Blueguitar

OK, here's the situation: my wife has gotten her new Permenant Resident card wit removal of conditions. Our (her) two children have been applied for removal of condidtions, bt we have not yet received their cards.

We are wondering when the best time for her to apply for citizenship is, and whether the kids automatically get citizenship too at that time ... or just how all of that works.

Anyone know this process well?

Does anyone know how much of the things the Consulate asks for actually needs to be xeroxed too? We have a lot of evidence of support and domicile and such ... do they ask for their coppies of each thing along the way or all at once at the beginning?

They couldn't possibly of all the things they list (like the self-addressed envelope, for example).

R&R

Thanks for that info. We will call them on Monday. We're really ready to be done waiting.

R&R

How did you find out that they recently scheduled tons of March interviews?

We haven't received a letter yet. Is there another way we could know if they've scheduled us?

R&R

We're in the exact same situation with our K-1. Also in Montreal. Also Feb 1 expiration. Also submitted on Nov 23 (small world, eh?). Glad to know everything is OK. We would really like to get married on March 12th, since we have a week off after that for our honeymoon. But we need to get that letter soon if that's going to happen.

Let us know when you get your letter and we'll do the same with ours,

R&R

Hey guys, its been quite sometime since my last post. I had a question, I submitted my P-3 at the Montreal consulate on the 23rd November, 2009 and it was logged in their system on November 30th, 2009. My NOA-2 expires on February 1st, 2010 and just like the other K-1 applicants, I am waiting for an interview date. My question is do I need to email Montreal or will they extend the validity of the petition automatically? Also, I wanted to know whether Montreal is done scheduling for February, if someone knows the answer to this for sure.

Thank you for your answers in advance!!!

KnR aka slider100

Our case has been sent to the US consulate. The NVC says they probably have it by now. We will start talking to them tomorrow or Monday.

I have nothing to really offer you in terms of information at this time Blueguitar other than best wishes for a speedy approval!

I did want to point you to the Canada Forum however, for further help, information, or emotional support during this process. You'll find lots of information there from others coming from Canada to the U.S. Here's some links for you:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showforum=93

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=191858

Thanks for the good wishes and the links.

R&R

We're going to call in one week to the NVC to see if things are on their way to the US Consulate in Montreal. I think things are going to move a lot faster now.

Interesting situation! I am not sure how/ where the visas will be issued. How old are the kids? If they are teenagers, they may require their own interview. Was the mother married to the father? She may require written agreement from the biological father to take the children out of the Phillipines, or a curt order allowing same.

She has full custody granted by Canadian courts. Do you think they'll honor that in the Phils?

Wow! We've been reading around here and this is a wonderful forum. OK, bear with me for a little background: our K-1 will likely get through the Vermont Service Center in mid-December. Everything seems to be on track for approval.

The part we are wanting to make sure we keep on top of is the part that involves the two children. Since my sweetheart is in Canada and the her daughters are in the Philippines, we’re not sure how things work with the K-2 visas for them. The girls' names are on the I-129-F form, so we think k-2 will be issued automatically after the consulate interview. Is this right?

We don’t know if the girls’ visas will be issued with my fiancee's K-1 in Canada or be issued directly to them in the Philippines.

We understand we have a year to do so once the K-1 is granted, but we would like to bring the children over as soon as possible. All the documents on both girls are in order, including passports, divorce decree, custody papers, etc ..

We're trying to educate ourselves on this part of the process—particularly what we have to do on the Philippines end of things (so that we don't run into any surprises). We're checking with the embassy and with friends over there.

Anyone know anything about this? We would very much appreciate any insight.

R&R

You have the option of chioosing the PI consulate in Manilla. If possible I would suggest this, then applying for all visas at one time in Manilla. If this is not possible, then the Canadian counsulate will notify the Manilla consulate and you can apply for the K-2s there afterwards. I would suggest doing this BEFORE your fiancee enters the USA with her K-1.

When the petition is approved there is a form you can submit asking for a change of consulate. Easiest route is to request Manilla and for your fiancee to return there, do the interview with the children and get all visas at one time.

If you have nit submitted the I-129f yet, list your fiancee's address in the PIs. I presume she has one, and list her Canadian address as a mailing address or on the G-325a. Try to get this thing steered to PI where she is a citizen, and do it from there.

Gary and Alla,

Is your suggestion for suggesting that we apply to for the K-2s before coming to the US and getting married just that it is good to do it ASAP or that it's good to do while still in Canada? Or some other reason. We're beginning to have a better understand ing of the process, but still we have a lot of questions.

This forum is amazing for that!

R&R

I was also wondering how your contact with the VC consulate began. Did you initiate it? Or did they at some point say OK, you can talk to us now, here's the information.

It's exciting that everything is moving forward.

R&R

Lawyers, arghhhhh. You can do most, if not all of this, without one unless of course there is a unforseen problem or age-out issue or something beyond a normal petition. I'd bet your lawyer didnt send it to VSC until June-July.

