NBtoPitt

Thanks guys! Had my interview first thing this morning and it went very smoothly! Took maybe 10 minutes, they were very kind, and the officer said to expect a letter for the oath ceremony in the mail. Woo hoo!

Hey all!

My interview is FINALLY almost here - it's in Pittsburgh and is later this week. I've studied the exam, have all my papers ready, and am not sure what else to do. What should I expect? How long do these usually take? What happens after - do they give me my oath ceremony letter right there? Will they mail it? How long does it usually take after the interview? Thanks all, trying to calm my nerves >.<

Thank you! I really wish I had posted sooner because I could be done with my interview, but lesson learned!

I wish you would have posted this issue little bit earlier.. As I was reading your first sentence I already knew what you were going to say.. Never ever take a word from customer service, because they only have access to general information, the exact one that you can look it up yourself on uscis.gov . Similar thing happened to me like 2 years ago, but thank god that I had this website.. My mail got lost and they created service request for me, but no response within 2 weeks.. Afterwords I found out here on VJ that you can request to be transferred to tier 2 officer and they can see literally everything on your file. I was being told that my appointment was next day and officer actually faxed me appointment copy.. That's how I survived. Since you already got you new appointment you don't have to worry about anything but just know for future references that such thing is possible good luck on your upcoming interview, you are almost done

Update: I had my InfoPass appointment on Friday. The USCIS office here in Pittsburgh had no record of my calling at all to report the letter missing (although I did bring the Service Request Confirmation number, so they did believe me when I said I called). The gentleman working looked up my case and confirmed that a letter had gone out on April 17th, but nothing since. I asked for him to find my interview date and print a new letter, and when he did we both discovered that my appointment had been on May 27 and I was marked as a no-show. He said it was no problem to schedule a new one and that they would send another letter.

HOWEVER - if I had not gone in within 30 days of missing my appointment (which I didn't know I had missed, as I had never gotten the letter and my service request on May 15 apparently did nothing) my case would have been automatically DENIED.

Thank you so much everyone! If I hadn't found out about InfoPass through here, I would have been denied. Very scary! Today I received my new appointment letter, and I go in about a month!

Ah! Thank you so much! No one on the phone were able to help me so I have an InfoPass appointment Friday morning. Hope they can help me!

Anyone? If this belongs in a different sub please let me know!

Hey all,

So my N-400 appointment letter was mailed out on April 17. I did not receive it, but received an additional letter asking me to bring my driver's license to the appointment. When the 30 day mark hit with no letter, I called the number they give. The person on the phone took my information, gave me a confirmation number, and said good bye. I was confused because I didn't know what to expect, so I called back in a week. This new person apologized and said that if I had not received anything after 15 days to call back, and that the first person should have said this when he gave me my confirmation number the last time I called. Saturday was the 15 day mark, so I called back this morning. The new lady told me I need to wait 30 days from the day I got my confirmation letter.

How concerned should I be here? I'm scared that I'm booked for an appointment and I'm going to miss it because I haven't received any letter. They cannot tell me my appointment date and time on the phone but the next time I call it will have been a full two months (assuming I don't get a letter, which I feel like I should have gotten by now since it is sent out of Pittsburgh and I live within the city). Has anyone here experienced anything similar?

I've only been here three months (I'm the Canadian spouse) and I got pre-approved by myself using non-traditional credit. Basically, it's for people with either no or "thin" credit histories, and they look at alternative sources to determine your trustworthiness in repaying the loan, such as: paying your rent on time, paying bills on time, etc. If you can get at least three sources like this, then you should be fine.

It really is a difficult plan, and if I didn't need a car so badly I wouldn't even consider it. I'm going to try a few more places, but I really have tried almost all venues out there. It's so frustrating to be able to get any car I want in Canada but nothing at all here. Especially when I can get a mortgage! Thanks for the info so far, I'll keep you all posted!

Next week, to buy a car!

Okay... sorry for the double post, but I THINK I've got this figured out now:

In Canada, I...

• Buy the car
  
• Obtain the title (with both mine and bank's names)
  
• Get it insured and registered
  

At the border, I...

• Give them the compliance letter
  
• Show them registration
  
• Receive a stamped letter of import from them
  

In Pennsylvania, I...

• Go to DOT
  
• Give them my old registration
  
• Give them the title
  
• Show proof of PA insurance
  
• Get new PA plates, registration, title
  
• Get car inspected
  

Phewf. Am I missing anything?

So... that means I can keep it registered in Canada but get US insurance on it? Is that an option?

I think I want to register it in Canada first (makes the most sense). What papers do I need to do that? I really am totally new to this! Never had my own car before!

