Havana, Cuba

[327856]

Woohoo just earned a new star and am now a "Hero member" lol

Oh, the little things.......

;D Congrats!

 

[Avana]

Hahahaha my friend who's hubby landed from Cuba Friday just brought him to Costco!! talk about culture shock!!! lol

 

[327856]

HMMM so knowing this I am wondering if I should just keep gathering evidence and keep it very well organized for when he is called for an interview. I mean also it seems the difference between your friend and what KJG is suggesting is that she sent stuff EVERY month. So maybe sending periodically is better ?!?

Has anyone every heard of someone NOT being called for an interview and just plain being denied PR?

I will send when they ask. In our case I had tons of proof after a 3 year relationship. I totally bombarded them with proof. I am thinking what i have now since we sent our file could wait!

 

[Avana]

I have tons of proof! 3 trips, and one separate by my parents since June 20th (they took him with them to the hotel and brought his nephew and girlfriend for 2 nights too). Plus continuing communication through the BBM of course...

UGH, guess it'll have to wait!

 

[KJG]

HMMM so knowing this I am wondering if I should just keep gathering evidence and keep it very well organized for when he is called for an interview. I mean also it seems the difference between your friend and what KJG is suggesting is that she sent stuff EVERY month. So maybe sending periodically is better ?!?

Has anyone every heard of someone NOT being called for an interview and just plain being denied PR?

You will never been denied without an interview unless the applicant has blantanly lied....or has criminal record and falsified his police report...but I have not heard of that....even if they suspect the marraige is not bonefide you have the right for an interview...so do not stress about that!!!

 

[Avana]

You will never been denied without an interview unless the applicant has blantanly lied....or has criminal record and falsified his police report...but I have not heard of that....even if they suspect the marraige is not bonefide you have the right for an interview...so do not stress about that!!!

Good to know!

 

[327856]

I have tons of proof! 3 trips, and one separate by my parents since June 20th (they took him with them to the hotel and brought his nephew and girlfriend for 2 nights too). Plus continuing communication through the BBM of course...

UGH, guess it'll have to wait!

My parents went 4 times without my presence and I am so glad I got these to show for. They love spending time with hubby!

 

[Avana]

My parents went 4 times without my presence and I am so glad I got these to show for. They love spending time with hubby!

Ya my parents have been several time since we met and have spent time with him and have gone to their house for meals and stuff... but this is the one time since the app was submitted in June! They call him son and love him to death! they email to each other back and forth every day. The best is my hubby and my 85 yr old grandmother. they walk arm-in-arm and eh takes her places and even got her to dance to reggaeton in the middle of a circle last xmas! hysterical!! lol

 

[sassylassie]

Yes we both use BBM! I dont think it works with Iphones tho, because its specifically the BBM that works there as a data package (I think Iphone uses a different method than Blackberry) It is supposed to cost 60 a month, but we send tons of pictures and voice notes and stuff and are known to go over :S lol Just with text shldnt be more than the 60! We can literally communicate alllll day looong this way! like we dont stop talking from 6am-11pm. I used to call him every day for 30 mins and it would lead to over 1000$ phone bills, so I switched to this way and it has saved some dough! I'm with Rogers and from what I understand theyre the only one that has an international roaming data package. the phone doesnt even have minutes on it, but only the data package.

Wow so I wrote a super long reply to this and it is not there?!? This $60/month will be much more economical for us!!!

Anyways....just to clarify you pay about $60 to have just a data plan on his phone...this allows you to BBM all day...and you can also send videos and pictures...but this will cost more than $60 month. Does he have a rogers PAYGO account or is it a monthly account? And how do you get JUST data no voice or mins on the phone? I just want to know when I call rogers ( i use them too) what to ask for. He already has a rogers paygo sim card there with him...we tried that for a bit for cheaper txts for him (less than 1peso a text) but it got to be hard switching his cubacell and rogers sims back and forth.
Now I just need to find someone to smuggle him a cell : ) Thanks everyone for your input.

