November 25, 2009
WHOA Progress Indeed!!
I have so much to update!!
In short, we got the visa!!!! Amazing!! The interview was last Friday, November 20th. I’ll be sure to update about it soon. Dan went back home to California today. Just arrived as I type this actually. Things will be going forward in full swing now. It’s a bit hard to believe. There’s still so much work ahead of us!
I’ll update soon! 
November 4, 2009
Medical Exam Complete
This morning I completed my medical exam in Toronto at Dr. Seiden’s office. There are only 4 doctors offices in all of Canada that are authorized to do the exams needed for the visa application. I personally think that’s ridiculous, but at least it was only 2 hrs away. Problem is that if I wanted to be completed in a reasonable length of time, I basically had to be there when doors opened, which was slightly before 6:30am. 
I did not want to have to leave London at 4am to drive there, so I stayed overnight in a hotel about 4 blocks away. Was back from the exam in time to get some free breakfast and a nap before driving home. lol So at least that part was cool.
The medical consisted of a chest x-ray, blood taken, basic physical exam, blood pressure, $275 fee, plus $50 for courier for results. sigh…. etc. Nothing special really, but I had to see four different people to accomplish it all. SIX people if you include the receptionist and secretary. Whatever happened to the days of getting a tooth pulled and a hair cut at the same location by the same person? Our society is really too complicated these days. Really.
I also had to get all my immunizations updated, which was sort of a chore in itself. Thankfully I’d already done a bunch of them this summer, and I’m glad I did. I also had to get some blood work taken to find out if I needed the chicken pox vaccine. I did this a couple wks ago. It consisted of waiting around in a walk in clinic for 2 hours to see a Dr to get paperwork to go to the blood lab next door (thank god it was in the same building, I had no idea when I first went in there) to get blood taken, to wait a week to get results, to go back to the clinic to pick up said results declaring that I indeed never had chicken pox as a child and don’t have immunization against it since there was no vaccine when I was a kid. SIGH. So I had to pay $60 at an immunization clinic to get the vaccine done. I did that the day after I heard the news about the interview. Technically there are two doses needed, but I’m not entirely sure I will get the 2nd. Chicken pox is really scary to get as an adult, but honestly, I don’t really have $60 to throw around, and only did the first one because it was a ‘necessity’. The 2nd dose is just ‘recommended’, and I have too much to pay for right now anyways.
SO… that’s my medical exam story. BRIEF version of the story at that. lol
November 2, 2009
Another Fake Registry
Today I went to The Bay and created another fake registry. ‘Fake’ because we’re not telling anyone about it. I just did it to get a free $25 gift card (lol!), like I did at Home Outfitters earlier in Oct. I’m glad we’re not ‘actually’ registering at The Bay, cause wow, their stuff is pricey. Maybe I’m just so cheap and have low standards, but yikes! LOL
At least I got a cool binder/folder thing from them, but I didn’t get any free magazines, which made me a bit sad.
It’s also not much fun doing this stuff without Dan here. I mean, really going around by myself was crappy. So, I’m glad it was ‘fake’, cause I just wouldn’t have wanted to make some decisions about house stuff without him. I just picked some random things, like kitchen gadgets and dishes. Useless really. lol But $25!! WOOT. Now I have $50 to spend at HBC. What should I buy?!
October 20, 2009
Happy Birthday to ME!!!!
So, today I got a great birthday present. A ton of people on the visa journey Canadian forum called in to find out the status of their interview scheduling. It had been starting to look like a much longer wait than we’d hoped for… it had been weeks and weeks since a decent number of people had received an interview date for their visa application at the Montreal Consulate. It had reached a point where some of us wanted to write in complaint letters, and were starting to come up with alternate plans, and it was really all up in the air. It’s a very stressful thing to have your life on hold, and in the hands of someone else.
