edsotherhalf

Thanks. Yes its been a long haul. I interviewed on June 29 and apparently the visa was sent out July 7 but alas it got waylayed somewhere either at teh embassy or DHL.

Oh my gosh thats awful!! Congrats that you are finally going to get it! Its going to feel SO good once its finally in your hands.

Hawkins Cheezies, Kinder eggs and Kinder chocolate, Tim's coffee

Hello all. I have a question for the Canadian expats that read this forum.

The backstory is that I married a Canadian, and we are almost at the point in the immigration where she can move in with me(finally!). I had the idea that I'd make her a gift basket, and have it waiting for her when she first walks through the door of our place. I want to fill the basket with Canadian things that aren't available in the states, and put in a card containing some lovey-dovey "this is to help with homesickness" type of message.

So, my question to you is what sort of food/candy/gift/misc items do you miss that are available in Canada but not in the states? I've got a few basic ideas, but I'm sure there are a million things I'm forgetting about. So please, remind me! Tell me all about Canadian stuff you'd love to have!

Oh and when I bought twizzlers there I was very disappointed. Not what we get here for sure so those can go on your list.

Hawkins Cheezies, Kinder eggs and Kinder chocolate, Tim's coffee

Well here's hoping it shows up. Am not getting my hopes up until its in my hands. Still nothing on CSC site or the courier site as still have no waybill number. We are now planning the POE which looks like I will be doing alone. May meet up with my daughter in law in Great Falls Montana to continue the drive with me. Ed is flying home on Sunday, the day after my birthday. Thanks everyone for your support. Thank God I had this site to vent on.

Congratulations!! I'm glad it's finally turned up!!

Well you would think so wouldn't you??? We did fight with them and a supervisor phoned us back with the same BS. "We cannot trace without a waybill number". Got absolutley no where with them. But apparently it has been found. According to the email "there was an issue with the courier delivery service and delivery of your package".

If its with DHL in Montreal, can u call the Mtl office. I'd ask to speak with a DHL supervisor instead of the first person ur speaking with and quickly explain ur situation. I'm sure they can put a trace on it like the normal post office can!!

Got an email this morning from the IV Supervisor at Montreal Consulate. "Due to unforseen circumstances with the courier delivery service your pkg was not delivered. (Now what the hell does that mean??) The issue has been solved and Your pkg will be picked up today July 26 and should be delivered to your location either tomorrow or the next day." Whoo Hoo!!!!! Still shows nothing on the CSC site. Now on to finding a truck in this city. It is moving week and no UHaul shows any trucks available for reserving. If we leave here Thurs we should be able to make it to Arizona for Ed to return to work on Monday, August 1. Still not going to get too over excited until the thing is in my hand.

We have contacted the Senator's office in Phoenix last week and had a couple of conversations with her. She told us she found our passport with DHL in Montreal but we haven't received anything and when we try to phone her back for her to give us the waybill number she does't return our phone calls or emails.

When I was having issues with my AOS I contacted our congressman's office and had my issue resolved within a couple of days. They generally have someone on staff that deals with strictly immigration issues. It only takes a couple of minutes, so it is defintiely worth trying.

You have to laugh or you cry. Talk about the royal runaround. We have been trying to track down my passport and visa. We phone the Senator, she says she will get on it and get back to us, no answer. We phone Wash and tell them that the Senator's office doesn't return phone calls, he will look into it, nothing. Write to montreal-iv-dv@state.gov, get the automated response saying "We don't look into cases, please contact" contactus_en_ca@usvisa-info.com. We did, automated response is "We don't look into cases of missing passports or visas, please contact montreal-iv-dv@state.gov. Talk about frustrating!!! The little peons have no "IN" at the embassy's. I did write the Supervisor but as yet have heard nothing back and according to thier automated response I won't as its an individual case. This is a lot of BS. Who to call now???

OMG 100 days!!!!! Did they ever tell you why it was held up?? How did you stay sane during that time? I am going crazy with it being a month since my interview and approval and no passport back.

Finally I got my passport back with visa after 100 days waiting. I was in AP but not sure why.

Thanks for everyone on this forum for support and all kind of information.

Day 27, Business Day 18, still no passport with visa.

This question gets asked a lot on this forum, is it possible to pin this post on the front page?

That is great to hear. Good Luck.

Yeah as an update ours was picked up by DHL on Friday, so all is in plan. Driving my truck up tomorrow after work.

I had my interiew and was approved on June 29th and I am still waiting for my passport and visa!!!! My husband flew up here to drive the truck back to Arizona and now looks like he will have to return home and I remain here to drive myself. You have only been two weeks, I am gong into my 5th week of waiting and can get nowhere with anyone. Good luck

YA.. they told me they were printing and mailing mine last friday via email.. hate waking up and checking and finding nothing. how is it people are interviewing and getting their visa that quickly! im so confused. Happy for them.. but not happy about my situation right now. I interviewed july 11th.. i live right outside toronto.. how long could it possible take?!