Alright, so I think I need a little hand-holding for this one. I desperately needed a car for work, and in spite of qualifying for a MORTGAGE here in the US, I couldn't get a car loan ANYWHERE due to my lack of credit (the mortgage used my Canadian credit, but I can't do that for a car loan). So my way around this is that I'm buying a car in Canada and bringing it down. I'm aware that I may have to pay fees, but I've accepted that. So, my questions:

Should I put Canadian insurance on it and then switch to US insurance once I get back to PA?

Is it possible to just get US insurance from the start?

What exactly is the process of crossing the border with a car? I can't find a straightforward explanation that tells it from the beginning.

What papers do I need to cross the border with the car?

What do I need to do to get the car registered once I'm back in PA?

Anything else I need to know?

I've never owned a car, so I'm completely lost here. I desperately need it though. Thanks in advance for the help!

So Monday came and still no SSN card, so I dropped by the SSA office downtown on my way to work. They had no record of me ever applying via my visa forms, and said that this happens all the time. Ugh. Frustrating. Anyway, I ordered a new one, and my card will be here within two weeks (the man promised this time!) and I can go in anytime from today to get him to tell me the number. Does anyone know if my husband can go in and get the number for me? I don't want to be late to work again... otherwise, I might lose the whole reason I wanted the SSN so bad in the first place

I moved here on Tuesday, and was lucky enough to be hired yesterday! Only problem is though, I haven't received my SSN yet. I had my POE on the 15th, so is it likely I've been assigned a number and am just waiting on the card itself? If that's the case, can I call and get it somehow?

The interview was very basic. We lined up outside and were let in around 7:30. We went through a security check, basically like one at an airport. We were directed downstairs to a waiting room. After a couple of minutes (if you're one of the first ones through) you're called to go in an elevator right beside the waiting room and then you sit in another waiting room.

They call you to a window, like ones at the bank (kind of), a couple of times to give documents (the ones asked for in the letter) and to have your fingerprints taken. Then you wait some more in the waiting room. Then you're called into a little room and are asked questions. For me they asked how I met my husband, where he was living and where I intended to live, and that was pretty much it. She handed me a welcome letter and said I can expect my passport back within a couple of weeks.

yes we made it! We didn't get in until around 11 or so, I was completely exhausted. I had to drive back up with my dad and return the rental car that we used to get home after the failed POE. Then we had to meet up with someone else with a truck and pickup the trailer that thankfully didn't get banged up in the crash.

Everything went almost ok. POE at Highgate Springs, VT. The guy at the border acted like a complete jerk. We went inside and the guy there was great. The only problem we had, was that my husband ENSURED ME that he had the EPA letter for his car. I asked, I made sure and I got, yup, yup yup, I got it, we're good. So out of all the things I had, I didn't make a copy of that. Guess what he lost? The freaking letter to import his car. .facepalm. In any case, the CBP let us cross without it as long as we came back up with the paper to try again.

Turns out he packed it like an idiot and it was buried at the bottom of one of his boxes... >.<

In anycase, we're here finally and all set. I'm so happy!!!

J-

That made me both laugh and shake my head - of course that would happen! Well at least it all went well, and now you can both relax. Congrats!

Yup, I activated mine on a visit and can go back and forth now with just the stamp in my passport

I hope Jill & Jeff's silence on Sunday means that everything went well this time!

Thanks Hugglebuggles!

And Canadiandggal, that is pretty much what we did. We had a civil ceremony at the courthouse, which our family called "eloping" (although, to me, eloping is when you don't call everyone up beforehand and let them know you're doing it!), and then had the wedding ceremony and reception on our anniversary. It was a nice compromise, and worked out really well. Plus, we didn't have to worry about "cold feet" or anything like that - all that had been sorted out before the civil ceremony!

Another nice thing about doing it later is you can take as long as you want to save up and make sure that everything is exactly the way you want it

Haha, thanks! The cupcakes were one of the things I was most excited for. They were delicious AND beautiful! We have a lot of kids on both sides of our family, so we wanted to make things a little more fun - the cupcakes plus the candy buffet were a big hit with them

Sad to see this thread die

But in case anyone still follows it, we got a few wedding photos back so far: http://www.julieawhitlockblog.com/2011/01/11/ashley-and-daniel-winter-wonderland/

I'm in love with them!

Awesome congrats!! We were going to POE today but I had an accident on the way up with the truck/trailer that I borrowed to help move all of his things. It's a long dramatic and tiring story, but I'm ok. Going to try again with a different truck tomorrow (pretty much wrecked the front end of the one I borrowed >.< ). Hopefully we'll get better results this time.

J-

Oh no! Sorry to hear

I hope tomorrow goes better for you. And I hope they're as nice and laid-back as they were with me! Now that we're through all the immigration stuff, life feels a little surreal. Almost like - "did we really spend a whole year on that?", haha.

Nevermind, I just went ahead and crossed today. POE was nice and smooth in Calais, ME. And it only took about ten mins

Can I open the DHL envelope, or not even that one? It's so tempting... sitting there all closed and mysterious...

Sigh. Lol.