It wasnt clear to me that the US Consulate would require that information about my Fiancee's work permit before they would begin to process her Visa application. It's not mentioned anywhere on the US Consulate Vancouver web site but if you review the I-129F Petition and other material I sent in with it that question would have been answered. In any case, we only lost a couple of weeks. Now, we'll loose another 4 weeks on getting the Police Clearances back from HK and the PHILS but that's the requirement and we'll go along with it. Again, Vancouver has been good to deal with so far.

Also, when a fiancee is working in another country and depending on her/his job, it's not always easy for them to just take off work, gather documents, travel to get fingerprinted, go to the post, open e-mail anytime they want and generally be as pro-active or timely as the Petitioner. It's a lot easier for me to do as much as I can for her from Seattle, follow up with her and drive north accross the border to sheppard the process from time to time.

Yes, stay in touch. Cheers.

We just got our second Notice of Action--just the email that it was sent. So things will be moving faster now. We'll have a wait on the police certificates too since Singapore won't send it without the requisition form the Consulate. I guess there's not really a way to speed that one up ...

At what point were you made aware that they were wanting the proof of Canadian status? Had they sent you the forms checklist, or were they just refusing to do any processing at all? Was there a place at which you could have included it with other forms if you had known? (I guess what I'm asking is, would you recommend that we just have the proof ready to go when they ask, or that we actually get it to the consulate as soon as we can even if they don't ask for it?)

R&R

Very interesting read! Our petition just l left the VSC last Thursday!

R&R

My situation is somewhat similar but not exact: My fiancee is a Filipina who lives in and works in Vancouver, BC. Her 19 year old daughter lives in the PHILS and is a 3rd year Nursing student. My petition was approved, exited NVC and now resides at the Vancouver Consulate.

I e-mailed the Consultate about the daughter's K2 since the NVC folks were clueless. More e-mails back and forth including "proof" that my Fiancee was actually legally working in Canada in order to continue the K1 process. That killed another couple of weeks of back and forth e-mails and faxing of a copy of her Canadian Work Open Work permit to them. She finally just recieved the Packet 3 letter last friday in the mail so we can now get the Police Clearances (some countries wont issue it without the letter with the finacee's name on it).

But I digress. The Vancouver Consultate has agreed to send my file to Manila once they have completed the K1 process for my Fiance. They wont send a copy to Manila at the same time for various reasons. Naturally, I have concerns on age-out that you wont have and every month delayed is a concern to me. The daughter will be issued the K2 in Manila but will still need all the Packet 3 paperwork, medical and my I-134 in order to get that K2 Visa.

By the way, the Consultates dont care that "two people are in love" bla bla. They aren't watching re-runs of "Lassie" at night, lookiing at your relationship pics and saying "ahhhh, so sweet". Having said that, so far the Vancouver Consultate has been helpful and cordial to deal with over e-mail. Manila, I dont know about yet but imagine them to be more jaded because of the fraud issues they deal with.

Hey, it's nice to be in touch with someone in the same boat. Similar boat anyway. We actually filed in May too. At least our lawyer said it was sent in May, but it was not received in Vermont until July. So we're looking at Dec. (or Nov. if we're lucky) for our NOA2. But then, who knows? Looks like yours was fast! About 3 months. Did that track pretty closely with what they were estimating at the website?

Do you think you could have saved time if you had tried to give them proof of the Canadian work permit earlier--like before they asked?

I hope the process hurries before you daughter is too old to be included.

Would you mind us keeping in touch as our processes go forward so we can compare notes along the way?

Hope everything goes well for you at every step of the way!

R&R

My situation is somewhat similar but not exact: My fiancee is a Filipina who lives in and works in Vancouver, BC. Her 19 year old daughter lives in the PHILS and is a 3rd year Nursing student. My petition was approved, exited NVC and now resides at the Vancouver Consulate.

I e-mailed the Consultate about the daughter's K2 since the NVC folks were clueless. More e-mails back and forth including "proof" that my Fiancee was actually legally working in Canada in order to continue the K1 process. That killed another couple of weeks of back and forth e-mails and faxing of a copy of her Canadian Work Open Work permit to them. She finally just recieved the Packet 3 letter last friday in the mail so we can now get the Police Clearances (some countries wont issue it without the letter with the finacee's name on it).

But I digress. The Vancouver Consultate has agreed to send my file to Manila once they have completed the K1 process for my Fiance. They wont send a copy to Manila at the same time for various reasons. Naturally, I have concerns on age-out that you wont have and every month delayed is a concern to me. The daughter will be issued the K2 in Manila but will still need all the Packet 3 paperwork, medical and my I-134 in order to get that K2 Visa.

By the way, the Consultates dont care that "two people are in love" bla bla. They aren't watching re-runs of "Lassie" at night, lookiing at your relationship pics and saying "ahhhh, so sweet". Having said that, so far the Vancouver Consultate has been helpful and cordial to deal with over e-mail. Manila, I dont know about yet but imagine them to be more jaded because of the fraud issues they deal with.

