Hello I am a american who has been in a relationship with a Canadian for 7 years married for 2 this year. I also have a collage degree and work experience. Every time I start looking at the immigration site all the forms and regulations I really start of feel overwhelmed. I really want to get things finally started and preferred to be in Canada during the process. Anyone with experience have some advice I would love it I feel like were in limbo because both of us are not the best with this stuff.
Feeling A Little Overwhelmed moving to US to Canada
- Thread starter Jaime987
- Start date
abbybc
Full Member
- Nov 23, 2013
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Don't let the forms scare you, at first glance they may seem complicated, but in reality they are pretty straight forward. We felt the same way and were almost reluctant to try it ourselves. We did 99% of the work, but because of so many perceived 'red flags' associated with our application, we used the law office associated with this website. Turns out we did a great job - missing a few details, but those issues could easily have been answered by the good people here.
Still, knowing the application was checked by trusted professionals helped a lot....at least we know our application is not in limbo because of errors or missing documents. On the other hand, NOT knowing why it hasn't been touched is nearly as bad, lol.
Get started now, you'll feel better once it's off your table and in the hands of immigration.
Still, knowing the application was checked by trusted professionals helped a lot....at least we know our application is not in limbo because of errors or missing documents. On the other hand, NOT knowing why it hasn't been touched is nearly as bad, lol.
Get started now, you'll feel better once it's off your table and in the hands of immigration.
Kayaker
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- Aug 4, 2013
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- 29-09-2014
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- 11-10-2014
There are "country specific guides" - look for the U.S. one. It will tell you Exactly what Americans need to do. I would strongly recommend printing it out, and going over it with a highlighter to understand what you need to do. Highlight the forms and documents relevant to you, make a note of the form names and then go find them and print them out. Make a list of the documents you need to obtain, such as a marriage certificate, FBI clearance, etc.
There is no need to hire a lawyer to do this; the vast majority of people do it themselves without any problem. Of course, if you Want to, and you have the extra cash, you can go to a reputable lawyer. That's hard enough to find, apparently - not all lawyers seem knowledgeable about the specifics of family sponsorship, and some people here on the forum have gotten wrong advice from a lawyer. In some cases, that leads to delays in your application. In worst cases, it leads to a rejection. So even if you use a lawyer, don't leave it all in their hands - it's your life and your responsibility.
Take your time and do it right, once you get started, it's not as hard as you think it is now!
There is no need to hire a lawyer to do this; the vast majority of people do it themselves without any problem. Of course, if you Want to, and you have the extra cash, you can go to a reputable lawyer. That's hard enough to find, apparently - not all lawyers seem knowledgeable about the specifics of family sponsorship, and some people here on the forum have gotten wrong advice from a lawyer. In some cases, that leads to delays in your application. In worst cases, it leads to a rejection. So even if you use a lawyer, don't leave it all in their hands - it's your life and your responsibility.
Take your time and do it right, once you get started, it's not as hard as you think it is now!
Claudzilla
Star Member
- Sep 26, 2014
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- Med's Done....
- September 9, 2014
- VISA ISSUED...
- May 29, 2014
As an American, married to Canadian, going through this same process, here are my thoughts...
If you have the extra cash, a lawyer will provide peace of mind. However, and other lawyers may differ, the only they they really did was gather all the forms together in one place for us and mail them off. Now, that may not be worth several thousand dollars to most people, but at the time, it was a huge relief. In addition to gathering the forms, they were very good about informing us when new forms were issued by the CIC and making sure we did not fall into the dreaded "old August form" trap that so many others did. It was also pretty sweet knowing we could email them at any time to ask questions about the process.
However, ultimately, if I had it to do over again, I would have saved that money and gone through it all myself. The other posters are correct. While it IS super intimidating at first, if you take your time and really read all the material, it's pretty self explanatory.
Lastly, as I'm sure you've seen, the treasure trove of knowledge and experience on this site is amazing. While I have seen some incredibly bad advice given by some (which you'll recognize by the fact that everyone will immediately point out that it's bad info), the majority of information here is spot on.
If you have the extra cash, a lawyer will provide peace of mind. However, and other lawyers may differ, the only they they really did was gather all the forms together in one place for us and mail them off. Now, that may not be worth several thousand dollars to most people, but at the time, it was a huge relief. In addition to gathering the forms, they were very good about informing us when new forms were issued by the CIC and making sure we did not fall into the dreaded "old August form" trap that so many others did. It was also pretty sweet knowing we could email them at any time to ask questions about the process.
However, ultimately, if I had it to do over again, I would have saved that money and gone through it all myself. The other posters are correct. While it IS super intimidating at first, if you take your time and really read all the material, it's pretty self explanatory.
Lastly, as I'm sure you've seen, the treasure trove of knowledge and experience on this site is amazing. While I have seen some incredibly bad advice given by some (which you'll recognize by the fact that everyone will immediately point out that it's bad info), the majority of information here is spot on.
keesio
VIP Member
- May 16, 2012
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yes, this site is amazing. You can pretty get all your questions answered here. Also, sponsorship for US spouses probably have the easiest road out of all sponsorship applications. You get the most leeway in regards to proving your relationship and you also get some of the fastest timelines. The application does take some time to fill out and to collect all the necessary documentation (especially the FBI certificate). Just take your time and double-check everything an you will be fine.