Paperwork

Not a whole lot going on here.

Just trying to do the Adjustment of Status paperwork.

Getting my Social Security Number tomorrow, finally.

Adjustment of Status is pretty easy, so it shouldn't take long to do, I almost have the paperwork done, just need to find someone to transcribe my vaccines, good thing there's alot of Civil Surgeons in Cali. Hopefully they don't charge a whole lot for the vaccine transcribing.

Getting married January 27th, 2010. Still pretty far away.

Oh well.

A Crazy POE

Wow. My POE was nothing like what I was expecting.

Here's how it went:


Flight was to leave at 6:45pm on November 24th. We arrived at the airport at about 4:30pm. They say to give about 90 minutes for Canada to US flights.


The check in was horribly slow. It took about 40 minutes. There was only like 3 people doing check in, it was stupid. Then because I had my dog, a wedding dress, a huge 70lb bag and my laptop bag my parents decided to get a porter for me. This took about 10 minutes. Waste of time.


Finally I went to customs. Waited about 15 minutes in Primary customs. The guy I got seemed kinda nasty looking, but I bet they all do in this job. He wished me an early happy birthday and sent me to secondary. This is when it all went wrong.

In customs, there was about 6 other people. I was amazed there was so many people. One person was crying while calling her parents, I wonder what happened. Then this woman that had like 5 bags kept questioning the officer, I mean come on. Another guy already missed his flight due to some immense background checking he was going through. I waited, and waited and waited and FINALLY at 6:40pm I was called up. I told him that my flight was leaving in 5 minutes so he made it fast. He was really nice about it too. Had me fill out an I-94, but didn't take my Biometrics. So I got that done and rushed my butt through the xray part. I hope not getting Biometrics taken doesn't mess up something in the long run.

Got to my terminal and the plane is gone. I missed it.


I went to the only flight left out of American Airlines and had to rebook. I flew out of Toronto to JFK Airport on one of those 40 seater planes that night and had to say overnight at the Ramada @ JFK. The hotel wasnt very good either. Wireless wasnt working, no hot water, etc. It was just terrible. The only reason I went to this one is because they allowed pets. I even missed last call on room service, so I didn't get to eat. I had to burden my parents with paying for it too, I feel bad for them, I really do. I really seem to feel like I owe them alot of money. I mean, I know this was unforseen, but I should have been able to pay for it if I did everything right.

Finally at around 6:30am on November 25th I flew out of JFK to Los Angeles. That was a hell of a long flight. Was on a 767-200, never been on one of those, it was pretty cool. My dog cooperated, thank goodness and no damage done to my wedding dress. Thankfully the flight was early as well, my fiance had to work that morning at 11am.

I'm glad I'm finally home.

It's crazy what I had to go through, I wasn't expecting it what so ever.
 
 
Getting married 2 months from now, this date.
It's also my Birthday today, haha. 22nd Birthday.
Hopefully filing for Adjustment of Status by the beginning of February.

Port Of Entry Delayed

Well, I got my visa in the mail on Thursday, November 19th.

Needless today, it was too late.

I was supposed to leave for the US today, but the prices for tickets went way too high, 1300 dollars.

So, I will be leaving for the US on Tuesday, November 24th. It was the first day with cheaper airfare again. Thankfully, I had a ticket I could use, I just had to pay a difference of about 180 dollars. Better than paying all 332.

Here's hoping the entry to the US is smooth. Just need to figure out what to do with my wedding dress, since I'll be bringing it with me.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Waiting for Visa to be Received
  
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport - November 24th, 2009
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Approved!

We were approved at our interview on November 13th, 2009.

Here's the review I posted on the VJ Forums:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We left for the consulate at 6:30am. I forgot I still had my cellphone, so I had to get my fiance to run it back up to the hotel, since I had blisters on my feet from the night before.

Got to the consulate at about 6:40am (ish) and we were 2nd in line. After about 10 more minutes or so about 10+ other couples got in line.

At 7:35am the consulate doors opened.

The security guard came outside and asked for our P4 and passports. He then gave them back to us and directed us to security.

We were told to put everything in a box and put anything in our pockets into the wooden tray. Little did we know the remote alarm for our rental car counts as an electronic so we got a little ticket for us to claim it afterward.

After we got by security, we went in a door and down some stairs. At this point it was us and two other couples (darkchilde and JEmoonbear). There IS a photo booth just in case you forgot your pictures, just to let you know. We put together a few things they asked for and the security guard came down and got us. We went up to the 19th floor on the elevator and got told to sit down and wait.

We all chatted for a good 10 minutes. The room is quite spacious (until it fills up) and the view was very nice. A whole ton of people came out of the elevator after the 10 minutes. Some of us were given letters and some numbers.

