Hello everyone,
Last night Jon and I spoke with our lawyer at Masliah and Soloway, and went through what will be happening next in the immigration process.
I want to document it all here so that we can have a clear outline of what to expect after an I-130 petition has been approved by USCIS.
Our lawyers had emailed us in the early hours of the morning, UK time, on Thursday to inform us that our approval had came in "moments ago". It was around 8pm California time, which seemed odd anyway, but it was an electronic notification, and not a postal one. Since then we have spoken to our lawyer, and he said that the postal one may not arrive for several weeks yet. This makes me wonder, had we not used a lawyer, would we still be none the wiser now? Or if we had done it ourselves would there have been an electronic notification option for us, too? All I can say is, I am glad they got notified before the paper version came!
So now we have our approval, and we can move on to the next stage with the National Visa Center. First of all this involves us filling out a worksheet for our lawyer, with all the relevant information, which will then be transferred on to the actual document. The document in question is the DS-260, which is all about me.
The process should happen something like this, providing I understood it all correctly:
Jon and I fill out the DS-260 and pay our lawyers their fee and the government fee for the National Visa Center (NVC). The current government fee is $318 (US).
In the meantime our case is being transferred by the USCIS from them to the NVC. Once it is transferred, the NVC give us a case number and requests the fee from our lawyer, and the DS-260 is submitted also.
Once the NVC has received all of this, they process it all, and in due course we will get more forms to fill out, which at this stage I understand is to do with finances for the sponsor (Jon) with an affidavit of support to say he will support me. Tax returns for the past 3 years are also required, including a tax transcript which can be obtained easily from the IRS.
When those forms have been filled out, and we have our case number, we just wait to hear from them again.
To get the case number takes up to about 8 weeks currently, according to our lawyer. Once we have the case number have submitted the second round of forms in this stage, they will let us know when they move it to the consulate. Finally, we will hear from the consulate in London, which can take from 1 to 3 months.
I know that all sounds a bit confusing, but I tried to make as clear as possible. Unfortunately, as is the nature of anything to do with the government, nothing is simple, therefore explaining it can be tricky!
At some point during all of this, though, I have to request a police certificate to take along to my interview at the end of the whole process. Getting one in the UK is simple, but last night when we spoke to the lawyer, I almost had a heart attack.
He knows that I had spent some time in Canada on a work visa, and he said that I would need a police certificate for there too, since I was there for longer than 6 months. He said it should be as simple as getting one here. Of course, it isn't. When I started looking into it, there are a number of complicated procedures involved in getting a police certificate from Canada.
First off, you have to be fingerprinted. This can be done by local police in the country where you live, and fees can be high, although they are fairly easy to get. You then have to submit them electronically with you application to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. However, they only accept electronic fingerprints! They do not accept paper prints, which is what any police station would give you. Or at least if you get digital ones you must get a print out of them, which effectively makes them paper.
So, in order to get them digitised, you have to use a company authorised to scan the print out, who are based in Canada. Thankfully, they cover all costs, except the visit to the police in your home country of course, and submit your application with the digitised prints, and send the confirmation back to you. One company we looked at charged around $200 (US) total for this service.
Of course, whilst I was having a mini stroke about all this I found myself on the US Embassy in London website, looking at the police certificate requirements.
"Police certificates are required for all countries you have lived in for more than 12 months over the age of 16 years."
Basically, I do not have to get one after all!
I emailed our lawyer back, and he said that it is indeed 12 months. Of course, that was not what Jon and I heard on our call with him, otherwise why would we have put ourselves through this stress?!
My advice here is that, if you have lived in any other country continuously for exactly 12 months or more, be prepared to have to get police certificates for all those countries, and sometimes they are not easy to get. Our lawyer told us of a case where a man had lived in the Caribbean on business for a while, and had to get one from the country he was based in. Of course, being a developing nation they had no other means of doing it except in the country itself! Yes, the man had to travel to the Caribbean to get this document! Thankfully, had I needed one from Canada, I would have just used this authorised company, and paid the $200 for them to do it for me. Not ideal, but better than flying back to Toronto!
If you have any questions, I am more than happy to try and answer them.
Have a great Sunday everyone,
Dan.
Sunday 30 March 2014
Thursday 27 March 2014
Approval!
Hello everyone,
At 3am UK time today, Jon and I received an email from our lawyer at Masliah and Soloway, titled' GOOD NEWS'.
As you are all aware, Jon and I have been waiting since September to be approved by the USCIS in order to move on to the next stage of the immigration process. Initially we expected this to take around 3 months, but because of a large government backlog, it has ended up taking SIX. To say we have been on edge waiting for that notification everyday would be a massive understatement!
The email we got this morning informed us that "moments ago", LA time (UK -7 hours currently), their office received our approval notice for the immigration petition! After 6 agonising months, our application has finally been accepted! Of course this doesn't mean it's all over. But it's a start...
From here, our newly approved application is moved from the USCIS in Los Angeles to the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire where they will assign us a case number. This takes up to 8 weeks. Once we have a case number, we are required to fill out some more forms, and return them. Once the NVC receives these forms, they review our case and forward it to the consulate in the UK.
For now, we have work with our lawyer to gather all the information required by the NVC, so that once we receive our case number in about 8 weeks time, there is no delay and we can submit everything immediately.
At this moment in time that's about all the details I know. Once we start filling out these documents, I'll post more here, continuing my quest to document these procedures, in the hope that it helps someone!
Even if we still have a ways to go yet, to know that after 6 very long months we are finally able to start moving along is a huge relief.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan.
At 3am UK time today, Jon and I received an email from our lawyer at Masliah and Soloway, titled' GOOD NEWS'.
As you are all aware, Jon and I have been waiting since September to be approved by the USCIS in order to move on to the next stage of the immigration process. Initially we expected this to take around 3 months, but because of a large government backlog, it has ended up taking SIX. To say we have been on edge waiting for that notification everyday would be a massive understatement!
The email we got this morning informed us that "moments ago", LA time (UK -7 hours currently), their office received our approval notice for the immigration petition! After 6 agonising months, our application has finally been accepted! Of course this doesn't mean it's all over. But it's a start...
From here, our newly approved application is moved from the USCIS in Los Angeles to the National Visa Center (NVC) in New Hampshire where they will assign us a case number. This takes up to 8 weeks. Once we have a case number, we are required to fill out some more forms, and return them. Once the NVC receives these forms, they review our case and forward it to the consulate in the UK.
For now, we have work with our lawyer to gather all the information required by the NVC, so that once we receive our case number in about 8 weeks time, there is no delay and we can submit everything immediately.
At this moment in time that's about all the details I know. Once we start filling out these documents, I'll post more here, continuing my quest to document these procedures, in the hope that it helps someone!
Even if we still have a ways to go yet, to know that after 6 very long months we are finally able to start moving along is a huge relief.
Have a great day everyone,
Dan.
Thursday 20 March 2014
Fred Phelps Snr, My Thoughts
Today we learned that Fred Phelps, the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church in the United States, has died at age 84.
I have seen a lot of posts on Facebook with people rejoicing over his death, and saying that the world is a better place without him.
I'll be the first to admit that I found him and (continue to find) his family deeply misguided and outrageously offensive. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a religious person, and that I can often be very critical of religion for the pain and suffering it has brought to the lives of those that are persecuted for being of an opposing faith, different gender, colour, or near enough any other reason we can think of. Religion is a freedom that everyone in this world should be entitled to, but it shouldn't mean those views are force fed to everyone else. To live in peace and harmony with everyone of all faiths, genders and ethnicity is something that someone as liberal as me can only dream will be true some day. Fred Phelps abused his religious freedom to impose his and his family's hateful views on the lives of other people, often in awful ways that caused a lot of hurt to their victims.
Filled with so much hate inside of him and a misguided passion to cause others deep harm, Fred Phelps never had the opportunity to fully embrace the joys of life, and live in peace with the rest of the world. I will not be wishing that he finds peace in the afterlife he believed in, but instead hoping that he realises the pain he caused others during his life, and understands that the harmful choices he made only made his life less enjoyable; something which I hope he eternally regrets.
I will not partake in outright name calling of him or dance on his grave like many I've seen online today, as that makes me only as bad as he. He was someone's father, grandfather and husband, but life goes on, and there is once less person in it spewing their hate. But that isn't something to rejoice in. It should send a strong message to us all that hate will never win. Love and peace will triumph, and to spend a life hating is a life wasted. Don't die with a world hating you as Fred Phelps has. We only get one chance. Peace and love, always.
Dan.
Thursday 13 March 2014
Same Sex Marriage comes into effect in England and Wales - we're married all over again!
Hello everyone,
You may recall that last year, the United Kingdom government passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. This bill passed through both Houses of Parliament in a Conservative government with the support of all three main political parties, including the (Conservative) Prime Minister, David Cameron.
Finally today the provisions of the bill came into full effect.
It now means of course that same sex couples have the freedom to marry in England and Wales - although not at Church of England churches or the Church in Wales churches; however other religious organisations can opt in to being a recognised same sex marriage provider. I believe that part, if not the whole reason, for the English and Welsh churches being prohibited in the bill to perform the marriages ceremonies is because they are national churches, and the issue faced a lot of opposition from back bench Conservative MPs in the Commons, and spiritual leaders and peers in the House of Lords. You have to understand that despite our greatly advanced political thinking in the UK, that the peers sitting in the House of Lords include spiritual leaders and hereditary peers who have inherited their titles! My point is that given the United Kingdom has a state church, of which the head of state (the Queen) is the leader, and our upper house is formed of peers and spiritual leaders, it's quite remarkable that Civil Partnerships were even passed ten years ago, let alone same sex marriage last year!
There are two other things that come out of this bill which also come into effect today. Anyone who had previously been Civil Partnered in the United Kingdom is now entitled to "upgrade" their CP to marriage status if they so chose. Anyone who was legally married overseas in a same sex marriage was previously recognised as having a CP, but now automatically are recognised as being married.
Yesterday Jon and I were recognised as married in Maryland, US, and CP'd in the UK - today we are married in both!
Same sex marriage is a devolved issue in the UK (devolved means that some issues are handled on a local government level, and not all national UK laws automatically apply). Scotland passed its own same sex marriage bill last month, which should come into effect before the end of the year. Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK without same sex marriage. Civil Partnerships are a UK national law, and therefore Northern Ireland continues to recognise and perform them.
It's truly a milestone and testament to the progressive thinking of our government that we have come this far, and I sincerely applaud their efforts.
Dan.
You may recall that last year, the United Kingdom government passed the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013. This bill passed through both Houses of Parliament in a Conservative government with the support of all three main political parties, including the (Conservative) Prime Minister, David Cameron.
Finally today the provisions of the bill came into full effect.
It now means of course that same sex couples have the freedom to marry in England and Wales - although not at Church of England churches or the Church in Wales churches; however other religious organisations can opt in to being a recognised same sex marriage provider. I believe that part, if not the whole reason, for the English and Welsh churches being prohibited in the bill to perform the marriages ceremonies is because they are national churches, and the issue faced a lot of opposition from back bench Conservative MPs in the Commons, and spiritual leaders and peers in the House of Lords. You have to understand that despite our greatly advanced political thinking in the UK, that the peers sitting in the House of Lords include spiritual leaders and hereditary peers who have inherited their titles! My point is that given the United Kingdom has a state church, of which the head of state (the Queen) is the leader, and our upper house is formed of peers and spiritual leaders, it's quite remarkable that Civil Partnerships were even passed ten years ago, let alone same sex marriage last year!
There are two other things that come out of this bill which also come into effect today. Anyone who had previously been Civil Partnered in the United Kingdom is now entitled to "upgrade" their CP to marriage status if they so chose. Anyone who was legally married overseas in a same sex marriage was previously recognised as having a CP, but now automatically are recognised as being married.
Yesterday Jon and I were recognised as married in Maryland, US, and CP'd in the UK - today we are married in both!
Same sex marriage is a devolved issue in the UK (devolved means that some issues are handled on a local government level, and not all national UK laws automatically apply). Scotland passed its own same sex marriage bill last month, which should come into effect before the end of the year. Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK without same sex marriage. Civil Partnerships are a UK national law, and therefore Northern Ireland continues to recognise and perform them.
It's truly a milestone and testament to the progressive thinking of our government that we have come this far, and I sincerely applaud their efforts.
Dan.
Tuesday 11 March 2014
Love, Anger and Isolation
As you all know Jon and I have been going through the motions to finally be able settle together and start our lives. Jon is sponsoring me for an immigrant visa to be able to live in the United States alongside him. We want to have our own home and spend the rest of our lives together peacefully, as any married couple should be entitled to do.
