Amecia

That's great news! Thank you!

Hi everyone. My husband and I have been trying forever to find a joint sponsor because he doesn't make enough money to sponsor me on his own. We might finally have found one. He asked how much he would have to make in order to co-sponsor me and I wasn't sure how to answer that because I'm not sure how to calculate the household size. My husband is the US citizen and he has 2 children from a previous relationship who live with him. We have a daughter together who lives with me but will have her US citizenship by the time the visa is approved (if it is). The joint sponsor has a wife, but no children. So for the joint sponsor's household size, do we include my husband and our children or just me?

Hi, thanks for your reply. Unfortunately, I don't have a job to go back to (long story). I will have appointments booked for the baby so I guess I could ask her doctor to write me a note or something. I was thinking of bringing my tax return for the last 2 years to prove I have been working and the only reason I am not right now is because I have a newborn. All my utilities are included in my rent so I don't have bills for those, but I do have a cell phone so I could bring the bill for that. I just don't know how much weight this will carry. Yes, I am bringing the baby with me.

Well here we go again... I once again want to visit my fiance in the US and need some advice as to what documents I could bring to prove my ties this time. The situation is somewhat different now. Last time, I had a job, I was pregnant but had a Dr's letter stating I was coming back to Canada for the birth, and I had a rental agreement. Now, my baby is here so I don't have a job (I am on mat leave), I don't have a Dr's letter and the only thing I really have is a rental agreement. Also, we are still gathering documents to apply for the K1 visa so I don't even have a NOA1. Am I completely screwed or is there anything I can do? My fiance can't come and visit me because of personal issues, and the only way he can meet her is if I go down there to visit him. From this end, it's looking like I won't be able to see him again until I get my visa and that's months away.

At this point, we don't really have anyone we can ask to co-sponsor. It's a long story. Maybe later down the road, things will change, but I don't know.

Canadian_wife, I am actually in Alberta so I will be going to the Vancouver consulate.

It's really ironic that they would be worried about me being dependent on him since for the last little while, I'm the one who's been supporting him from over here. And I can make so much more money than he can because of my line of work and my experience. lol Oh well, we'll see how things work out. :-)

I've been searching for a clear cut answer about this, but despite reading through previous posts about it, I still can't find one so I figured I would ask. I am wondering if I have to submit my birth certificate or if my fiance is the only one who has to submit his. He is the USC and I am from Canada. I have read that only the USC needs to submit their birth certificate, but then other people say that they submitted birth certificates for both parties.

Also, my birth certificate is in French so if I need to submit it, I will have to get it translated first. Can I do it myself (french is my first language)? In the instructions from USCIS, they require them to be certified, but many people seem to have done it themselves without problems. Also, my lawyer says he can certify and notarize a translation (he is French too), but he is not an accredited translator. Can I use his services for the translation or do I need to go with someone who is accredited?

Finally, my fiance may not make enough to prove he can support us but I am currently receiving maternity benefits and will continue receiving them for a year. If our application goes through and this is the only thing holding us back, could we use my maternity/parental benefits towards his income? I am entitled to receiving them even if I live in the US so they would continue after I move there. The only thing is that they will not continue indefinitely. Would the consulate let us use them or would they ask us to get a co-sponsor? I will be going to work once my maternity leave is over and will work on getting a green card asap after the wedding.

Thank you for your input. :-)

Well I just made it back to Canada after visiting for 2 weeks. When I showed up at US Customs, they took me to the secondary area and asked me a bunch of questions. I had a lot of documentation proving my ties and they let me through quite quickly. Yay! The officer did say that I had to be back on the day I was scheduled to be back though, or else my future travels and immigration matters would be affected negatively. So now, after being denied entry in March, I finally have a visit under my belt with no overstay so I'm hoping when I want to go back in a few months, it won't be so nerve racking.

My best advice is for her to make plans to have the baby there. She can surround herself with family and friends to support her emotionally until she can go over to the US. I'm in the same situation. I'm almost 29 weeks pregnant and I will not have my visa on time. She may get her visa on time and if so, she can change her plans. But in the meantime, having an alternate plan can save her a lot of stress and grief. Best of luck to you guys.

Thank you. It is extremely stressful so you try not to think of the "what ifs". In my case, chances are I will have the baby here so I made plans to accommodate that. If by any chance I manage to get my visa before the baby is born, I will go and have her in the US. If not, she'll be born here. Doesn't really matter to me. There's ups and downs to both options. I must mention this is not my first child so I know what to expect from labour, delivery and recovery, which takes away a bit of the stress. I think the trick is to have a back up plan, you know? You find out exactly how strong you are when you go through something like this.

Good luck to you too on your journey.

It is scary, but you do what you have to do. It's like everything else. You grin and bear it.

Wow! I never thought in a million years that asking this question would set someone off like that, but ok. I asked for information, I got information, now I'm gonna do what I have to do with said information. Now, Gary, honey, if you need to be told you are right and you are the master in order to drop this and stop attacking everybody who seems to want to take it down a notch, well hun, you are right and you are the master. Now go get your wife and tell her you need some lovins buddy, you obviously need it! Geez...