I was called up first, even though I was letter B. The man was very nice, but still made me a bit nervous. He started out by asking us a few questions and asked for paperwork along the way. Some of it wasn't even on the letter given by the security guards, but it was things like a long form birth certificate + copy, a photocopy of your passport's bio page, letter of intent to marry etc. I had a border denial in the past so I was a bit nervous about explaining that.

Because I got the new P3, I did not have to bring anymore of the forms. I did anyway just in case, so I would advise to do so. It's good to have it for your own files anyway. He also took my envelope. The "Priority Next Day" envelope is fine, since it was the correct size.

Afterward he told us to go pay, which we did. The lady we got didn't even normally do the payments, but the person was sick or something. She didn't have change, so TRY to bring exact change. We then went and waited to be called again.

About 15 minutes or so later we were called back for me to take fingerprints. Very simple. We were then told to go sit down again.

This felt like eternity. I don't even remember how long we were waiting. We were called into room 7 which is a small room with a door. We were told to put our stuff on the chair and raise our right hands and swear to tell the truth.

The lady was VERY nice. She used to be from Southern California so she could relate. We even had common interests in cake decorating. She was very nice and told me my border denial would have nothing to do with her decision. I was then told I was approved after she asked a few more questions (how we met, when we met irl, etc), welcomed me to the US, signed the one form and gave us a paper about what to do afterward. She said my visa should be received by me within 2 weeks, but I'm sure it'll take less than that.

When we came out we shook hands with I think 8 people, all from VJ. It was a bit of a nerve wracking experience but it was all good.

Took about 2 hours. Get there by 6:45 if you don't want to be too far back in line. Everyone was nice and I received no negative vibes from anyone.

Thank you staff at Montreal!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Good experience over all.

Not a whole lot to say about it other than what's above.

Hoping to get the visa for the 20th so I can leave with my fiance.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Waiting for Visa to be Received
  
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Interview

On the way to the interview soon.

It'll take about 8 hours to get to Montreal, then we're meeting up with others from Visa Journey to go out for dinner.

I think it'll be a nice night.

Will post probably Friday night or Saturday about the interview.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Medical

So on November 2nd I went for my medical.

It's just a standard medical, though the xray was new to me.

I did a review for it for the Visa Journey forums, it's for the Toronto Office:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My dad and I arrived at 6:20am. There was only one car parked on the street. Thinking that parking would cost about 4 bucks an hour on the street, he found a parking lot nearby. It was 9 dollars a day.

If you drive, I suggest getting there early and parking on the street if you're not too worried about your car. Street parking is 2 bucks an hour in front of the buliding. My dad's just paranoid that his new FJ Cruiser would get dents.

There was 2 people already there when I got in line. At about 6:35am they opened the doors. The woman took our P4s and told us to go to the waiting room. I was called around 6:55am. She filled out paperwork using the P4 and the passport. She then asked me to pay and give the 3 photos. You fill out something extra if you need it couriered.

After, she told me to wait in the hallway and about 1 minute later the xray lady came. And boy is this lady a b**ch. DO NOT question her. She will just jerk you around even more if you do. Put your stuff on the chair, she yelled at me for almost putting it on the desk. You undress your upper half and put the seam of the gown at the back, she yelled at me for that too. Take off any necklaces you have, she made me take off both. ALSO have your hair really really high up on your head, it must be above the sholders. Apparently it wasnt good enough for her, so she tugged my hair up even higher. I went to go adjust it for her and she grabbed my arms and shoved them back down. Sheesh, havnt had your morning coffee yet? Without even warning me, she shoved me against the metal plate and told me to breathe in. You then get dressed again and she'll shove the paperwork back into your hands and tells you to go back to the hall. (I think, I was too angry at her to remember this part )

About 5 minutes later I was taken to an office. I waited 5 minutes for a man to come in and take my blood pressure, my height and weight. He asked if I was nervous and I just told him I was breathing kinda funny cause I had a stomach ache. He wrote a note to get my blood pressure re-checked but the other doctor never did it. He then took my pulse and left.

About 30 minutes later, someone comes in and tells me to undress and put the blue cloth robe back on. I did that and the doctor and his nurse showed up about 5 minutes later.

He then asked me if I had any health problems, if I've been in the hospital recently, if I've had any surgeries, medications, etc.

I told him about my asthma I had when I was a kid and he just asked more about that. I also told him high blood pressure ran in my family and that according to numbers I've had before that I do actually have high blood pressure. He asked why I haven't been on medication for it, and I just shrugged and told him that last time my doctor took it she said it was fine.

He then asks about 30 other short things, all of which I said no to. Pretty simple.

Then the nurse takes over while the doctor transcribes the vaccinations. He did a full physical minus the internal part. Felt around my glands in my throat, checked my eyes, ears, stomach, lungs, heart, etc. I told them that I had a heart murmur when I was younger, and he tried and tried to listen for it but didnt hear anything, so it must have gone away.