Last week you may recall that I posted a blog entry when we received a notification from the immigration services explaining that our petition had been forwarded to yet another department for processing because of their huge backlog. At this point we have already waited six months since time of filing to even be acknowledged that we're still in the system, and that we haven't just been forgotten about in some filing cabinet somewhere. Six months of our lives wasted while the US government idly makes its way through rubber-stamping people's lives and whether they should be allowed to be together.
This form that we received last week informed us that we now have to wait a further sixty days while this next department gets its act together. Another two months of waiting added to the six we have already endured.
Almost daily Jon and I have friends ask us, "So when is Dan coming over?" Like it'll be in the next week or something. If only it were that simple. But honestly, why shouldn't it be?!
Why does it take eight months to look at our forms to say, "Yes you are approved to move onto the next stage?" Eight months of our married lives (so far) spent in separate countries, waiting day-in, day-out for that letter to arrive. Eight months of sore disappointment.
After these eight months are finally over, all we will get then is a letter to say we are approved for the next stage, where our case is then moved to the consulate, and we have to wait a further three months for them to get back to us. At this rate, we are looking at me moving over to the US in October or November. That'll be well over a year since we filed.
That isn't the end of it either. Even once our case is moved to the consulate (after the next sixty days, then the further three months have gone by), I then have to endure further insult with not just one, but two interviews. A medical interview and an immigration interview. I have to provide blood samples, and and police certificate to say I have no criminal convictions. And for this I have to pay hundreds of pounds. To be humiliated, prodded and poked.
Jon and I talk daily on Skype, and Jon has been able to make some visits over to the UK during this process, but to spend a couple of weeks here and there, in our first year of marriage is a tremendous weight to bare, and is very isolating. We both feel the need to talk on Skype daily, and actually feel like we are "together"; we miss great opportunities like this. We both sit at our desks in our respective homes for hours, wasting our lives in front of the computer, when we should be out together doing something, going places, or even just sitting at home having dinner together.
Two people should never have to go through what we're going through. As if it hasn't been hard enough fighting for equality and being a same sex married couple, and we still have to suffer even more pains to be together. There is no handbook for this situation. No amount of comforting or advice can ever prepare you for the mental, emotional challenges that being an international couple presents.
Love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It bounds us together and makes us stronger. Jon and I love each other and are determined not to let the daily grind get to us, but sometimes, when you've had a hard day at work, it's miserable outside, and all you want is a hug from your husband, it's the hardest thing in the world knowing that a piece of paper on a desk thousands of miles away has waited eight months to be looked at, and it's that which is the only thing standing in your way.
Dan.
Last week you may recall that I posted a blog entry when we received a notification from the immigration services explaining that our petition had been forwarded to yet another department for processing because of their huge backlog. At this point we have already waited six months since time of filing to even be acknowledged that we're still in the system, and that we haven't just been forgotten about in some filing cabinet somewhere. Six months of our lives wasted while the US government idly makes its way through rubber-stamping people's lives and whether they should be allowed to be together.
This form that we received last week informed us that we now have to wait a further sixty days while this next department gets its act together. Another two months of waiting added to the six we have already endured.
Almost daily Jon and I have friends ask us, "So when is Dan coming over?" Like it'll be in the next week or something. If only it were that simple. But honestly, why shouldn't it be?!
Why does it take eight months to look at our forms to say, "Yes you are approved to move onto the next stage?" Eight months of our married lives (so far) spent in separate countries, waiting day-in, day-out for that letter to arrive. Eight months of sore disappointment.
After these eight months are finally over, all we will get then is a letter to say we are approved for the next stage, where our case is then moved to the consulate, and we have to wait a further three months for them to get back to us. At this rate, we are looking at me moving over to the US in October or November. That'll be well over a year since we filed.
That isn't the end of it either. Even once our case is moved to the consulate (after the next sixty days, then the further three months have gone by), I then have to endure further insult with not just one, but two interviews. A medical interview and an immigration interview. I have to provide blood samples, and and police certificate to say I have no criminal convictions. And for this I have to pay hundreds of pounds. To be humiliated, prodded and poked.
Jon and I talk daily on Skype, and Jon has been able to make some visits over to the UK during this process, but to spend a couple of weeks here and there, in our first year of marriage is a tremendous weight to bare, and is very isolating. We both feel the need to talk on Skype daily, and actually feel like we are "together"; we miss great opportunities like this. We both sit at our desks in our respective homes for hours, wasting our lives in front of the computer, when we should be out together doing something, going places, or even just sitting at home having dinner together.
