U.S. Citizens--Any Delays/Difficulties?

[CeeGee]

Hi Everyone--

This forum has been so helpful to me in figuring out what to do. I know many, many people on the forum are applying from outside North American, and it sounds like that can be very complicated and difficult. I feel for you!

What I am wondering, (or what I would like to start a thread about) is about any Canadian/U.S. sponsorships is what kind of delays, setbacks, frustrations, complications, problems or denials did you face? How did you deal with them? How were they finally resolved?

Or, on a happier note: Did you not have any problems? Did sponsorship/landing/Permanent Residency proceed smoothly all the way? What did your timeline look like? What did you do while you were waiting for Permanent Residency and unable to work? (I am "visiting" my husband in Canada, and I miss not working!)

I would like to hear what is ahead of me now that the application has finally been sent in.

As always, thanks to all of you for sharing your stories and assisting others along the way!

 

[tgchi13]

Hi! Two plus years after starting our application, our five year relationship lead to a refusal for him to immigrate to Canada from the US, a wedding, and an application for me to immigrate to the US.

Ours was extraordinary (read old posts if you wish) but the time line will not be fast, or any faster, within North America.

Be well and believe it will happen.

 

[minna]

I am just beginning this process to bring my american partner to canada. I am looking forward to reading everyone's stories!

I would love to know (just to add on the the OP), whether there's anything that anyone wishes they had known when they started the process - any tips or advice on how to manage and organize all of this paper?? Anything you figured out along the way that might be helpful for someone just starting out??

 

[CeeGee]

Yes, one thing I would suggest before you apply is when to do things. About 3-4 months request your FBI clearance, then six weeks later request your state police clearances. That way, hopefully, they will all be "active" at the same time. I applied for all of them on the same day. Oregon and California came ten days later. FBI came almost three months later. By the time I got application in, the state clearances were slightly out-of-date; we'll see what happens now about that. . . .

Good luck. Try to do it together; this application is a big burden. Use it to make you closer and not pull you apart!

 

[minna]

thanks! we sent the FBI clearance request and fingerprints in last week. he has an appointment for his medical exam at the end of the month. We are going to try to get our application together by around the same time as the medical exam. I was told that it should not take more than an evening or two to fill out the forms. it's just organizing all the supporting evidence that takes some time.

My partner and I have been together since 2002, living together since 2003. We have cards, phone records, joint bank accounts and about 50 photos, and we'll have a letter from my parents stating that they love my partner like he is their own son, and that they are thrilled to have us stay with them until we get on our feet in Canada.

is it a problem to wait to see if they request state clearances? My partner has lived in 4 states - and all of them have different procedures. We are confident the FBI record will be clean, so are the state ones really necessary? I thought we would wait until they were requested.

 

[abedelia]

Yes, one thing I would suggest before you apply is when to do things. About 3-4 months request your FBI clearance, then six weeks later request your state police clearances. That way, hopefully, they will all be "active" at the same time. I applied for all of them on the same day. Oregon and California came ten days later. FBI came almost three months later. By the time I got application in, the state clearances were slightly out-of-date; we'll see what happens now about that. . . .

Good luck. Try to do it together; this application is a big burden. Use it to make you closer and not pull you apart!

For the US, you don't have to supply state police clearances unless requested by your visa office.
http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/information/security/police-cert/north-america/united-states.asp

 

[minna]

Phew - thanks - that what I had thought!!! Thanks for the clarification. I have looked up the procedures for how to obtain these certificates, but since they each involved more fingerprints + $30 for processing apiece, we would rather not pay for them unless necessary!

 

[can_usa_97]

We are getting ready - all our things in order.
We plan to file somewhere very near after June 22, when I have my medical scheduled for.
Likely will end up having to mail in without the FBI Clearance, but this seems to be an OK thing to do.

The most difficult part I am having is remembering all these silly questions they ask - we've been married 13 years in October -so I don't remember what date I met his family on exactly. Some things we had written down - so that helps.

Compiling proof of our relationship in the early stages is harder, especially since I've begun to pack up things at the house to ready it to list for sale next week.

Looking forward to hearing specific US/CA replies.

 

[Dayanara]

The most difficult part I am having is remembering all these silly questions they ask - we've been married 13 years in October -so I don't remember what date I met his family on exactly. Some things we had written down - so that helps.

This is what we had the hardest time remembering, exact dates. Between our relationship and then the individual histories we were really struggling. Our lawyer said that as long as it was as accurate as possible there should not be too much of an issue.

