CanAmBride

I just went to the USCIS web site to check my status, and when I type in my receipt number from our NOA1, it says

"•Your case can not be found at this time in My Case Status. Please check your receipt number and try again. If you need further assistance, please call the National Customer Service Center at 1.800.375.5283."

Obviously I'm going to call Monday morning, but has anyone else experienced this problem?

Sure.

In fact, there is a bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Canada allowing him to collect even if he moves back to Canada without becoming a US citizen, no matter how stupid that would be.

Thank you for your response. I forgot to add that my husband still works in Canada. Sorry, this was probably a pretty important detail. We live in a border town and he crosses everyday to go to work. He pays Canadian income taxes and we file a US Tax Return in April, but I don't believe he pays Social Security out of his income tax.

Do you think we should talk to a lawyer or accountant? I'm afraid we'll go to retire and be like "ooppss, he doesn't get SS."

My husband has his 2 year green card and we are currently waiting for his 10 year. If he keeps renewing his 10 year green card for the foreseeable future, will he be able to collect Social Security in the US when we retire in 35 years (assuming Social Security is still around)?

2. A binder organized by tabs and a TOC sounds above and beyond what is necessary. I had a letter detailing all of the contents, then made sure that all the contents were in order, and either stapled or clipped multiple pages together. I don't think I had tabs on the top (I did for my original USCIS interview in Montreal), but it can't hurt. In other words, you sound well-prepared.

Thanks for the feedback! I know the binder is probably overkill, but for our CR-1, we paid a lawyer $2,500 to basically take all of the documents I sent him and organize them in a binder with tabs, so I figured I could do it for free by myself for the I-751!

Fingers crossed!

Hi Everyone-

My packet is almost ready to send! Just two quick questions I was hoping someone could help me out with:

1) Did you black out anything on your bank statements? I was thinking of blacking out my account numbers. It just seems odd to send all of my financial information to a complete stranger....

2) What format did you submit your evidence? Right now I have it in a binder organized by tabs with a table of contents. Is this ok?

Thanks!

Thank you for your response! I figure every bit helps, so I'm going to include 2, one from my twin brother and one from our best friend.

Quick question:

The instructions for the I-751 state "Affadavits sworn to or affirmed by at least two people".

Do these affadavits have to (or should they) be notorized? If so, can the notory be a relative?

Hi VJ. Wow, I can't believe it's coming up on two years since I was last here! I'm starting to pull together paperwork to file our ROC, and I'm coming up a little short. Hoping to get some advice...

My husband owns a business in Canada and commutes from the US everyday. When we got married, I already owned our house (and all of the utilities are already in my name) and because he had no US credit/income, his car is in my name as well. Because of his business, we do not have any joint bank or savings accounts. All of our assets are in my name alone. We also do not have children.

The only financial documents that tie us together are our tax returns, which I will send. We are also beneficiaries on each other's life insurance. I can show that we both get bills to the same residence, but our joint names do not appear on them.

We have lots of pictures, itineraries from trips, and can provide affidavits showing that we have been living as a married couple for the past 2 years.

I'm still afraid this is not enough.... I am not really interested in adding him to any of our assets, as we have been advised by a few different professionals (law, tax...etc) not to do so because of his business.

Does anyone have advice?

We sent:

Pictures of us together over the years and with family

Email records we sent

Cell Phone Records

Copies of birthday cards over the years

Travel itineraries with both of our names as well as pictures of us in those locations

Good luck

Just an FYI, I was informed by my accountant that even if you don't live in the country, your husband has to file as married. My husband received his Green Card and did his POE in December 2010 and we had to file 'married filing jointly'. However, we did not have to claim his Canadian income this year because he spent less than 6 months living in the US. Also another FYI - if you do have to claim your Canadian income, you can also use the Canadian income taxes you paid as a write-off because of the "Foreign Income Tax Credit". For us, it will end up pretty much being a wash.

I'm not a tax professional, so I would consult one just to be sure.

I can only tell you from personal experience. My husband and I did a CR-1, so we got married and then filed our I-130. Our (idiot) lawyer at the time told us that he couldn't cross at all while his petition was in progress, so for the first 4 months while waiting for our NOA2, I only visited him in Canada, he never crossed. Once I found Visa Journey and saw stories about Canadian applicants visiting their American spouses while their petition was in progress, we decided to try it. My husband kept a packet with all of his application paperwork and notices, bank statements, a statement from his employer verifying his job...etc. We started off with him crossing once ever few weeks but only when necessary. By month 6, he was crossing every weekend and staying all weekend, and by month 8, he was crossing some week nights as well. We found that many customs agents didn't even know the rules when it came to the Green Card process, so we ended up educating a lot of them. He got pulled in a few times by rookie agents, and was immediately told by supervisors that he was not doing anything wrong and they let him cross with no problems. I only wish we would have tried crossing sooner! Those first 4 months were torture (he sold his house much quicker than anticipated and was living with his parents, not fun!)

Contact OHIP directly and ask for a letter confirming your coverage. Just the card and your birth certificate is not enough to prove ongoing coverage.

I would DEFINITELY consult a tax professional. Every circumstance is different, and you don't want to get on the IRS's bad side!

I know in our situation, my husband lived and worked in Canada until he made his POE in December. Our accountant told us to have him file his Canadian income taxes as usual, and then our accountant can use the taxes he paid as a write-off on our taxes because of the Foreign Income Tax Exclusion. It's going to end up saving us thousands of dollars.