Two people should never have to go through what we're going through. As if it hasn't been hard enough fighting for equality and being a same sex married couple, and we still have to suffer even more pains to be together. There is no handbook for this situation. No amount of comforting or advice can ever prepare you for the mental, emotional challenges that being an international couple presents.
Love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. It bounds us together and makes us stronger. Jon and I love each other and are determined not to let the daily grind get to us, but sometimes, when you've had a hard day at work, it's miserable outside, and all you want is a hug from your husband, it's the hardest thing in the world knowing that a piece of paper on a desk thousands of miles away has waited eight months to be looked at, and it's that which is the only thing standing in your way.
Dan.
Friday 7 March 2014
Processing Delays
Hello everyone,
Next week will be a full six months since Jon and I filed our forms with the US government for our immigration petition. Having initially been told by our lawyers that it would take about three months for our approval notice, we got to about four months wondering what was going on. When we asked our lawyers earlier this year, we were told that cases are currently taking up to six months to process. So we waited some more.
As I said above, next week will have been a full six month since our application, and today we finally got a notification from the immigration services, "Form I-797C, Notice of Action", which explained that due to a large backlog, our case was being forwarded to another processing centre as not to be further delayed. In our case, our papers are being forwarded to Los Angeles. The processing at the Los Angeles centre should take no more than sixty days from the date of the notification (which is three days ago), and should we not hear anything we have a number to call and our lawyers will able to file a follow up query form. Hopefully it won't come to that!
There are multiple sides to this. I have so far been disappointed that it has taken such an extraordinarily long time, but having gone into this knowing that the US immigration services do not rush themselves, I had low expectations. I am annoyed slightly that we have to wait a further sixty days, but on the flip side this does mean that we are now guaranteed to hear sooner rather than later. Committing themselves to sixty days gives us a finite timeframe in which to expect our approval notice and move on to the next step of this ridiculously long process. Sixty minus the three days since the form was sent means we have a maximum of fifty seven left to wait for our approval. A fifty seven days I will be counting almost to the minute, no less.
Jon and I are actually just relieved to hear something, period, and be acknowledged, and know now that we haven't been lost in the system, and that someone somewhere is still working on our case.
We spoke to our lawyers today, once we got this notification, and they have informed us that they received a large volume of them at their office this morning. There had indeed been a lot of cases that had been waiting a long time, and the transferal of our case to another office should now speed things up greatly and we should hear soon.
Fingers crossed!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan.
Next week will be a full six months since Jon and I filed our forms with the US government for our immigration petition. Having initially been told by our lawyers that it would take about three months for our approval notice, we got to about four months wondering what was going on. When we asked our lawyers earlier this year, we were told that cases are currently taking up to six months to process. So we waited some more.
As I said above, next week will have been a full six month since our application, and today we finally got a notification from the immigration services, "Form I-797C, Notice of Action", which explained that due to a large backlog, our case was being forwarded to another processing centre as not to be further delayed. In our case, our papers are being forwarded to Los Angeles. The processing at the Los Angeles centre should take no more than sixty days from the date of the notification (which is three days ago), and should we not hear anything we have a number to call and our lawyers will able to file a follow up query form. Hopefully it won't come to that!
There are multiple sides to this. I have so far been disappointed that it has taken such an extraordinarily long time, but having gone into this knowing that the US immigration services do not rush themselves, I had low expectations. I am annoyed slightly that we have to wait a further sixty days, but on the flip side this does mean that we are now guaranteed to hear sooner rather than later. Committing themselves to sixty days gives us a finite timeframe in which to expect our approval notice and move on to the next step of this ridiculously long process. Sixty minus the three days since the form was sent means we have a maximum of fifty seven left to wait for our approval. A fifty seven days I will be counting almost to the minute, no less.
Jon and I are actually just relieved to hear something, period, and be acknowledged, and know now that we haven't been lost in the system, and that someone somewhere is still working on our case.
We spoke to our lawyers today, once we got this notification, and they have informed us that they received a large volume of them at their office this morning. There had indeed been a lot of cases that had been waiting a long time, and the transferal of our case to another office should now speed things up greatly and we should hear soon.
Fingers crossed!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Dan.
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