Afterward, a female nurse came in and did the breast exam.

Surprisingly, no one looked down at my female genitals. They must have seen I had no bump down there from the paper haha.

Afterward, I went and had to wait about 10 minutes for blood to get drawn. That was simple and painless. Well, it hurts a bit right now, but that's okay. I've been poked with too many needles in the past month. My poor arm.

Then after that you hand in the little white slip with the tests signed for to the receptionist, then she goes to explain when you can pick up your packet.

My dad showed up with perfect timing.

All and all it took 2 hours.

I told my dad about it and he said I shouldn't have mentioned my murmur or asthma, but really, there's no point to hiding stuff. There really isn't.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well that's it.

My fiance's done his side of the paperwork and is bringing it to me on Monday.

As of Monday I'm on vacation and once I get approved at the interview I am quitting my job.

And I have more money than I thought I did. I thought I still had to pay November rent, but I actually already paid it. That's a nice thing.

As an FYI, if you're looking for cheap hotels and don't really care for an exact hotel company, try www.hotwire.com . I booked through them and got a 3.5 star hotel for $69 dollars a night. Their actual rate is about $149 a night. Pretty close to the consulate too!

So. Interview on the 13th. Here's hoping the visa gets mailed on Monday.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Interview Preperation And Other Thoughts

Ever since I got the interview date, alot of things have run through my mind.

Mostly money related issues.

An awful lot of things comes with getting an interview date, especially if some of them havn't been done already.

Here's a list + approximate costs:

• Medical - $275 + $50 for it to be mailed
  
• Getting a police certificate - Approx $40
  
• Getting required vaccinations - $130 for first Gardasil shot
  
• Getting required paperwork from USC fiance - Free, he's bringing it to me, unless you count about $600 for his plane ticket
  
• Booking a car rental to get to Montreal - Approx $100 + Gas + Food
  
• Booking a hotel in Montreal - Approx $100 + Approx $20 for parking
  
• Having the money for the interview - $131
• Envelope for visa to be mailed - Approx $10
• 5 US Style passport photos - Approx $25
  
• Booking a plane ticket - Free, I think. I have one from March I can still use
• Travel Insurance, since I wont be marrying right away - Approx $130
  
• APPROX TOTAL = More than $900 dollars. I'm sure it'll hit $1000
  

I don't even think that's everything! But that's basically what's on my plate right now.

We were going to take the train, but it's 400 for us both to and from where we're going. No thanks. Car's 100 + gas. Not to mention, the food in restaurants is bound to be cheaper than on the train. It's such a rip off.

I'm going to have no money when I leave Canada, well... I'll have 90 American unless I need that for the interview. I'm not sure if they need the money in Canadian or American. I have no clue how I'm going to pay off my credit card.

My Gardasil appointment is for October 29th, my medical is November 2nd.

That's alot of money gone in such a short time.

Man, it's such a bummer but at least this will get me into the US to be with my fiance for good, finally.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate
• Visa Recieved in the Mail
• US Entry via Pearson Toronto Airport (Hopefully November 20th)
  

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Oh My God, Interview!

This is insane.

I woke up and looked at the Visa Journey Forums to find that like 6 people got interview dates. Some of them were even near my date of sending the paperwork back.

So I thought, heck, I'll call.

Well what do you know, I have an interview for November 13th! It's amazing that it landed on the time my fiance's visiting me! I was just totally blown away, totally.

I haven't been that happy in the longest time, I seriously haven't. I can't believe I'll be in the US for my Birthday, for US Thanksgiving, for Christmas! Seriously!

So we're prolly getting married in February. Not Valentine's Day though, that's tacky.

I ordered my wedding dress yesterday. They told me it'd take 14 weeks. WELL NOT ANYMORE.

They called and said they have my size in the colour combo I want IN STOCK!

I'll be getting it in two weeks, so I get to try it on and get alterations before I leave!

It's like everything's falling into place.

Now I just need to deal with my crummy job until the 9th of November, haha.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Depression and More Wedding Stuff

Well, now that I have to sit here and just wait, my depression just seems to be getting worse.

I love going to the Visa Journey forums and talking to fellow Canadians, but the other country sections are depressing.

They bitch and complain about how they have to wait a WHOLE 14 to 30 days for their interview and shit. Boo hoo. I'd trade with them any day. ANY DAY.

I'd LOVE to see how they'd react to having to wait 90+ days to even be assigned a date, then waiting another month or so on TOP OF THAT. Seriously?

My fiance's congressman or senator is going to get a very nice nasty letter about me having to wait for such a long time for an interview when I get down to the US.