People, don't you realize that with this international relationship and your inevitable dance with USCIS you have to think and act outside your normal box.

Stay at a hotel, even for one night, just to generate that evidence. Generate the evidence. What is so hard about this concept?

It is well known, at least to us VJers, what most folks provide and get by with. You can do the same. You don't have a normal relationship because of USCIS.

When Alla and I met in Kiev for 10 days, we did things together, sometimes for the sole purpose of generating evidence of meeting and to show our relationship.

When I met my now husband 8 years ago, it didn't occur to me to think "oh gosh, I need to start gathering evidence of a bonified relationship!!!" It wasn't until 7 years later when we decided to get married that we looked into what it took to get a Green Card. Luckly, we had plenty of evidence because I am sentimental and I keep things like cute emails and plane tickets. I don't think it's fair to expect people to collect these things throughout the course of dating just because one day, they may get married and want to apply for a Green Card.

However, normal things like phone records and credit card statements, and photos which show an ongoing relationship are easy to get in today's digital age, so it's not too hard to retrace your steps once you decide to file.

My husband and also visited eachother by car and didn't have hotel receipts because we stayed at eachother's houses. We also didn't have any stamps in our passports despite crossing weekly for 8 years.

Here's what we sent as proof of a relationship:

1. Detailed account of how/when/where we met

2. Affadivits from family members and friends verifying our relationship

3. Hotel receipts and plane tickets from trips we took together and pictures of us together in those places

4. Pictures of us with eachother's family members at different times (example: his cousin's 1st birthday and her 5th birthday)

5. Copies of email sent throughout the years with "relationship" type conversations

6. Copies of our cell phone bills with eachothers phone numbers highlighted

7. Pictures of us at eachothers major life events (college graduation, birthdays...etc).

There are many, many other ways to prove a bonified relationship other than passport stamps.

It sounds like you are withdrawing your application and have decided to reside in Canada. What is your dilemma?

How long does it normally take to receive your green card and SSN after coming to the USA on a CR-1? Thanks

Just an FYI - My husband made his POE on December 3 and got his Social Security card on December 14. We didn't go to the Social Security Office (he had checked the box on his DS-230 to automatically have one issued).

Still haven't received his actual Green Card Card, but he has the stamp in his passport and has been using it to travel back and forth to Canada daily for work with no problems.

Just wanted to give everyone a perspective on timing for Social Security numbers.

My husband had his CR-1 interview in Montreal on November 30. He did his POE on Friday, December 3.

He received his social security card on Tuesday, December 14.

We were pleasantly surprised by how quickly he got it. Now we just have to go about building his credit!

I have question - how did they stop her BEFORE she boarded the plane? I've flown internationally many times, and I've never had a customs agent go through my bags before I boarded a plane. I'm just curious how they found these documents....

Honestly, you lived and worked here illegally for the past 3 years and now you are looking for us to tell you that what you did was ok and will not effect your future immigration petition. I don't think anyone here can do that. I'm sorry we can't give you the answers you want to hear, but I can't imagine anyone on this forum telling you it is ok to lie on your application or withold information, especially since all of us are going through the process legally and have been separated from our significant others for long periods of time waiting for visas. You just have to go through the process however you think is best and hope it works out.

I had said in my earlier post that we brought the Xpress envelope to the consulate in the hopes that they would let us use it instead of DHL because the nearest DHL location was 2 hours away from my Hubby. They accepted the envelope but said it would be at least a week before our paperwork was mailed out.

Great news: our interview was Tuesday, my Hubby received his Xpress envelope yesterday and did his POE last night!

I would HIGHLY recommend taking along an Xpress envelope if it's more conveninet for you!!

Add your husband to one or two of your credit cards that you've had for long time and possibly to some of your loans which are in good standing. This will automatically transfer onto his credit. It is at least a start. He will have to continue to build his own from there.

We were approved. Piece of cake. All of the procedures were the same as previous posters. A few things I noticed:

1) We got there at 6:45 and there was 1 couple in front of us. The other CR-1 interviews got there around 7:15-7:20. We were all let in the same time, and they probably only finished 15 minutes after us. Advice: If your interview is in winter, there is no need to stand in the freezing cold for almost an hour.

2) The couple in front of us brought their documents in a laptop bag. They were stopped at security and had to leave to go put their bag back in the car. They ended up getting the last spot for the CR-1 interviews because of this. Advice: Take all of your paperwork in a plastic bag and leave everything else in the car

3) Xpress Envelope: They asked us if we had picked a DHL location. I took an Xpress envelope along and I said "yes, but the closest location is 2 hours from us and we were hoping to use Xpress instead." They accepted the envelope and said they would mail out our paperwork within a week. Advice: Definitely try to do Xpress if DHL is inconvenient for you.

4) Parking at meters in front of the embassy was empty when we got there, and the meters don't start until 9 am. So we got to park for free, yay!

Everyone was very friendly, especially the interviewer. It was a great experience, minus driving a total of 20 hours out of 36 hours for a 5 minute interview!

Thanks everyone!

We did a test-run today and talked to the security guards. They confirmed that it's still first come first serve. We're planning to be there at 7:00ish!

Hi!

Did we ever figure out if you should be at the Montreal Consulate first thing in the AM or show up for your scheduled interview time (ours says 9 am). We want to be in and out as soon as possible, but we don't want to show up at 6:30, stand in line for 1 hour, and then be told we have to come back at 9 (especially since it's FREEZING here!).

Please let me know your recent experiences!

Thanks!