Anyways, the interview dates just kept rolling in! Call after call, person after person kept updating ‘my interview is this date!’ ‘my interview is that date!’. So I really wanted to call too, to find out! Unfortunately, their hours are the same as my work hours, so I had to ask Dan to call. After some fighting with their automated menu, he got through to someone and found our that… are you ready?!…. Our Visa Interview is NOVEMBER 20th!!! OMG!!! Can’t confirm things 100% about it until I receive a letter in the mail from them, but this is FANTASTIC news! This means I can move when I originally wanted to, and also get to see Dan sooner than expected! Not to mention, can sort of start planning now!
I’ll have to rush around and get the medical exam booked in Toronto ASAP, as that needs to be done prior to the interview. I also need to get my chicken pox vaccine! Yikes! So much waiting, only to have it all come down to the last minute, it seems!
Anyways, with this in place, I’ll definitely have more to talk about on here now, cause things will start happening, and they’ll be happening FAST!
October 1, 2009
Successful show visit.
Well… Just realized I’d forgotten to update re: the Bridal Show. It was fun. I’m glad my mom came with me. I think/hope she had fun too. I got a lot of pamphlets and samples and what not, which was neat. And we got some free cake! hurrah! lol A lot of the vendors weren’t entirely relevant to me, but it was still interesting, and I still got a lot of good ideas.
file this under 'bridezilla'
I ended up having to begin an official wedding binder. Sigh. I was hoping to avoid that, since we’re keeping things ‘simple’, but I’m glad I have everything organized. It’s already been helpful. I didn’t have folders, so had to use manila envelopes, which I think is better anyways. Nothing can fall out the top this way. Wow, I’m a dork.
I also preregistered at The Bay, and Home Outfitters (both owned by HBC). Sunday (the day after the show), I went to Home Outfitters and actually registered for items that I’m probably never going to get cause we’re not really ‘announcing’ our registry. BUT, I received a $25 gift card, a free cookbook, and 2 free magazines. hah! Not bad for an hour’s work. I will also be getting another $25 card if I register at The Bay too, which I plan to do soon. I’m considering using one of them to buy something I ‘pretend’ registered for, and the other one for some sweet Canadian Olympic gear. I need some more Canada stuff before I leave.
photos also seen on my 365+
September 23, 2009
Wedding Show in London This Weekend.
Something to look forward to?
The Western Fair is have a Bridal Show on their grounds this weekend. They have one every January and September. I’ve been to it previously, once as a bridesmaid, once as a participant in the bridal fashion show! However, this will be the first time that I can go as a BRIDE! I’m excited. Apparently there was also a different bridal show at another venue in town a couple weekends ago, but I didn’t know about it. blah. Oh well.
Unfortunately, given the circumstances, I won’t really be going to there to sign up for anything, or get any real USABLE ideas for anything in the area, or be able to make use of any of the vendors, and if I enter draws, I probably can’t use the prizes here anyways… wait… why am I going… oh, I can at least get some ideas I guess. Which is better than nothing. Right? Wait, I think I just went from ‘excited’ to ‘talking myself out of it’…
It’s hard to explain to people why things are they way they are… I will have to come up with some pre-determined script on how to answer why I don’t know exactly when the wedding is, and why I’m getting married in the US, and why I don’t know if we’re having a reception, or when…. this is so fü©ķéđ up… I hope I don’t get all depressed… it’ll be like shopping without money.. I HATE that…
*Edit* My mom just called… she’s going to come too!! ok, that will be fun 
September 20, 2009
So tired of waiting for a visa interview in Montreal…
Sorry for the lack of update. There hasn’t been any further progress in the immigration world. I’ve been trying to avoid talking about it, but I’m getting SO frustrated at this wait and need a rant.
The consulate in Montreal takes a LONG time to schedule interviews and notify people of when their interview date is. There are people still waiting since JUNE to hear back from them. That’s THREE MONTHS without even KNOWING when their interview will be. That’s seriously horrific, and ridiculous. I honestly don’t even care anymore WHEN the interview is… I will deal with it. But going so long without even knowing is really going to upset me.