I'm Canadian. We have great relations with the US, we're connected to them by landmass, we speak English, we're not known for visa fraud... and yet we get into the US at the slowest rate compared to a country who has crappy relations with the US, is on the other side of the world, has a high potential to commit visa fraud and may not even speak a word of English? Seriously, what the fuck is that. And here I thought I was LUCKY to live in Canada. Seriously. It's revolting.

And it turns out that Montreal has lost a lot of their staff over the summer. They either weren't showing up or just quit. I read this on the visa forums. Here's hoping they open another consulate for us so they can start moving people to other consulates and unclogging Montreal.

On the wedding note, well nothing really.

For now I'm giving up on my May 15th date. Who knows what even going to happen anymore, seeing as I might not even have my interview till late February/early March. I really do hope they fix the lack of employees at Montreal somehow.

I don't want to move back home.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• WAITINGGGGGGGGGGG.
  
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Tenth Step - Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate

This actually took place yesterday, but I was too tired to blog about it.

Nothing much happened.

I got to work, punched in and just went right back out the door.

No one covers my job and I have to stay until it's done, so I can pretty much take my break whenever.

I went to the Seven Eleven because they had a postal outlet there. Person in front of me took 10 MINUTES. Sheesh.

It cost about 22 bucks to send it one day and 8 for two day.

I didn't really feel the need to rush, so I sent it 2 days + 1.50 for a signature confirmation. I'd like to know that it actually got there.

Next Friday I'm going to call Department of Services to see if my Package 3 of forms was logged into their system. If it hasn't I'll probably call back the next Wednesday.

NOW WE WAIT 90+ DAYS FOR AN INTERVIEW.

Fun fun.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• WAITINGGGGGGGGGGG.
  
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Wedding - Will It Really Be Mine?

Well, just thought I'd jump off the wagon and add in something about the wedding.

Since it will happen eventually... I just don't know a single thing about it.

You see, what I want to do is get married within the first month of getting there and have the ceremony in May. May 15th to be exact. One year after our NOA1 date.

But no, my mother doesn't like that. It's not right to have the signing of the certificate and the ceremony on two different days. It's not right that they wouldn't be there for the signing, it's the actual marriage.

Yeah, right.

This is what started the arguments between my mother and I.

As it stands, she will not listen to me with anything relating to the wedding plans.

I've already told her what dress I want, but she thinks I need to lose weight before I can wear it. Yes, I'm 200lbs. But what's wrong with that? I've seen much heavier people wear wedding dresses and look amazing in them.
She's been telling me for months to lose weight since I'm going to be married next year. Does she really think that basically telling me I'm fat will make me lose weight? No.

And now because of that and the fact that we don't have a date set, I don't know if I'll even get the dress I want. My dress is from Alfred Angelo. It's a really pretty dress, they just take about 3 months to make them and send it to you. Below is a picture:

That's the one I want. The back is a corset look and I'll be getting it (I hope) in a dark brown colour called Espresso. It's very nice. There's no exact price on this, but the website says it's under 600. Which isnt too bad by the sounds of it, considering I've seen common budgeting of 2000 dollars for the dress.

Because my mom wants us to get married in one shot instead of two seperate times, I dont know if I'll be getting this dress. I keep telling her I want a May wedding, but she keeps saying that she doesn't want to hear about it. If this keeps up and my fiance and I can't talk her out of her stubbornness, I may have to give up both my dates and my dress.

I will not be a happy bride. I sure hope she doesn't expect me to smile, because she certainly killed any hopes of it.

I have chosen the colours and will not be talked out of them. Dark brown, Dark pink and white. I've seen some nice wedding favour tags in those colours and I can get napkins too. Havnt really looked at what the party favour should be, but how can I plan anything when I don't even know a date?

It's impossible to start planning a single thing when my mom won't stop being so stubborn. I thought this was a time for mom and daughter to come together and work on this thing and be happy about it. I can't even speak to my mom about it without getting my mouth shut.

It's depressing, but my one happy day in life in which I'm supposed to be treated like a princess probably won't happen the way my fiance and I intend it to be.

I doubt they'll see a smile on my face.

It's mine and my fiance's day. Not hers.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Ninth Step - Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms

Ah yes. Completing the forms.

It's pretty redundant.

There's 4 different forms to complete. They're not very hard, as they all have pretty much the same info.

In most consulates it seems, there's only 3 forms... Montreal is one of the guinea pigs for a new form that's supposed to replace an old form.

WHY MONTREAL?

Don't they know we're one of THE slowest consulates ever?

I believe about 14 or so consulates are taking part in this, Vancouver is one of the other ones.

First is the DS-156. It's not that hard. You just have to fill it out in one shot. It's weird... it makes you fill it out in an online format but then once you're done, it puts it into adobe and lets you save it/print it out. I mean, the info was super easy to fill in, since I have it all already. Took about 25 minutes.

Second is the DS-156K. It's just an added on form to the DS-156. This form, if you've never been married and don't have kids takes 1 minute to fill out. You just have to fill in about 6 blanks. Easiest form ever.

Third is the DS-230. This one is in two parts or a 4 page form. It asks for the same info as the other one, pretty much. So you pretty much just regurgitate info from the last forms to this one. 1st part is sent away with the package and the 2nd part is signed at the consulate. In the old package, this is the single form you send away. In the new package, you send everything. This one took about 25 minutes, just putting in the same info over and over.

Fourth and last is the brand spanking new idiotic online form. The DS-160. It, yet again makes you give all the same info over and over. It has way too many steps to it, and it's just a pain.

It even asks you to attach an electronic photo! I don't know how people without digital cameras or scanners can even do that step. I had a hard time with it and I used a scanner.

The only thing I liked about it is that you could save the form half way through or at whatever complete step if you wanted.

Interesting thing about this one as well is that you are given a confirmation page to print off, not the whole form. Apparently it sits in the system and they use the bar code on the confirmation page to look it up. I guess that's cool, but no. Pain in the ass. This one took about 40 minutes. I had to ask questions about it on the Visa Journey forums and wait for responses. I do not like this form.

I actually started all this paperwork about 2 weeks ago.

I'm done except I need my dad to help me remember when I started and quit my first job, since the DS-230 asks for 10 years of employment instead of 5.

I still think it's silly that I have to give them all the same info 3 times.

Those poor trees.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Eighth Step - Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary

Well, I'm finally caught up when it comes to steps.

After waiting for a while, the forms were finally sent to me.

How do I know?

I received them today, haha.

The thing is, most people would call the Department of State to see if their forms have been sent or even been logged into the system.

You see, thanks to Montreal being really slow, it can take them almost a whole week just to log your case into their system. Mail takes a few days.

I didn't call the Department of State, because I just didn't have the money.

I was going to call them eventually if I hadn't received "Packet 3" as its called by the 1st of October.

Packet 3 consists of a few things. Apparently it's been changed now, so it contains less than it used to.

The old one sent the letter, the checklist and all the forms that are needed to be completed. The old one also asked for only one form to be sent back.

Apparently the new one does not send forms at all. They only send the letter and the checklist. This one also asks for ALL the forms back. I guess it's not so bad, but it seems like a waste of paper. Oh well, not my choice.

My mom called me today saying that something from the consulate came in the mail for me.

Mom: Something came from the consulate in the mail for you.

Me: About time.

Mom: Says something about an interview.

Me: Yeah right, I have to wait 3+ months for that.

And pretty much it ended there. I didn't get her to open it, but now I'm curious about it. Here's hoping she actually drops it off to me tomorrow. I don't want her taking her sweet time doing it. The longer I take, the longer I have to wait... and I think 6 years of waiting is long enough.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Steps Five, Six And Seven - NVC Receives Case, NVC Forwards Case to Foreign US Consulate and Foreign US Consulate Receives Case

These 3 Steps Take Place Between September 8th and September 16th.

These 3 steps are really short, unless you get unlucky.

Thankfully, I did not.

On September 8th, we got a touch. I mentioned it in the last post, but I thought I'd mention it again anyway. I know the dates here kinda smush in with the ones in the last post, but that's how stuff works.

I'm unsure if that touch was the case being sent to the National Visa Center (NVC) or it was the NOA2 being mailed, but whatever.

On September 10th, our case was received at the NVC.

What does the NVC do? Not much for K-1 cases. All they really do is assign a new case number depending on your consulate. Mine has MTL at the beginning, since it went to Montreal.

We got lucky though, we weren't put into Additional Processing. Additional Processing (or AP) is a random process in which random cases are pulled from the piles and are given extra checks. Not sure what exactly, but we managed to escape that.

We called the week after it was sent away, since I didn't really want my fiance having to call them alot trying to see if it had been sent off or not. He couldn't get through until September 15th, which was good timing. They had sent off our case that day to Montreal. We didn't get stuck in AP. Thank goodness.

NVC sends their cases to consulates via DHL shipping, so I was able to follow it through that. It was very fast, the petition arrived in Montreal the next day, September 16th.

First one of that shipping date to get to the consulate.

It was good to know it got there... but it got to consulate hell.

Montreal is known for being one of THE slowest consulates in the world.

I don't get why really, since you'd think we'd have semi fast processing. It must be because Montreal is the only place that CR-1 visas are processed, thus slowing everything else down.

Vancouver's K-1s are pretty fast though.

Time for more waiting.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Fourth Step - The Second Notice Of Action

This took place between September 6th and September 12th

September 6th, just a lazy Sunday.

I don't really remember why I wanted to go to the grocery store, but I did. It was a pretty nice day and I had nothing in my mind about the K-1 process.

