kdlangfan

Hi everyone, I'm a Canadian living in the US and I use Credit Karma for my social security number. I see Credit Karma is also now available for Canadians, which is great!  I'd like to check on my social insurance number but haven't lived in Canada since 2011. I was just wondering if anyone else has used Credit Karma without an address and if so how did you do it?

Hi everyone, I had my interview today and I was approved! Just like that. I was shocked. My spouse and I were not even there 10 minutes. He treated me to a celebration hot dog afterwards. lol I expected them to convert my application to a waiver since my spouse and I applied together last July and are now divorcing. They had already decided to approve me before I even walked in the door. They didn't even glance at the bin of additional evidence I brought or my newly filed divorce papers...they didn't care about that at all. The guy seemed very baffled as to why my file was sitting on his desk and why I hadn't been approved after my RFE. He said several times how we had more than enough great evidence and it was obvious from both our affidavits, our photos and cards and emails that we had a real relationship.

So YAY! I'm DONE with immigration for 10 years unless I decide to become a citizen.

Could someone please update my timeline for me?

Me too! They had already decided I was approved before we walked in the door. They didn't even glance at the huge bin of additional evidence we brought.

Does anyone know if there are any specific threads dedicated just to interviews? I looked through but didn't see any and my spouse and I would like to prepare for our upcoming interview.

Good luck hopefully you will get an answer soon, it will be almost a year for you pretty soon, that is a very long period of time:(

I got a notice in the mail yesterday for an interview on July 8.

What proportion of people get approved with/without interviews?

I guess our approvals come via mail if, no interview is requested.

Are interviews random?

I don't know how random the interviews are. Maybe there really are "random" people selected but I pretty much knew I would need an interview. My spouse and I are no longer together and we don't have kids (neither one of us can biologically have kids), we don't have wills, we don't have joint bank accounts and we don't have joint ownership of a house...he already owned his own house. We do have joint health insurance, joint auto insurance, a joint loan which is very substantial (as big as some people's mortgages), tons of cards, letters, emails, photos, affidavits. We very definitely had a real marriage so I hope they believe us when we go for the interview. I just got the notice yesterday and the interview scheduled for July 8. I got the notice in the mail. No email an no text, even though I am signed up for those alerts.

I sent my I 751 in and uscis said they received it on december 3 2014 it is now six months june 3 2015. how much longer do i have to wait? the uscis people said six months is the processing time. today i phoned june 2 2015 they said they are working on applications submitted to them in august 2014. so they are behind? how much does any of you know about this being true?

My application was dated third week of July 2014 and I still haven't heard anything since my RFE. I submitted a service request and they said they're still working on the case and it is not outside normal processing times. lol Patience. You've got months to go.

I would submit another service request, you are by far out of normal processing times and also it takes a week to two weeks for infopass appt. and I will definitely get a stamp now and don't wait any longer. They seriously should be looking into finding your paperwork and making a decision. This is way too long of a wait honestly. It shouldn't be taking them more than 2 months to process a RFE on such a late case(solely my opinion).

Thank you, I appreciate your response. I have been thinking of doing exactly as you suggested...submitting another service request and making an info pass appointment. So thank you!!

When did you mail your package to VSC? Thanks.

Mailed my package July 21, 2014

I'm also joining very late.

Receipt date 07/28/14
Biometrics 08/18/14
RFE date 01/17/15
RFE response 03/20/15

Both packages sent to VSC.

Case inquiry May 1; letter received May 11 stating no information could be provided, not outside processing times.

My 1 year extension expires July 30. Does anyone know how long the waiting period is to book an InfoPass appointment? I'm just wondering when I should book to get a stamp in my passport.

What plan are you talking about?? USCIS is fully aware we are split. There's no plan. This is just the way my situation unfolded. I don't see why I shouldn't share it with others. It's only fraud if our relationship was never real and we only got married to commit fraud, which is not the case. Pretty presumptuous to tell someone to try and work it out with their spouse....gee, why didn't I think of that!

khwaidee1, I know exactly how you feel. It sucks so bad. And to make things worse, my USC spouse and I are now split. We haven't even started divorce proceedings but now live apart. He's supportive of my application...we dated for 5 years and have been married for 3. And to have the sincerity of our marriage questioned just really sucks and rubs salt in the wounds of the fact that it didn't work out. I just want this over too.

So I guess if they take two months to respond, then we should both have an answer about what happens next this month.

I responded to the RFE in March. So that's on me...I took 2 months to respond.

I had my biometrics in August 2014, got an RFE in January 2015, and am now still waiting. I asked for a formal response to my case and just got a letter yesterday saying "we're still reviewing your case and have no information for you" basically.

OMG I hope the theory is right that it means your case will be approved. I keep getting this message too.

I had the same issue for two weeks...very very frustrating. So finally I called USCIS. Make sure you are using the receipt number on your NOA extension letter, not the other receipt number. I don't know why they have to assign two receipt numbers...makes things so confusing. Just make sure you use the one on your NOA and the online form will work for you.