Thank you to everybody who answered my question. Some people were kind enough to present me with facts and others felt they had to go on the attack every time their opinion was challenged, but oh well. Life sucks and then you die. You'll learn that eventually. lol As for me, I am mature and responsible enough to take care of my own business and make my own decisions and I certainly do not need anybody's approval in order to be happy with who I am. And eventually, my lovely and I will be together, whether it is before or after our child is born is irrelevant. Whether people think I'm a screw up or not, or that I messed up when I should have known better, is completely irrelevant to me.

So chill Gary! And thank you again to everybody.

Well in my case, we didn't get pregnant on purpose, but we are excited about it. I am in Canada and my fiance is in the US. He can't come here yet because of personal reasons so he won't be here for the birth. Otherwise, that would have been the plan. He would have come here and I wouldn't even have to apply for the fiance visa. The thing with Canada is that if you come here for a visit and get married, you can stay while the application is processed. Not the way the government wishes you would do it, but they won't deport you for that. I know a lot of people who have done this and they received their permanent residency within 6 months or so.

I was actually talking about the person who said that my fiance clearly cannot follow instructions. I'm not going to look back to see who it was as it is not worth my time and energy. The registration of my child's birth is not an issue as I will do what i have to do to register her birth once she gets here. I did not take offense at all with that comment.

Well thank you for the information. We were both under the impression that the divorce had to be final at the time of the interview, not the time of filing. So insulting my fiance is not necessary since we were both wrong. We will have to cancel the application and start over. Also, I will be hiring an immigration lawyer since we apparently don't know what the heck we're doing (thanks for pointing that out so kindly sir) and I will stop stressing and hope that my application gets approved at some point. Before the baby is born is highly unlikely, but we'll do what we can. And for the person who was wondering whether the baby is my fiance's, yes it is.

My divorce wasn't final yet when we sent in the application (it is now). But they say they have no record of having received the application at all so that wouldn't even be an issue. We explained the situation very clearly on our cover letter as to why we were applying now rather than wait and we told them when it would be finalized and that I would have the papers to bring to the interview and/or to forward to them within a month of sending out the application. We knew it would take longer than that for them to process the application so we weren't too worried about it.

Now my question is "is it possible it got lost in the mail or are they just pulling our chains?" Why say they haven't received it if they are holding on to it because of a different issue? They should have some kind of a record of it, shouldn't they? Should we re-file or just wait?

I visited my fiance 3 times before we filed for the fiance visa and never had a problem entering. They would only ask where I was going, who I was visiting, how long I would be there for, did I file for the fiance visa yet, and when I was coming back. All 3 times I flew from Edmonton, Alberta and there was never a problem. I was going for 1-2 weeks at a time and went in October, November and December.

Then in March, I tried driving across for a 3 month visit and was turned around at North Portal in North Dakota. They said I couldn't prove my ties to Canada and thought I was moving down. I had no job, no apartment to go back to, so I understand why they turned me around. And no, having 2 kids waiting for me to come back was not enough to prove my ties to Canada. I must say also that I lied about having a job and they did check with my employer who obviously told them I had quit my job. It's a long story, but in the end they did turn me around.

So I went back to Canada, started working with staffing agencies, filed for EI in April (and got approved), and I'm renting a room from my ex-husband right now. Now I'm going to visit him for 2 weeks in June. Here is what I'm bringing with me:

-Letter from my ex-husband confirming the rental agreement (and yes, i pay rent)

-Verification of employment from the staffing agencies

-Proof that I'm receiving government funding (EI) that I cannot get if I don't come back

-My itinerary including my return flight.

-Letter from my OB saying that I am pregnant and expecting in August. It states that I have made arrangements to have the baby here in Canada.

-Letter from my doula saying that I hired her to be there with me during birth and delivery.

I also called pre-clearance in Edmonton a few times and talked to the customs agents and they say it's really up to the agent when I show up whether they will let me through or not. I actually told one of them "so whether I get to spend time with the father of my child depends on what kind of day an agent is having?" and they kinda paused and said yes. They also said it looks like I have a lot more proof of my ties now than I did in March so I might be let through. In any case, all the agents I talked to on the phone were really nice and helpful so I don't think I'll have a problem. But I'll let you know. :-)

If we have to re-submit, I will make sure he sends everything out certified. I told him to do that this time, but I guess he thought he knew better. Men! Even in long distance relationship, they don't listen! lol

But right now, we're trying to figure out if we actually do need to re-submit or if USCIS just needs to pull their heads out of their a** and find the darn thing! They can't find any record of us ever submitting an application so that's making me nervous. I will most likely have to have the baby here and get her added to the visa once she's born, but that'll be another delay and I will not be happy with them one bit.

So is it possible that they received it and just haven't touched it yet?

Hello there,

I am new and have been lurking for a while. I have a question that hopefully some of you can answer. My fiance sent the I-129F to the California office 8 weeks ago and we have been checking in with them since 3 weeks in and they keep saying they haven't received it. I find this hard to believe. We are in the process of tracking the money order to see if it was cashed, but we are at a lost on what to do. He sent it in the regular mail so he is wondering if it got lost in the mail. Has this happened to anyone else? What did you do? Did you refile? Should we look at hiring a lawyer to speed up the process? The other thing is that I am pregnant with his child and due in August. It's coming really fast and we are afraid that I will have to deliver the baby here (in Canada) in the middle of the process. We sent in the application when I was 20 weeks along just to make sure they would have enough time to at least look at it and see if they could get it done in time (and also because I was in the middle of getting my divorce). Now, I'm not so optimistic. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks.