Kammo

http://www.visajourney.com/wiki/index.php/LingChe_NVC_ShortCut

check it out

Thanks! =)

Hello,

My husband got an email the other saying that our I130 has been approved! :-D There are a lot of topics inquiring "what to do next" (and I did some looking around) but I decided to just go ahead and start my own thread, Canada specific (if it makes any differences on the whole?)

Police certificates: Can I start those now or should I wait awhile? Other than a one year residence in another province 10 years ago I have always lived in the same city/province.

I assume the police check needs to be recent? 6 months, 1 year?

Does anyone know how long they take to process in Canada and how much they are? More important, how long are they valid?

Birth Certificates of myself and my children: My children will not be immigrating with me at this time but I understand I need to provide birth certificates for them. Do I need to provide just the basic ones (the new ones in BC are pretty specific and state parents and child's names) or do I need something else (ex. the actual registration copy? (we needed when our daughter was born - when we applied for her US citizenship)

Vaccination stuff: I have 2 old records from getting rubella and tetanus and the like, but i don't have any other records proving I have all the required vaccines. Should I be looking into this now or do I just wait until a later time? If now, what do you recommend?

What kind of fees will we be looking at for the next batch of paperwork (just so we are prepared)?

It would be really nice to receive all this stuff in a few weeks and know what we are looking at so we can send it off right away! Thats the goal anyways!

Is there any other advice or thought that maybe I have missed that would help and that you think is important? If there is a list of such answers somewhere and I have just missed it, could you link it?

Thank you so much for your time!

hi there

My husband and I found out yesterday that our I130 had been approved!! I find myself a little concerned though because I am set to move in 2 weeks and have not yet found secured an apartment. Does anyone here have any recommendations for me? I'm just nervous they will start sending stuff I won't receive (I am the beneficiary).

Thank you!

Today was a day to be remembered! I was on my way home from visiting my husband when he called to tell me we had received NOA2! Whee!! :-D I hope everyone else see's theirs soon!

Best wishes to all!

Unfortunately, you are long way off from an appointment date. We filed in late October, got our NOA March 31st. They first touched the file Feb 23rd.

It can take 5 months to get your NOA. Then you need to follow instructions from the NVC. Work on getting your documents now. All of them as some take along time to get.

Good Luck!

Oh, believe me! I have no false hope that I'll see an interview anytime soon! I have small hope I'll be living with my husband within a year from now.

Have you heard anything since March 31st?

Best of luck.

Congrats to you

I just posted a thread curiously wondering if anyone who filed in January had been approved or even had any touches, your post gives me hope!

I'm just curious if any one who filed in late January is in the same boat as us or if anyone has been lucky enough to have an appointment date in view?

I hope that no touch and no news means good and not bad?

Have any of you started on your immunization proof or criminal check? I'm wondering if I should start those soon?

Wish the rest of you luck

Thanks for the replies. I must say its hard seeing that no body is going through something similar (or maybe they just have not seen this thread). Maybe I am the only one insane enough to consider such a thing? I don't know...

Assuming anyone has or is going through this I would imagine they could have it far worse than me given that I am only a few hours away from my home (I see many immigrating from way across the world).

After my husband (well boyfriend at the time) and I had nearly given up on our relationship thinking we just couldn't make it work (because I couldn't "abandon" my children), he chose to uproot his life and move closer to make this possible. Then came the marriage and surprise pregnancy.

I understand my situation could be worse...

I guess I was just hoping to talk to someone in the same boat.

To answer Krikit

I wanted my husband to move to my country but two issues arose with that...

1) As I mentioned, I have no real career (just my minimum wage job I have worked at for two years). Having been a stay at home mother, life just panned out that way. I'm not complaining, it just is what it is. In order to prove I could support my husband in my country (which I have been informed is a much tricker process), I estimated that I would have had to work 2 full time jobs to satisfy my country that I would support him. At that point I wouldn't be seeing my children much either, plus I would never see my newborn or husband. That would be miserable on a new family. Maybe I could spend a few years and get a career? I did think of that (though of course that would mean a longer wait for our lives to start). Even so... came problem #2...

2) Suppose I did work my butt off to satisfy my country I could support him or even gain a career though time and education (which I was very willing to do)... My husbands career field isn't existent where I am located. We would have had to move quite a ways away in order for him to find work. In that case I would have been moving away regardless.

After many hours of talking, my coming to the US just seemed like the most reasonable of the two.

After my previous marriage collapsed I made a decision that the children remain with him. It was hard but I knew they could be better cared for as I had only been a stay at home mother (I had no career to speak of, no proper finances to raise them, no home or any real possessions). I didn't want an ugly court battle. I just wanted my little girls to be in a stress free environment and I wanted some remains of a reasonable, workable relationship with my ex. Court battles would have killed that.

Fast forward to my new life. I met my husband, fell in love, remarried, a child... Now for the big step! Awaiting approval to start my life with him.

Only, what about my two great kids who will remain in Canada? Two little princesses I love more than anything!

The guilt and frustration with some of my choices is unbearable at times. Sometimes it feels as though any choice is a bad one. Somehow this must be workable however. I love my husband too much to consider not spending my life with him, and I love my daughters too much to "abandon" them. I will mention in this mess that thankfully my husband lives fairly close to home. Its only about 3-4 hours of travel back and forth, otherwise there is no way I could have ever considered moving. He knew this (so he moved closer to me) . When I visit my husband I call my kids everyday to tell them how much they mean to me. They are still relatively young so they don't hold attention long. Skype helps.

I guess I am writing this today because I am curious who is out there that has/is going through something similar? If I am approved to move to the US I plan to visit my children as often as possible (though I already know it wont be as easy as I'd like it to be, especially once I start work). Perhaps after time my ex-husband will gain some trust and allow my daughters to come to the US for visits. Hard to say on that one. I put myself in his shoes and I think I would be terrified to let my little ones leave Canada, even if it was only for a weekend! Eventually though, I don't think asking him to consider such a thing is unreasonable, right? Until then, I will return home as much as possible...

How do YOU cope? What arrangements have been made, what works and what doesn't?

Sometimes I do worry that I will come to America and feel sad and regretful about my daughters. I want to make sure I have some solid plans on the table to prevent marital strain and for my own mental well-being. When it comes down to it I just want everything to work to the best it can.

Anyone?

Over all I had no problem changing my name when my husband and I got married. One point of interest came with ICBC. (provincial insurance in British Columbia)

My husband and I were married in WA. I don't know about other states but WA's marriage certificate was nothing like I would expect in Canada. It was just a photocopy of the certificate we filled out at the wedding (with our names, addresses, etc). It had a seal in the back. If your Canadian you know all of our certificates are like our money (colourful and elaborate) Anywho...

Fast forward to my return to Canada after the wedding...

I went to ICBC with hope of getting an enhanced drivers license as they are 50$ less than the passport and no guarantor needed (anyone else hate the whole "guarantor thing")? They wouldn't grant me the license because the WA marriage license was apparently NOT the original. They tried to tell me that US customs was very strict on this (the silly part being that the marriage certificate was issued and valid in the US). The form was original as it could get without the county general handing us the ink copy which obviously is impossible...

Makes you question what "original" really means. Sure, our certificates in Canada are quite elaborate (in British Columbia anyway) but its still just a "copy" of the original document.

To sum it up, I had no problem changing my name expect for the enhanced drivers license which I can apparently never get.

Cheers

Thanks for letting me know. Probably wiser for just me to attend then and save the money. I was quite disappointed to learn that I had to travel all the way to Montreal when I am right next door to the Vancouver Embassy (we went there to file for my daughters birth abroad certificate)...

Hi

I certainly could return to my original job (this was my original intention), but it is a minimum wage job ($9/hr) so the problem there lies with daycare for my little one, rent, food, etc and other personal matters. I did look into daycare subsidy while weighing options but even then it is not as favourable as trying to finish school (which I am currently doing) in order to get a reasonable job while of course still allowing me to raise my child.

Thanks for the answers so far I appreciate the info about filing taxes as "separated". Me and my husband were wondering about that the other day strangely and I was going to post something about that too. I guess it makes sense though. Despite marriage we are most certainly not living together "common law", or supporting each other financially, the money just is not there for either of us.

What crazy circumstances we are all in eh?

This question is aimed for those who are Canadian citizens married to American citizens who have collected assistance during that time (or just anyone with some knowledge). If any of you are out there :-D

Given my current circumstances (without boring everyone with my life story) I am considering trying to temporarily apply for income assistance after my maternity leave runs out. I have weighed positive's and negatives and this seems like the best plan for now. This poses me to ask two questions...

1) Is it even possible? For all intensive purposes, regardless of marriage, I AM a single parent right now. My husband does provide care for us while we visit him but in Canada it is me who provides %100. To the government though, I AM still married. Will they even help me?

2) If they are willing to assist me for awhile how will this look to USCIS when/if we have an interview? Can they deny me due to this? Would it be a cause for concern?

Any advice, experience would be greatly appreciated.

For our interview...

Is it only me they will ask questions too or does he need to attend? We have been talking about costs and trying to decide to make a "vacation" out of it. If he does not need to be there I may just go and save 1000$

Thanks

Hi again VJ

My husband and I were curious if his PREVIOUS years tax returns will have an effect on our approval.

After an excruciating time of unemployment he is now working again (as of December) and now meets the requirements, but for the last few years did not.