Picked up some stuff. Probably some junk food for all I can remember.

I got home and noticed an email in my inbox. Opened it and saw it was from the CRIS. Well, that's strange, it's Sunday.

It turned out to be our NOA2 email.

It must have gotten in the email box late, probably due to them having to send out so much email on Fridays. It was dated for September 4th.

It's not to say I wasn't happy about it, but it was more like "It's about time after that RFE crap." kind of feeling. Still happiness in a way.

Due to it being Labour Day weekend, mail didn't start up again until the Tuesday. We got a touch on September 8th. I'm unsure if that was them mailing out the NOA2 hard copy or them sending the petition to the next spot.

None the less, the hardcopy came in the mail on the 12th. Thank God too, because if it were to get lost, we'd have to pay about 300 dollars to replace it. Don't ask why. Apparently it takes a whole tree to make a single piece of paper with that info on it.

It was nice to get passed the longest step... for most people. My consulate has 3+ month waits for interviews, so it's almost the whole NOA wait again. Figures.

Oh well, the next few steps shouldn't be too long.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

Something Unexpected - Request For Evidence

This Took Place between August 26th to September 4th

After almost going crazy waiting for something, on August 26th an email from the CRIS popped into my e-mail in box.

My heart jumped.

I was racing to click the little msn window before it dissapeared, dying to see my Second Notice Of Action. The email opens...

"Request for Further Evidence".

(This is given to people who didnt complete forms properly, forgot to sign things, things weren't translated properly, forgot evidence, etc... or when the USCIS misplaces it and makes you send it again.)

I broke down and cried for a good 2 minutes or so. This is NOT what I wanted to see. This is the LAST thing I wanted to see. I jumped to the assumption that they lawyer was a wrong choice and that it was stupid to use her.

I told my fiance and he felt really bad, since he was the one who wanted to use the lawyer. The thing is about the Request for Further Evidence email (Or RFE) is that they do not tell you what exactly they want. We had to wait for the hardcopy to come in the mail.

I was so depressed for a few hours. I felt dirty getting an RFE since this process is so simple. Over the days, I kept wondering what it was. Did we miss something? Was there something wrong with our G-325A forms?

On August 27th our petition got touched. Nothing happened.

On August 29th we received the hard copy for the RFE. It was pretty fast thankfully. Now, what they wanted just... made me smack my forehead. Nothing was really missing, nothing was really wrong... just a simple missed box that needed to be checked off either yes or no. THAT IS IT. You think they could call about it instead of wasting paper! Seriously. Sadly, the 29th was a Friday. We had to wait till Monday to send it back.

On the forums I go to, someone suggested that we FedEx back to them. It went to a different address, but I think it's better that it got signed for instead of going to a P.O box and potentially getting lost. My fiance didn't tell me how much it cost to FedEx it, but I'm sure it was at least 15 dollars.

August 31st my fiance FedEx'd the RFE back to them. I'm very thankful it was something so simple. Some people have had really hard to reply to RFEs. Mostly relating to divorce decrees. Another reason I'm thankful that my fiance didn't marry his last girlfriend... this case could have gotten a bit messy because of a divorce decree. But well, it wouldn't have mattered if had married before anyway. It wouldn't have changed my opinion of him.

The RFE was recieved at the California Service center on September 1st. Good to know it got there.

Nothing happened that day or the next day. Well, except my fiance's 34th birthday on September 2nd. I'm sure something from them would have made a good birthday present.

On September 3rd we got an email from USCIS (they're labeled as from CRIS, dont ask why) saying that they received our reply and resumed processing.. That was a very nice thing to see. Our file was also touched that day. I assume they put the reply with the file.

The next day we got another touch. Nothing else happened. Just a touch. It was depressing to see that, because the long weekend started then.

Little did I know that that touch was the magic one.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The Third Step - The First Notice of Action

This Took Place Between May 15th and May 20th.

Patience.
It's something I do not have alot of... when it comes to certain things.
Even though some thing my mom printed off ages ago said that people with my name have constant patience, I really do lack it in certain situations.
I mean, I can deal with idiots online no problem... but when it comes to things like sitting around waiting for people who control our future life do their job... that doesn't sit well.

May 8th our petition was sent in. The waiting started.

Time passed, I killed time by doing what I usually do. Watch stuff online and wander around the Visa Journey forums learning more about the K-1 process.

Eventually May 15th rolled around. Matt got the First Notice of Action in the mail. What is the Notice of action, or NOA for short? There is two different NOAs in the process. The first one lets you know that they have your petition and in time it will be looked at and approved.

At the time, and currently, California's service center is faster than Vermont's service center... by about a month. Which is nice. I do feel bad for the people at Vermont, but I guess that's how the cookie crumbles.

It was nice to see something coming from this, even though the check hasn't been cashed.

I decided to sign up for email updates on the USCIS website. You can add cases to your file and see if the dates change.

I signed up and added our case. On May 18th, our case date changed... but nothing else happened.

That is called a "Touch". It means someone physically handled your petition, even if nothing in particular happened.

May 20th rolled around and the check was cashed. Goodbye 455 American dollars. That was like almost 600 Canadian. Goodbye savings account. Haha.
(To be honest, I don't remember the exact cost. It's been too long and I don't really want to look it up again. It's depressing. Lols.)

I later assumed this touch on May 18th was our check being taken out of the package. Makes sense.

AND THUS MORE WAITING HAPPENED.

Yup.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The First & Second Step - Putting Everything Together & Sending It

This Took Place In The Month of April And Part Of May.

After getting denied at the border for almost committing visa fraud (I still feel guilty about it every time I think about it), we looked into the K-1 Visa.

I was saying maybe we should do CR-1, but that'd require us getting married and we didn't really have the time or money to do it at the time. And MAN. I am SO glad we didn't do it. The wait times for an interview for CR-1 at Montreal are absolutely horrible. 4+ months to even be assigned a date right now. I believe K-1's at 3+ months. It's still bad, since alot of other countries can give them out within a month... who knows why Montreal is so slow. I wish I lived closer to Vancouver, they're so much faster.

Anyway. I stressed and stressed over the whole thing. I was still feeling guilty for not knowing to do this in the first place so I was trying so hard to get this done properly. I looked at the paperwork over and over and filled in so I could understand it. My fiance said that he was going to get the person who did his citizenship paperwork to fill in the paperwork for him. Did I ever have a fit about that.

We argued numerous times about the lawyer thing. I told him we didn't need one, that we could do it ourselves. He said he trusted that person and that they're "professionals". In the end we did go with one... I don't really think I had much of a choice. I felt really left out in the fact that I wanted to see what was going into this, I wanted control over it.

This lawyer didn't really live up to what I thought she would. She didn't ask me to fill in a G-325A, which is the biographic information. I told my fiance that this was needed, and we just argued about it, that if the lawyer didn't ask, we didn't need it. I eventually looked it up online and proved to him we needed it. I mean, I felt kind of bad to argue with him over that kind of stuff, but if I couldn't put it together myself, I was going to try and make sure everything was done properly. So he went back to the lawyer and asked if I needed to fill in the G-325A. She said yes, but she was just going to do it based off the info I had initially given her. Excuse me? Do you know where I had worked/lived before the initial info I gave you? I'm not one of those people who got tied down to one job and one home. It kind of blew me away.

She had also asked for my long form birth certificate. I'm pretty sure I didn't need it right away, but well... if she didn't want to do this without it, I had to get it. Thankfully, I got it within a week. I faxed it off and that went fine. It's not too bad that she asked for it, because it's needed at the interview.

So eventually I sent everything. I sent 4 copies of the blank G-325A with my signature. I sent proof with explanations written in red pen and things on my visa bills that showed that I spent money while I was there. Okay, that's all fine and dandy. The paperwork was put together and sent off. I told my fiance to get an EXACT copy of what the lawyer sent in.

July rolled around and he visited me. Well, I wasn't very happy to say the least about what I was given. I was given 3 of 4 of the blank ink signed G-325As and everything that had been written on in red. What did she do, photocopy it? I purposely wrote on it in red pen. Nor did I get a full exact photocopy. Egh.

Needless to say, that's why I wanted to do it myself.

There was one thing we didn't put into the package. Letters of intent to marry once I get into the US. Apparently they're needed and they didn't get in there... unless the lawyer forged my signature or something. Who knows really.

It was strange. I was freaking out because I had wanted to get all the papers to him before April 22nd, when he was going to be sworn in as a citizen. Well, that didn't really happen. Haha. We didn't even get everything sent in till May 8th. It's strange that I wanted to get it all sent off so fast, that I just HAD to get it done... but ended up taking a long time. I wonder why. Maybe the pressure made me crack.

Though, it did get to the California Service Center in the end, which is good. At least the lawyer got that part right. They didn't wait a week to get it sent off like I've heard most lawyers would do.

I did have a huge weight taken off my chest when it eventually got sent off. As much as I was unhappy about not being able to put it together myself, I was just glad it got done.

Now we just had to wait for the check to get cashed (which was my money, my fiance didn't have the money at the time) and get our First Notice of Action.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step

The K-1 Fiance(e) Visa

This post explains what a K-1 Visa actually is.
It's not very confusing, thankfully.
I'll explain through the 5 W's (Who, what, when, where, why) and the How. The how will be very basic as the rest of my blog will eventually explain each step in general.