I drove to Canada with my expired GC and letter and had no problem at all. I am a Canadian citizen. I crossed at the Peace Bridge in Buffalo and I have a Nexus pass. Usually I get waved right through but this time they asked for my GC and I gave them that with my letter and they barely glanced at it and then waved me through. There was absolutely no problem.

I have some thoughts/advice to offer however I want to preface anything I say with a disclaimer - this is just my experience and my understanding as a non-professional. You should seek professional advice...and I do not mean advice from collectors who call you looking for money because they don't care about you and are not going to act in your best interests. But good for you for posting here and asking for advice....this is not an easy thing to talk about or deal with but it won't just go away. Good for you for recognizing you need help.

I had a lot of debt in Canada that I could not afford to pay before I moved to the US. I struggled for several years to manage this debt on my own and felt very strongly that I had accumulated this debt so it was my responsibility to pay it off. I finally realized I just could not do it. I wanted to deal with it before I moved to the US so about a year before I moved I went to a free credit counseling service....most communities offer this kind of service. When I met with them and explained my circumstances, they explained they couldn't help me because my debt to income ratio was too high. They recommended I go to a Trustee to explore my options and explained that the consultation should be free and if they charged me, not to deal with them because they were not legit. They also told me what to look for and what to expect in order to find someone who could actually help me and not rip me off because Trustees are regulated. They even recommended someone they knew who could help and who they knew were trustworthy.

I ended up not going to their recommended trustee, but I did go to another trustee (MNP-it's a big company). They explained my options....either bankruptcy or consumer proposal. You don't pay anything upfront...in either case, the fee for the trustee comes right out of your monthly payment. As soon as the bankruptcy or proposal papers are filed, harassment from collection agencies ceases immediately. The are not allowed to talk to anymore...they have to talk to your trustee.

My best advice is to go to a non-profit credit counseling service in your area. See if they can help you. If not, then go to a trustee. And also do your own research online. Good luck!

I am in a similar situation. Applied for AOS in November and still no word on my GC at all so I am going to call and ask for Tier 2 also. Everyone says "who cares, you can work and travel" but it's not that simple. As you said if you go to school and you have your GC, you pay less tuition. And when I travel back to Canada, I have to stop at Customs every time and that is a pain in the ####, especially since I travel so often (I only live two hours from my family and friends back home in Canada so I'm there every couple of weeks!) and especially since a lot of the border guards don't know what to do with me so I have to explain it every time. Not to mention, I want to be a Citizen so I can vote and you have to wait 3 years after you get your GC for Citizenship. If it also then takes almost a year for CG that just drags it out. Plus it is just irritating that they'll take your money immediately and do absolutely nothing for you for months. Having the GC just makes life so much easier...your immigration status is clear. You are a permanent resident. But right now I just feel kind of like I'm in limbo again.

Many of us know how frustrating the refreshing for an appointment ordeal is....we've been there! But don't give up....really you'll get an appointment out of nowhere. As Shirley Ann mentioned above, I got my appointment very early in the morning....it was actually 7am when I got the appointment but I had been refreshing since 6am...it was July 1st, Canadian holiday, and suddenly after an hour of refreshing, an appointment suddenly appeared!

So yes appointments do become available at strange times. I grabbed the first appointment which was August 30 and then immediately posted on VJ for everyone who was waiting to refresh right away because there were appointments available. In all, I think I spent a good month refreshing...it took that long from the time I got my packet 4 to the time I got an appointment.

During this process, there have been many, many times I have thought, "that's not fair"! But hey, life isn't fair. It doesn't matter who applies first, who is the first in line, who gets the soonest appointment...it's all random and you have absolutely no control over it. The only thing to do is sit back, keep your cool and roll with the punches. It will happen, just be patient.

Not sure if it's worth posting anything here as everyone seems to have abandoned this discussion....not that I blame anyone for doing so! Talk about confusing! I'm at the point where I am ready for POE so this next phase is coming up for me.

What I find interesting/annoying/frustrating is there is no provision/information for those of us who already have a good job and could actually keep the same job after POE. Yes I am moving from Canada to the US, however, it's only two hours away, just over the border, and in the direction of my current job! If I were able to cross the border every day and work, then I could keep my job. The process just seems to assume that everyone is moving a long distance.

We're using U-Haul. It's less than $300 for us to pick up in St. Catharines, ON and drop off in Rochester, NY (which is only 2 hours drive) and we have 48 hours with the truck.

I thought others might find this link as helpful as I do:

www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/information/outside_canada.shtml

It's the link for Service Canada's website for collecting EI if you are outside of Canada.....FAQ's, phone numbers, addresses, who qualifies, etc.

I had my interview last Tuesday (was it really only a week ago?!) and got the dreadlock lady. When she was done with me and told me I was approved, I actually told her she was famous on VJ! She asked me what I meant and I told her people generally review their experience for others and often they mention her and how nice she is to them. She said she was glad to know people thinks she's nice.