This is not sounding any better. The problem here is with getting in touch with people. The numbers we are given are general numbers, not where you can talk to someone who knows someone. I am, in the back of my mind, thinking it is still at the Consulate but of course the number you call can only book appointments. I found the call centre is no where near the Consulate or attached in any way. They gave me a general number at the Consulate but it says right on the answering service "you can no longer talk to a person". yesterday the Senator said she would get us a waynumber but after three calls back to her she never called us back. A little ticked about that one. We seem to have no recourse here. I feel like I am being held hostage as I can't leave my country if I wanted to. Now it is looking like my husband will have to fly home, airfare expense, then I will have to drive the truck myself if we ever get this settled. I may have to go back to work to pay to live until then. It is all very stressful. Its 17 business days but in reality days its been 25 days since my interview and acceptance.

The problem is, the do not open packet is the entire petition paper copy. If thats gone its a HUGE HUGE issue. They mail the don't open packet with the passport. Not just the OPs passport is missing..

Don't forget us. We are way behind you. Interviewed June 29, told at DOS sent out July 7. No word anywhere from anyone. I don't know what to do next. Husband is going back to Phoenix as now we can't get a truck until earliest Aug 2. Spend 1000 getting him here and home again. 15 business days and nothing in my hands and no one to contact to find out what to do next. Even the Senator's office isn't calling back anymore.

Triple post ftw. Ive been calling daily. DOS doesn't help sadly.

Cant figure out why people are moving so quick compared to us.

Business Day 15 since my interview. Senator said yesterday that DHL has my passport but it did not arrive today. We phoned back to Senator's office, was told she will get right on it but no response back since. Now hubby is thinking he might as well head home and get another week's work in. We checked on the moving trucks. We can get one tomorrow or Sunday but as of Monday nothing for a week. Now what???? There is no one to contact to find out what to do next. Do I declare my passport lost???? I have emailed the consulate IV unit, they do not deal with lost passports. DHL will not even look for a passport, that according to DOS was picked up July 7, without a waybill number. The Consulate has not put up a waybill number. If I declare it lost do I have to start all over again? Do I make an appt at the Consulate, put out the money again to fly to Montreal for them to put in a new visa??? I will have to try and get my old job back to save up for next three months to pay for all this #######.

Well I'll be damned. Found my spam folder but unfortunately nothing from DHL. that doesn't surprise me. Now waiting for the elusive email from them saying its ready for pickup. DHL says if they have it, it would have been overnighted last night and should be here this morning. Again we wait. thanks for this bigbigblake.

GMAIL most definitely has a spam folder. Make sure you check it.

On the left side it will list your in box and any other tags you have created.

Down at the bottom it will say something like "5 more".

Click on this, then choose spam.

This is why we like GMAIL so much, they have an awesome spam system, but sometimes its to good.

I have sent an email, talked to them a half dozen times (they didn't even know about DOS), and tried to talk to DHL, and i don't have a spam or trash folder in Gmail. But as of today the Senators office called and they have somehow tracked down my passport. It was picked up by DHL July 7 (consulate has no record of it)(obviously someone at the Consulate did not do their job and put in a waybill number) and is still sitting with them at DHL in Montreal. It is supposed to be overnighted tonight and i should have it in hand tomorrow. We phoned DHL after she called and they still say we have no way of tracking without a waybill number. Funny how someone from Govt can get it but the little peon it belongs to can get nowhere. So we will see if it arrives tomorrow, if not the Senator said to call them back.

Not to sound insensitive, but have you tried sending an email to montreal-iv-dv@state.gov? Also, please check your "Spam" folders just in case the email somehow slipped through. I've had DHL return my passport once and they call your cell phone number the day it is ready to pickup. Chances are that it is stuck somewhere in the Montreal consulate itself. I won't pretend to understand what you're going through, because it's hard to be in a situation like this. But it sometimes helps to have some faith and hold on for another week to ten days before you proceed to apply for a new passport. Once my passport got delivered to the wrong address (Canada Post's fault) and it took 35 days after the wrong delivery for the passport to be returned back to me.

I'd recommend writing a polite email explaining the situation to the Montreal folks. If they did send it out, they MUST have a record of the same. Either a Waybill number or a Shipment Number or something. I'm assuming that you've already logged into your account on http://usvisa-info.com/en-CA/selfservice/login and checked for information pertaining to DHL?

I really hope you get your passport back. Good Luck, and please keep us informed!

Update: Still no passport. I don't know whether to laugh, cry or have a stroke. No word from the Senators office and nobody wants to help. Consulate says call DHL, DHL says call Consulate. The passport is flying around somewhere. DOS says it was picked up July 7 (don't know who picked it up).

Thanks. Its Senator McCain so we will see how good he really is so Ed can vote for him in next election. LOL

Good solution!! Senators like easy ones like this,lol Good luck

Ed told DOS while talking to them that "well someone had to have put "sent out july 7" into the computer somewhere!!!" they had no answer to that.

Hmm I bet you its sitting in Montreal mail room under a huge pile somewhere then...