What:

What is a K-1 Visa?
A K-1 visa is a single entry visa into the United States of America that allows a foreigner to enter and marry their fiance(e) and adjust status legally. Now, this visa itself is not an immigration visa. This visa just allows you to adjust status (which it itself is immigration) through marriage.

K-1 is not to be confused with K-2, K-3 and K-4. K-2 is for children under 21 of K-1 holders. K-3 is basically the exact same as K-1 but just for people that are married already. K-4 is for the children under 21 of K-3 holders. I'm not quite sure about that age requirement, as I can't seem to find an exact source, but 21 seems like the right age.

There is also the CR-1 Visa and the IR-1 visa. I don't know a whole lot about these two, but I know CR-1 allows you to adjust status outside the country and enter with a green card. You must be married for this visa. You do not enter with a green card on K-1, you must file for one when you get into the states after marriage.
I'm not too sure about the IR-1 though. Go look it up if you're interested. Haha. I do think it has something to do with DCF (Direct Consular Filing) though. Don't quote me on it though.

Let me also add that people who apply for K-1 Visas must get legally married within the US. There's no way around that. People are more than free to have ceremonies elsewhere once they get their green card though. Because if you leave before that and you did not apply for Advanced Parole... well, sorry but you can't come back in the country.

Who:

Who can apply for a K-1 Visa?
Two people who are currently single/divorced/widowed can apply for a fiance(e) visa. As a rule of thumb, you must be engaged, but there really isn't a way for them to make you prove it. Though, if you end up referring to your future spouse as something other than a fiance in documents or at the interview, you might get looked at weird and questioned.
While no one can get the fiance visa faster, couples with one divorced person may have a hard time. USCIS is known to be picky with the divorce decrees, or so I've noticed on the forums I go to. Especially countries that have strange rules/exceptions about divorce or ones that must be translated into English.
There is no age requirement that I am aware of, other than the USA's marriage without consent age. Though, I'm sure if the family said it was okay for the person to marry below non-consent age, they would allow it.

Where:

Where can one apply for a K-1 Visa?
You can put the paperwork together anywhere you want, but the visa must be sent from within the US. I'm not exactly sure why, but whatever. Cheaper mail? Haha.
Of course, that doesn't stop you from doing your paperwork in the foreign fiance(e)'s country. Though, most people just mail their US citizen fiance(e)s their paperwork.

When:

When can you apply for a K-1 Visa?
Anytime you want as long as you meet the criteria. I believe the only criteria is that you have met within the last 2 years. Most people do this easily. Hell, my fiance and I met like 6 times in 2 years. I find it strange that they'll give people visas when they had only met once and met maybe like 1-5 months after starting to talk. I mean, how do they know those marriages will work? Maybe all the immigrants is what makes America's divorce rate high! Oh who knows. You really never know.
There are people who will fake relationships to get green cards, as sad as it is.

Why:

Why apply for a K-1 Visa?
Why am I explaining this? It seems pretty obvious to me. You want to go live with your fiance. Of course, you could get married first and apply for K-3 or CR-1... but maybe you want to get there fast and you would like to have your wedding in the US. Maybe you didn't have enough money for a wedding and don't want to wait to save up for it. I'm sure there's many reasons people choose K-1.
Why did we choose K-1? Because we were planning on having the marriage in the US in the first place, mostly. We also wanted the fastest route. After 6 years of having a long distance relationship, you just get sick of the distance and want to be together.

Now that those basics are covered, here comes the how.

How:

How do you apply for a K-1 Visa?
It's actually pretty simple. You fill out 2 forms. The I-129F and the G-325A. The first one is the actual petition. With this, you include proof of meeting, passport photos, emails, etc. Proof that you have a relationship and that you've met. The 2nd one is just biographic information. It's straight foward and easy, unless you were like me who's had numerous jobs and has lived numerous places. Thanks mom and dad.
I didn't know how to apply for a K-1 until I found the "Visa Journey" website. It's helped me so much and will continue to help me when I have to finish off this process.


Well, that's it really about a K-1 Visa.
If you want to know more, wiki it and visit http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?act=idx . They've helped me greatly.

Steps of a K-1 Visa:

• US Petitioner and Foreign Beneficiary Collect Needed Documents
• I-129F Package Sent
• Notice Of Action 1 Received by US Petitioner
• Notice Of Action 2 Received by US Petitioner
• Case Forwarded to the National Visa Center
• Case Forwarded to the Foreign Beneficiary's US Consulate
• Case Received by Foreign Beneficiary's Local US Consulate
• Forms and Checklist Sent to Foreign Beneficiary
• Foreign Beneficiary Compiles Needed Forms
• Foreign Beneficiary Sends Completed Forms to US Consulate
• US Consulate Issues Interview Date
• Interview Conducted at the US Consulate

Legend: Strikethrough + Blue show past steps, Bolded + Red shows current step