I just NEED to KNOW… I can’t do anything until I know when that interview is! Dan and I can’t even make plans for him to come visit, cause we don’t know how far apart things will be spaced and we don’t have a lot of money for visits anyways… Does anyone under ‘normal’ circumstances even know at all how heartbreaking, frustrating and lonely it can be without knowing at all when you’ll see your fiancé again???
I had started explaining this another way, but it made no sense so I deleted it… lol
Let me start here… I don’t want to move any earlier than December 30th, due to the holidays, and work situation as well. The ideal wedding date is January 10th. That would give us about 10 days in California, to move and to prepare everything for the ceremony (haha!). Any interview date in January or beyond, would put extreme pressure on the situation, and make things very rushed and hectic in the end, and we wouldn’t be able to get married on the date we want. That really bothers me, but like I said, I could deal with it if I just KNEW.
Prior to that, there’s a black out time frame of, I dunno… say around November 25th – December 15th. If the interview is any time in there it will kinda suck, only because it means that we’ll have to pick and choose whether or not Dan will be here for the interview OR for the move, because he probably can’t be there for both since they’re too close together and it’s too expensive, and too much time off work so close. On the plus side, we’d know for sure that we could have the wedding date we wanted. It would be a GREAT miracle if the interview is BEFORE November 25th. That will be 2.5 months from the time I returned my paperwork to the Montreal Consulate. We’d have it done and out of the way, I could take time preparing to move, we could prepare for the wedding, I could get things in order for work, and Dan could come for both the interview and the move. Two and a 1/2 months for other consulates would be VERY attainable, and not an unreasonable expectation at all (some are able to schedule interviews with a matter of a few days or weeks). However Montreal sucks SO bad, and is SO backlogged that it’s taking TWICE that time to schedule these things. We don’t get a choice on when the interview is. We don’t get to request a date at all… we just sit and wait and wait and wait, and THEY tell me when to show up.
…… we can’t make any wedding plans, can’t make any moving plans, can’t make any plans for my parents to travel. I do NOT like my life in limbo. It really irritates me a lot. People ask me when we’re getting married, when I’m moving, when I’m quitting… I’ve given up hope that things will work out as I want and simply have “I don’t know” on speed dial…
The government gets to decide when I get to move on with my life, and when I get married. How sick is that… I’m not a criminal!
September 13, 2009
So, the world DOES talk about visas!
On Visa Journey today, someone posted a link to the following story. It’s an interesting one for a number of reasons. Most of all, I’m glad it puts things somewhat into perspective for people who think it’s simple to just walk across the U.S.-Canada border to see your fiancé(e) or spouse. We Canadians want to be independent and recognized for being our own country and having our own history and being separate from the US, and yet many of us seem to think we have special privileges because we’re buddies with the U.S. We unfortunately don’t get special treatment, and the border guards know it.
For the record, this couple, in the beginning, got to see each other much more often than Dan and I do (we didn’t see each other for almost 4 months earlier this year, and won’t see each other again until my interview in Montreal which probably won’t be until December). They’re only 40 miles apart, but Dan and I are almost 2500 miles apart. The length between visits has just as much to do with the distance as the border though. There are many other couples who go months and months without seeing each other, and some who go over a year or two, if they’re on different continents… This couple had a better situation than they realize, and they blew it by not being careful. Regardless, their situation did not deserve a 6 month ban. They weren’t doing anything wrong. That’s the scary part.
Still, in my opinion the couple in this article really should’ve done further research before expecting to continue on as they were. Had she brought proof with her to show she wasn’t planning to until she got the visa, she probably wouldn’t have been banned. I think they knew what they were getting into. Plus, if they can afford an immigration attorney then they can afford the paperwork. They could’ve filed ages ago, but didn’t (read the article to get more info).
Even Dan and I were ignorant in the beginning, and shocked to find out what sort of hassle we’d have to go to be together if we wanted to live in the U.S. It wasn’t at all what we imagined, and wasn’t what we wanted our life to be like the first year we were together. Still we had little choice, and once we found out what we’d have to do, it only took about a month for us to weigh our options, get everything together and really make the final decision to go for it.
btw… when her 6-month ‘ban’ is up, they likely still won’t have the visa by then, since it takes long than that, and she’ll be at the discretion of the border patrol officer yet again. They can easily refuse her entry to the US if she goes to cross again to see her husband, especially if she’s already got a ban on her record. It’s a sad situation, and frustrating that people in ‘power’ keep loved ones apart.
Article found here: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2009855236_separated13m.html
Excerpt:
“Ariel got to visit him in Bellingham every week. On one of those trips, she said, she asked a U.S. border officer what she needed to do to be able to continue to travel into the country. He explained the green-card and visa process for spouses, but “never once said that I could be barred,” she said.
When she tried to visit on July 22, she was pulled aside. Her car was searched. She said the contents of her purse were emptied onto the counter, and officers discovered a copy of her marriage certificate.
U.S. immigration law treats everyone who attempts entry into the country as if they intend to remain here. That Ardiel had a husband in the U.S., combined with the frequency of her visits, raised a red flag with border officers.
She was fingerprinted, photographed and told she could not try to enter again for six months.
She called Williams, crying.
It was as if the 40 miles separating them suddenly stretched across continents, they said.”
Read the full article here.
September 9, 2009
One more thing ‘done’.
Well, I mailed off ‘Packet 3′ forms today. It’s always nerve wracking to mail important papers to the government. Once they’re out of my hands, that’s it. I can’t change them, can’t check them over anymore. Even if I think I got everything right, I still worry. I actually realized after it was too late that I made a slight mistake on one of the forms. They ask when I previously visited the US. When, where, for how long, and if I had a visa at the time. I wrote about August, and January, and a time I went to Omaha in 2006. I actually FORGOT to include the fact that I went to NYC in 2007. LOL It’s not a big deal because I didn’t have a visa, and was only there for 3 days (which I think is what they’re looking for… previous visas and if you’ve been there for ‘too long’). But I included it on one form and not the other. Ah well. I’m sure that minute detail isnot going to hurt me and they will contact me if they need more information.
Anywaaay… now I sit and wait… watch the tracking number to make sure they get it tomorrow by 5pm (which they should, I sent it expresspost)… and then hopefully will hear from them soon (within the next 2 months I HOPE), to find out when my interview is. SIGH! Waiting period #2. This is frustrating because this is the waiting time is long for us in Canada (specifically the Montreal consulate), but for many people can be over within a few weeks. People who filed for their stuff after me or at the same time as me will be done and married and with their loved ones before me. I try not to think about it. That’s just how it is…
*EDIT*
Sept 10, 2009:
According to the tracking number, and following on Canada Post, Montreal received the package this morning… now I REALLY wait… eep!
soon...
September 8, 2009
This is how it goes…
I figured the only way to get people to understand the ridiculous process that Dan and I have to go through (and also just a record for my own future amusement) that I’d try to explain it a bit, and at least get you familiar with some terminology. I haven’t talked about it much with my friends and family, mostly because I find it mind numbing and stressful. I’ll try not to ramble. lol
This is just a rough overview of the first part of the process for someone who plans to move to the USA to marry their fiancé(e) and immigrate to live there. We are applying for K-1 Visa. This is just the first step in immigration. This is just a visa that gives me the legalities to go and marry in the US. I can’t STAY in the US with this visa, and can’t work in the US either. Once I get this visa, move to the US, and we get married, I’ll then have to file a slew of things in order to get a permanent resident card to continue to live and work there. LOL
This is NOT a “walkthrough” for anyone going through the immigration process (I recommend visiting www.visajourney.com which was and continues to be immensely helpful), this is just an overview of the steps we have taken so far. Keep in mind, neither of us had been previously married (no divorces to prove), have no criminal records, no children, and I am not from a high-fraud country. Thus, this is as simple as it gets.