And I bet the consul is just saying they don't have it or " sent it " but haven't even bothered to search the mail room to see if it even went out or got stuck under a pile somewhere.

Thanks. I too was looking ofr similar stories on VJ. Found a couple. I did go to DHL.ca and put in the reference number, comes back as nothing matches which tells me DHL does not have it. So now the consulate doesn't have it, DHL doesn't have it. Phoned canadian passport office they say nothing can be done as its in the USA's hands!! If it never shows up then declare a lost passport and get a new one. Are they kidding me???????

Its very likely your passport is sitting in the Consuls mail room.

I remember someone saying you should get a receipt number online and then use that on DHL.ca not DHL.com. Not a waybill number but a receipt number. and I cant find the thread... somewhere in the Canada section. Try looking on the login where you go to book DHL and see if there is some kind of other receipt number than waybill.

With all this runaround, my husband decided to call the Senetors office in Phoenix. There is one of his aides working on it as we speak. She says that has been wayyyyy too long and they will get on it. Just sent her a signed release form (had to unpack the printer and cords first!!). Hopefully will hear by the end of the day.

My interview was June 29th. Been waiting for passport to be returned. Phoned DOS this morning and was told it was sent out July 7th. I never got an email and no waybill number for tracking. I phoned the Consulate and they said nothing shows that it was picked up or when. First DHL said the embassy puts up the waybill number, the consulate says DHL puts up the waybill number. So now my passport is either still in Montreal or in Edmonton and nobody knows anything. Any suggestions on what I do next?????? The consolate was no help.

Don't forget that now you have a 5 month or so wait until you case is closed at NVC.

Thanks for all the input/reassurance! I'm glad I didn't have a complete logic fail on something, here. Just called NVC and got my Montreal case number and everything so it's hopefully moving nicely along

I am from Canada and my husband from USA. We too had none of the things you have. No joint checking account, my name isn't on the house yet, none of htat stuff and we got through just fine. He did the affidavit of support and that was it. We had the tickets, wedding pics etc and it worked. You will be fine.

Hi again all. My second post so be gentle. If you good folks wouldn't mind i'd like to quickly run mine and my wife's story by the other members just to get a rough idea of how easy or hard our process might be. My wife is a US citizen and i am a British citizen

Ok,

My wife and i first got to know each other in a yahoo chatroom mid 2006.

We chatted for around a year, typing and voice chats.

We first physically met in July 2007 in San Francisco and spent 10 days together.

I flew to the US again in november 2007 for a week for Thanksgiving.

She then visited me for 4 days in January 2008 and then again for 4 months over the summer of 2008. She first met my parents during these trips. We got engaged in July 2008

I returned home to the US with her for 3 weeks in September 2008 and first met her parents and stayed at her parents home. She still lives with her parents.

I visited the US again over March/April 2009 for 5 weeks and again November/December 2009 for 5 weeks. Both times staying at her parents home. I get along with her family very well.

I visited again for 6 weeks in July/August 2010.

I am posting this while in California at the moment and i am returning home to the UK in the morning.

During this most recent visit we got married. We weren't supposed to be married until 2012 after she brought me here but her mother was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer so we got married back in May this year.

At the moment we are printing all our forms out and gathering everything together for the I-130 petition and we are just wondering about a few things from reading various posts on here and peoples different experiences.

THINGS WE HAVE

Quite a lot of email correspondence.

Some Skype call records

Some airline information and itineraries and boarding passes for our separate trips and of 2 trips we took together.

Passport stamps of all our trips.

Lots of photos mostly of me in various places around San Francisco and in her parents home.

Lots of wedding pictures of both of us with a lot of her family and my parents who came over for the wedding.

We will have affidavits of support from her family and my family and some friends. Her brother is a San Francisco Police Officer. We'll have a letter from him.

She has kept a blog for the past 4 years with is basically a blog about me. Lots of pictures of me and stories and things we've done, places we've gone and what we've got up to.

THINGS WE DON'T AND WONT HAVE

Any kind of financial records or documents with both our names on it.

No real estate or rental agreements or utility bills with our names on them. We have never lived together before to get these things.

Apart from the wedding pictures we don't have very many pictures of us both over the 6 years. It's usually her taking pictures of me and 1 or 2 of her with her back turned because she hates having her picture taken.

Any of the early chat records because neither of us use the accounts we used back then. They are most likely deleted and if not we'd have no idea what the passwords were anyway. We mostly used voice chat.

Given all of the above may i ask for your various opinions on how our petition might go? Not expecting anyone to foresee the future but does it seem like a pretty straight forward case?

Thanks in advance

Okay, today is business day 11 and still no passport with visa. I am getting a little worried. We are supposed to leave here at the latest by next weekend. Still haven't booked the truck.

Thanks so much. Its been two weeks today since my interview. I had the blonde lady so figured it would be here right away. Mind you my interview was the Weds before the holiday Friday and Monday. Don't know if htat will hold things up.

Tell the person online you want an update on your visa and they will ask for your MTL0000000000 number. Have that in hand and they might ask your name, date of birth and your fiance's. That's it