Proving a relationship is hard! When we had first started dating we did not think keeping plane tickets, movie stubs, event tickets would ever be needed. Once we became engaged we kept EVERYTHING and made sure we had at least a year long engagement to prove at least a year long relationship. I understand why you need to prove it, but I just hope they don't come back saying it is not enough.

 

[tgchi13]

Hi Everyone--

This forum has been so helpful to me in figuring out what to do. I know many, many people on the forum are applying from outside North American, and it sounds like that can be very complicated and difficult. I feel for you!

What I am wondering, (or what I would like to start a thread about) is about any Canadian/U.S. sponsorships is what kind of delays, setbacks, frustrations, complications, problems or denials did you face? How did you deal with them? How were they finally resolved?

Or, on a happier note: Did you not have any problems? Did sponsorship/landing/Permanent Residency proceed smoothly all the way? What did your timeline look like? What did you do while you were waiting for Permanent Residency and unable to work? (I am "visiting" my husband in Canada, and I miss not working!)

I would like to hear what is ahead of me now that the application has finally been sent in.

As always, thanks to all of you for sharing your stories and assisting others along the way!

See that's why most of us suck at this. When it's a real relationship based on tenderness and not for immigration why would anyone even think of that? You don't think to keep it until you know you need to and then it's often too late. Beside which, if you are like us, you figure US Citizen to Canada...and as a spouse...should be a no-brainer.

More than anything else, ensure you both always easily remember that you love one another.

 

[minna]

yes, specific dates are hard!! I've been told by an immigration lawyer that it probably really doesn't matter if you put that you met each others families on june 15th or July 15th, as long as you keep it consistent between the sponsor and applicant forms, and you keep it in the realm of the correct ball park. She told me not to worry too much - if we don't know this stuff, for sure no one else does to check up on us to the exact day!!

 

[mrsprogram]

Hello all,

My husband and I have been together for 5 years and been married since November 2009. We have two sons together.

One of our setbacks was the wait for the FBI clearance. We sent fingerprints to WV in November and didn't receive the clearance until February. In the meantime, my husband's state clearance expired.

Another setback was when my husband didn't sign the sponsorship agreement and our entire application was mailed back to me and it took a whole month to get back to me. Re-submitted the application the same day and was approved a week later. All this resulted in a 5 week delay.

We finally received the AOR from Buffalo yesterday, 6 weeks after it was sent from CPC-M.

Good luck to everyone!

 

[can_usa_97]

This is what we had the hardest time remembering, exact dates. Between our relationship and then the individual histories we were really struggling. Our lawyer said that as long as it was as accurate as possible there should not be too much of an issue.

Proving a relationship is hard! When we had first started dating we did not think keeping plane tickets, movie stubs, event tickets would ever be needed. Once we became engaged we kept EVERYTHING and made sure we had at least a year long engagement to prove at least a year long relationship. I understand why you need to prove it, but I just hope they don't come back saying it is not enough.

That was smart thinking. We had things done up for his application here - so I have scrapbooked some of our life together then but we didn't really take too many photographs then - it was just the two of us, but I have a zillion and one since having our twins (3 years next month) so hoping that and proof of our living together for the last 13 years is good enough

 

[Kess]

Proving a relationship is hard! When we had first started dating we did not think keeping plane tickets, movie stubs, event tickets would ever be needed. Once we became engaged we kept EVERYTHING and made sure we had at least a year long engagement to prove at least a year long relationship. I understand why you need to prove it, but I just hope they don't come back saying it is not enough.

I've been keeping boarding passes, movie stubs, etc for years now so at least I have some of that stuff to supplement our lack of photos together. I do have google chat logs going back to when we started dating as we didn't talk on the phone much. I asked my husband if he had his cell bills and he threw them all out within the last few months! :S I think I should have enough proof.

We were only engaged for about 3 months (Feb 2010, married May 8 2010) but had originally planned to do a second wedding in a year down in the US for his family. Hope the short engagement doesn't hurt us too much.

 

[plumosa]

We were only engaged for about 3 months (Feb 2010, married May 8 2010) but had originally planned to do a second wedding in a year down in the US for his family. Hope the short engagement doesn't hurt us too much.

I think we were engaged for a week? We ran off to Vermont to get married so we could start the immigration process. We're having a 'real' wedding in 23 days (all of our families will meet for the first time, ack!)

I'm most likely going to send some extra photos from the family wedding just to help things along, I'd love to avoid an interview on top of the already longer Quebec process...