Hey, it's nice to be in touch with someone in the same boat. Similar boat anyway. We actually filed in May too. At least our lawyer said it was sent in May, but it was not received in Vermont until July. So we're looking at Dec. (or Nov. if we're lucky) for our NOA2. But then, who knows? Looks like yours was fast! About 3 months. Did that track pretty closely with what they were estimating at the website?

Do you think you could have saved time if you had tried to give them proof of the Canadian work permit earlier--like before they asked?

I hope the process hurries before you daughter is too old to be included.

Would you mind us keeping in touch as our processes go forward so we can compare notes along the way?

Hope everything goes well for you at every step of the way!

R&R

Hope things get better there soon. Looks like the worst is over.

Update: I spoke to someone at the US State Department today. She said that the way to go is to wait for the acceptance letter to come out of Vermont and they send our info to the US Consulate in Montreal. At that point, we will be able to talk to a real person there.

She said that Montreal will either send the girl's visas on to the Phils or keep it all there in Canada. It's their decision. I guess that's where the I-824 (Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition) might come in?

She said that if they keep it in Canada, all we would have to do is get the girls to Canada and then bring them on through to the US. Can that be true? Even on a tourist visa or something? Wouldn't Canada be annoyed by that?

And she wasn't clear on what we could expect if they did send it on to the embassy in Manila. She just said wait and see what the consulate says when they receive our case.

You know, the one thing I really want to know in all of it is this: will the consulate be looking for reasons to deny us

or looking for ways to help us? What's their attitude going to be? Will they be like "wow, here are tow people who love each other. Let's help this family get together under one roof!" ? Or will they be like "Oh, great. More people wanting to come into the country."

Any thoughts?

R&R

Just a guess, but this case may require filing an I-824 (Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition) with USCIS to send a copy of the approved petition to Manila.

You should be checking with both the consulate in Canada and the embassy in Manila to find out exactly what needs to be done.

I agree.

Thanks for that--and for the documents in a format we can send back and forth.

I'm going to start with the State Department on Monday, then start talking to the consulate and embassy.

Is it hard to get through? Would you suggest email .. trying to call them .. what's the best way to get a real person on the other end?

Info about Follow to Join from the US Embassy-Manila website --->> http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwh3226.html

Thanks!

I wonder if 13 is old enough that they would want her to have her own interview?

Wow, thanks for replies. I know there's a lot of figuring out we still need to do. If you are willing and have time to continue the conversation a bit, see below>

We're locked in to Canada for the K-1 (it's better because the divorce is in Canada--divorce is tricky in the Phils). So the possibility of doing it all in one place is not a good option for us. We need to figure out all the details of what we need to do on the Philippines end to get the girls over ASAP.

I should also mention that we have a lawyer helping us. He seems good and has been really helpful and good with all the steps so far, but we only paid him $450 total, so he's not exactly been quick to answer our many questions about this before we gut to that point. But When we talked about this before I decided to use him, he told me 2 things. 1. yes, it is totally doable. 2. he'd never handled one with the parent in a different country than the kids.

As for your very helpful questions to us (questions in bold followed by answers):

She may require written agreement from the biological father to take the children out of the Philippines, or a curt order allowing same. She has full custody (also in the Canadian courts). Will the courts in the Phils honor that?

How old are the kids? 13 and 8. So will the 13 year-old-need to interview?

Just a guess, but this case may require filing an I-824 (Application for Action on an Approved Application or Petition) with USCIS to send a copy of the approved petition to Manila. Is this something we can file before the k-1 is approved? SOunds kind of like not. How can I find out more about this?

You should be checking with both the consulate in Canada and the embassy in Manila to find out exactly what needs to be done. I agree. Thanks for that. Would you suggest email .. trying to call them .. what's the best way to get a real person in each place?

Canadian counsulate will notify the Manilla consulate and you can apply for the K-2s there afterward. I would suggest doing this BEFORE your fiancee enters the USA with her K-1.Why do you suggest doing it before she comes to the US? I presume we have to wait until the k-1 is issued? Don't the K-2s get issued automatically with the K-1?

We can't adequately express how much your willingness to share your knowledge and insight mean to us. But thank you!

Wow! We've been reading around here and this is a wonderful forum. OK, bear with me for a little background: our K-1 will likely get through the Vermont Service Center in mid-December. Everything seems to be on track for approval.

The part we are wanting to make sure we keep on top of is the part that involves the two children. Since my sweetheart is in Canada and the her daughters are in the Philippines, we’re not sure how things work with the K-2 visas for them. The girls' names are on the I-129-F form, so we think k-2 will be issued automatically after the consulate interview. Is this right?

We don’t know if the girls’ visas will be issued with my fiancee's K-1 in Canada or be issued directly to them in the Philippines.

We understand we have a year to do so once the K-1 is granted, but we would like to bring the children over as soon as possible. All the documents on both girls are in order, including passports, divorce decree, custody papers, etc ..

We're trying to educate ourselves on this part of the process—particularly what we have to do on the Philippines end of things (so that we don't run into any surprises). We're checking with the embassy and with friends over there.

Anyone know anything about this? We would very much appreciate any insight.

R&R