Does anyone know if his past few years will be an issue?

My husband received an email stating our paperwork had been sent to California... Now to wait about 5 months, huh?

Sent ours on Tuesday!

Good luck everyone and may we all be with our loved ones soon!

I always cry when I say goodbye to my husband and return to Canada.... It NEVER fails :|

I was thinking about this today and wanted to ask the people here how they cope with their separations? My husband and I are SOOO lucky as we touch borders so I am out to see him often, but I can't imagine how we could do this otherwise! Its just so hard!!!

We skype and talk on the phone around 1 hour a day total... We used to play WoW but have given that up recently...

Anyone?

I was hoping to start a thread to find out how many people have filed their paperwork recently!

I feel a little disappointed to see that it could be as long as a year and a half before this comes to an end. At first we were under the impression that it would be less than a year (at one point he thought maybe around 8 months).

At least we have started and (hopefully) we will see an end to all this someday!

Congratulations to those who have started their journey!

Maybe we will just make a trip out of it? I have never wanted to see Montreal but maybe I can pretend it is the most desired locale! Time to start saving! Thank you for letting me know about that. How long does that usually take to come up (getting the appointment?) Do they set the date or can we?

Thanks guys, we sent the package today! Montreal? That really sucks... :|

Thats one heck of a trek for me (I'm closest to the Vancouver one)

I ended up sending 4 photos (wedding, birth of our baby, thanksgiving and one from 2009).

I included some of the many receipts for my ferry rides over to him. I didn't want to send ALL of them but we indicated on the cover letter that we have ALL of them if they require them.

I have every email he's ever sent and a chat history of Skype too. I hope it doesn't come to that though. I would feel a little violated.

We do have a joint bank account that we created after we got married.

We don't "share" anything else though since we (of course) do not live together. It would seem silly for him to add me to his Comcast bill or At&t in my opinion. He is however, working on adding me to his health insurance.

Thanks for all the replies to this matter

Hello All...

I have joined VJ just recently and up until today my husband and I have felt pretty certain about what path we were going to take as far as immigration. Now, after countless hours of preparation we are both burning out. The more we read, the more confused we get. If someone would be so kind as to read my many questions and possibly give me a hand I would really appreciate it!

The story:

My husband is American. I am Canadian. We have been married for a little over 7 month (together for a year and a half). We have a daughter (granted US citizenship). I must be able to travel back to Canada freely once in the US (I know some visas do not allow travel when Change of Status is being processed)

Given the situation, here a few questions...

Originally we were looking at the K3 visa but then we found about how the i130 followed by the i129 can be used to bypassed the k3 visa step.

Question 1: Is this the same thing as the ir1/cr1?

Question 2: Is this the right route for us (in our situation)? Is this the appropriate process to have me immigrate to the US in a timely fashion while enabling travel to Canada once I arrive to visit my other family (daughters)?

Is the K3 visa the appropriate method OR do we want to do the i130 followed by i129? Which is faster and/or appropriate for our situation?

Hi again.

I am becoming frustrated and somewhat confused after hours of going through this... I have made some copies of travel itineraries and copied a few pictures. Plus marriage cert and babys birth cert.

While I am sure all of you have been through this and know what your talking about, I become confused when on THIS very website in the guide for filling I come across the following

Note: Evidence of a Bonifide Marriage

The USCIS now requires that when filing an I-130 for a spouse that you include evidence of a bonifide marriage. They list examples of acceptable evidence as:

1. Documentation showing joint ownership or property; or

2. A lease showing joint tenancy of a common residence; or

3. Documentation showing co-mingling of financialresources; or

4. Birth certificate(s) of child(ren) born to you, thepetitioner, and your spouse together; or

5. Affidavits sworn to or affirmed by third parties havingpersonal knowledge of the bona fides of the maritalrelationship (Each affidavit must contain the full nameand address, date and place of birth of the person makingthe affidavit, his or her relationship to the petitioner ofbeneficiary, if any, and complete information and detailsexplaining how the person acquired his or herknowledge of your marriage); or

6. Any other relevant documentation to establish that thereis an ongoing marital union.

Am I reading this right when it is saying "OR"? Meaning one or the other right? Not everything listed?

I am fully willing to provide EVERY scrap of evidence if it is needed (I have about 200 emails in our year and a half of togetherness and several chat logs, calls, ticket stubs and hundreds of pictures, but on the other hand I think there has to be a fine line to overdoing it.

Is there anyone in my situation (married with a child) who has gone through this procedure? What did you provide.

Seems that all we need for our situation is our daughters birth certificate, however I see a lot of people on these threads gathering tons of evidence (pics, chat history, travel documents). Should we gather these documents as well? Is this something USCIS will want to see even with our child?