put our cell phone numbers on the forms, however someone has offered to take over our cell phone contract so we dont have to pay the $800 cancelation fee! Im just nervous about turning over the phone in case they would try and contact us on that number. But to waste 800 bucks on cancelation fees if no one else has ever been called by them would be stupid. Advice?

I'd go for it - I think it is highly unlikely that they would call. They don't even have a phone number to call in Montreal as they prefer to do everything by email.

My interview on Friday went fine and the petition was approved, so we are off the US soon! They had quite a few questions on domicile and finances but otherwise it went smoothly. I will try and do a more detailed write up later in the week when I have recovered from the stress/travelling.

is it true that the police certificate is good for a year???????

Yes.

Now that you bring it up; I also had my tonsils out when I was younger....I didn't even think to mention it at my medical.

IMO this won't be an issue at all for you. Good luck!

Thanks! I didn't think it would but good to hear from someone whio has already been through it.

Thanks. I booked the vaccines I needed today for this week, and will book the actual medical tomorrow, hopefully for next week.

My only concern is I don't have my medical history - the only operation I have ever had was to have my tonsils out back in 1988. I can't get a record of this (from the NHS in England) as they don't keep medical history between the ages of 1-17 past your 25th birthday unless it will affect your adult health. I'm hoping they don't consider this a "major operation".

I have a question on the medical exam. Am I correct in thinking I only need these 3 (I'm 28)?

27-49 YEARS

Tdap (Adacel)

MMR Measles, Mumps, Rubella. ("MR" and "MM" are not enough)

Varicella - If you had "Chicken Pox" disease, no vaccine is needed

I don't have my vaccination history so will have to get a blood test for MMR (or a new vaccination). Can I just do this at a normal doctors office? I have to do this before I book my medical appt. apparently.

dawnlinnet and superspur - have either of you guys been calling DoS to check if an interview date had been scheduled? If so, when was the last time you called?

I called ~3 weeks ago and was told no interview had been scheduled, but all my paperwork had been logged by Montreal.

I have an interview date, Friday 24th September - suits me perfectly!

edit: letter is dated Aug 4, post-mark is Aug 11, arrived Aug 18.

I'm curious about a few things; Do most have a lawyer for this process or are you going it alone like us?

We are going it alone, not sure about others on here. Don't really see how a lawyer would benefit us aside from checking the forms.

Police clearance is 1-year. Not sure about the medical though.

Got my interview letter today!!!!!! YAYYYYY!!! Finally, after 6 months it's here :) Interview date is Sept 29/10.

Wow, I have so much to do now, and a ton of questions I'm sure. I'll deal with it when I get down from cloud nine

Congratulations!!

We have a similar timeline so I'm hoping mine comes in the next couple of weeks

Superspur - Wow, that doesn't seem fair. But good point, I guess yeah I should send the packet back and then get the police clearance and AOS, evidence of domicile, etc as those are going to take some doing.

Did you have a special case, i.e., kids, adoption, criminal history, or not married to a citizen that would extend the time it takes for them to process your case?

Nope, should be a standard application. My wife is a US citizen, no kids/adoptions/criminal history etc. Both (temporary) residents in Canada on work/study permits.

Myself and dawnlinnet have been waiting since Feb for an interviw, birdnerd since March. One of my police certificates runs out at the beginning of December.

Checklist question: I think this is for Packet 3? I received my case number from MTL and a checklist to send back with DS-230:

I have read numerous times on VJ that I do not have to have the actual documents in hand before sending Montreal my DS-230 and checklist, just have them ready by interview date.

But the letter from Montreal explicitly says you check it off when you have "obtained" the certificate or document and THEN send the checklist and DS-230 to them…plus they make you sign it to that effect.

What is your experience with this? Would it be fraudulent to obtain the documents AFTER signing and sending the checklist just to speed the process?

Will they notice that the date of my police certificate, for example, is AFTER the date I signed the checklist stating I already had this document?

(I just like to be letter perfect and follow the rules when sending things to them as I find it speeds the process)

Not sure about this, but the at the rate they are going, I'm going to have to get another police certificate as the one I applied for 1st time around could be more than 12 months old by the time they schedule my interview.

My US husband filed the I-130 in Vancouver in person on June 10, 2010. We have not heard a peep from Montreal yet, so almost 8 weeks waiting for the first notice of acceptance…or is it approval? I am always confused about that.

Those of you who have waited 4 weeks for a first communication (NOA1), you're in for a bit more waiting, unfortunately.

I applied in Vancouver last November and I received the package from Montreal in January, 6-8 weeks later, so I would expect you will receive it any day now.

Police clearances…Question: I went to the police department in Vancouver in person and they told me that if I did not yet have a case file number or "checklist" from Montreal asking for the police cert, that they could not do it for me.

Or Montreal might not accept it and I would have to get it done again. Is that right? I didn't trust what he said.

I had to show the copy of the letter from Montreal to get a police certificate. I got it done on the same day though - took about 20 minutes (RCMP in North Vancouver). I think it depends on the RCMP station you go to though.

Reading through the link above, am I correct in thinking that you do not HAVE to get immunization records, as you can pay for booster shots/blood test proving you have had the required shots? I lived in the UK when I was younger and don't want to have to write to the NHS in England requesting immunization records.

Yep, the process differs from consulate to consulate.

Yep. When we filed our I-130 last November in Vancouver we had to turn up at the consulate between 2pm and 4pm on a Friday, no appointment was needed. It then took approximately 6 weeks to receive the package from Montreal, but bear in mind this was over the busy Christmas period (holidays, slower post). The date on the letter received was 4 weeks after we filed at the consulate.