Step One – Sending I-129F Petition (mailed April 22nd, 2009, received approval August 3rd)
This petition is sent by the US Citizen, Dan, to the “local” (in either California or Vermont) U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) office. In this petition, which ended up being about 100 pages, we had to include the following:
- photos of ourselves (with dates and locations), boarding passes, hotel receipts, itineraries, and other such things to prove we’d met each other in person in the last 2 years and have carried on a relationship
- employment and living history for the last 5 years
- an official letter signed from both of us, stating that we intend to marry each other within 90 days of my (the immigrant) entry into the US
- passport photos of each of us
- a copy of Dan’s birth certificate
- an explanation of how and where we first met
- A three page form with a variety of information (this I guess was the official ‘application’ form for the petition)
- An additional one page form for each of us with more general information
- A cheque for $455
Step 2 -WAIT (April – August)
We then had to wait for them to review Dan’s petition to see if they would approve it and allow us to carry on with the visa application. This could take an average of anywhere from 4 months – 8 months (I’ve seen by fluke, it take over a year for some). We were lucky… really. It only took 3 months. We expected 6.
Step 3 - WAIT some more… (August 2009)
The next step is that the USCIS office sends the petition to the National Visa Centre. They review it, and decide if they agree, and if so, forward it to the consulate. This can take anywhere from one week to over a month. Again, we were lucky. It took about 2 weeks. There was not much for us to do at this point, except wait to hear back from them, and check on the status.
During this time I had just moved, and was also spending a much needed month in California with Dan. It was nice to know that progress was being made in my absence. All I really had to do was make a few phone calls to check on the status and change my address. They approved it, and then forwarded the paperwork to the consulate in Montreal.
Step 4 - Packet 3 (current stage)
This is the package that Montreal sends to me (the immigrant) once they receive the paperwork from the NVC. This is just basically to say they got it, and tells me what forms I need to fill out to send back to them to actually apply for the visa. I had to send them 19 pages worth of forms, and a digital passport photo (thank god I had scanned the one I sent in for Step 1), as well as my employment history of the last 10 years (not 5 like before), and a list of places I’ve lived since I was 16. BLAH
Apparently they are in a transition period, and I had to send two different versions of the same form (filled out separately because one form was an online form on their website, and the other was a pdf, which I also filled out on the computer, but differently.. lol). That was fun.
Step 5 - WAIT again, and prepare for interview
The next step is waiting to hear back from Montreal. It could take a month or two (or three). They will tell me when my interview is, which, according to them, could be a 4 – 5 month wait. Since it’s September already, hoping for a 01/10/10 wedding anniversary might actually be risky… This is Montreal’s fault. Many consulates, all around the world, are able to grant interviews within a month of receiving the visa application (step 4).
For the interview… I will have to go all the way to Montreal at my own expense, to speak with them for about 5 minutes (although it will take 2 hours, by the time I get through handing in paperwork and all that). Speaking of which, I will need to bring MORE paperwork to them at that time. Including:
- A copy of our entire petition that we sent in step 1
- The letter they send us to tell us when the interview is
- A long form of my birth certificate
- A police records check
- A record of medical exam (which costs about $300), which can only be done by one of FOUR approved doctors in all of Canada (the closest is Toronto)… this includes an update of certain required vaccinations
- More passport photos
- Another letter stating that we intend to marry within 90 days of my visa activation
- More photos of us together, and letters, emails, boarding passes and itineraries… to prove we have continued the relationship
- Proof that Dan can financially support me, so that I don’t become a burden to the US system (lol)
- Evidence that Dan lives in the US, and intends to stay there (rental agreements, employment records, etc)
- A copy of the paperwork we received from the USCIS office, stating they approved Dan’s petition
- A prepaid expresspost envelope so they can mail me all my paperwork back and my visa and passport (yes, I even have to pay for their mail myself)
- A deposit slip from the bank, showing that we have prepaid an application fee of an amount that I forget right now.. I think $131 or something
How fun!… Anyways, right now we’re at step 4, as mentioned. I will certainly let you know how it turns out….