 

[Avana]

Wow so I wrote a super long reply to this and it is not there?!? This $60/month will be much more economical for us!!!

Anyways....just to clarify you pay about $60 to have just a data plan on his phone...this allows you to BBM all day...and you can also send videos and pictures...but this will cost more than $60 month. Does he have a rogers PAYGO account or is it a monthly account? And how do you get JUST data no voice or mins on the phone? I just want to know when I call rogers ( i use them too) what to ask for. He already has a rogers paygo sim card there with him...we tried that for a bit for cheaper txts for him (less than 1peso a text) but it got to be hard switching his cubacell and rogers sims back and forth.
Now I just need to find someone to smuggle him a cell : ) Thanks everyone for your input.

No videos!! but pics and voice notes! we send several pics to each other every week, so it adds up and we surpass the data roaming coverage! Weve tried to do less, but we always end up breaking it... lol you have a choice of a few plans to decide ur usage... You cant do data on paygo unfortunately Last I checked anyways... but I upgraded mine to a new blackberry, and brought my old one to activate on a month to month basis with just a data package. You dont have to add a minute plan if you dont want to, I explained to them the phone would be used overseas only for data, so I think per minute it would cost 12$ or smthg if he were to use it.. crazy! We figure when he comes here we'll lower the plan and his family can keep the phone to contact him more easily (but they wont be msging all day everyday like we do).

 

[sassylassie]

No videos!! but pics and voice notes! we send several pics to each other every week, so it adds up and we surpass the data roaming coverage! Weve tried to do less, but we always end up breaking it... lol you have a choice of a few plans to decide ur usage... You cant do data on paygo unfortunately Last I checked anyways... but I upgraded mine to a new blackberry, and brought my old one to activate on a month to month basis with just a data package. You dont have to add a minute plan if you dont want to, I explained to them the phone would be used overseas only for data, so I think per minute it would cost 12$ or smthg if he were to use it.. crazy! We figure when he comes here we'll lower the plan and his family can keep the phone to contact him more easily (but they wont be msging all day everyday like we do).

Ok that all makes sense. And very good plan to leave the phone there for his family. Thank you!

 

[veradis]

No need to continually drop off new evidence and possibly have your application go back to the bottom of the pile. I have also heard that every time they have to add something new to your file it causes it to be paused for a month. However, I did not realize it was for emails too. Even when some applications are flying through others will take up to the DND and beyond. Unfortunately hassling them won't make it go faster. I admittedly did email them a lot...but they emailed me first and all my emails back were 'responses' to their email. I think that's how I got away with it not slowing our file down.

When they called my husband for the interview they asked him to bring the proof of continuing relationship to the interview. He was worried cause I didn't bring a ton of new evidence. Just 15 or so pictures, a couple plane tickets and some phone bills. They told him that was fine and he said the IO barely glanced at the papers and just flipped through the pics. It really does seem to just be to show you're still together and in contact, not something to be examined closely.

 

[sassylassie]

No need to continually drop off new evidence and possibly have your application go back to the bottom of the pile. I have also heard that every time they have to add something new to your file it causes it to be paused for a month. Even when some applications are flying through others will take up to the DND and beyond. Unfortunately hassling them won't make it go faster. I admittedly did email them a lot...but they emailed me first and all my emails back were 'responses' to their email. I think that's how I got away with it not slowing our file down.

When they called my husband for the interview they asked him to bring the proof of continuing relationship to the interview. He was worried cause I didn't bring a ton of new evidence. Just 15 or so pictures, a couple plane tickets and some phone bills. They told him that was fine and he said the IO barely glanced at the papers and just flipped through the pics. It really does seem to just be to show you're still together and in contact, not something to be examined closely.

Ok thank you for your input! From someone who has been through the whole process and has a spouse who has landed......it means a lot!!!

BTW how is your Hubby adapting to the culture change?!

 

[veradis]

Ok thank you for your input! From someone who has been through the whole process and has a spouse who has landed......it means a lot!!!

BTW how is your Hubby adapting to the culture change?!

He's doing really well. The first month was a bit hard as he spent a lot of time sitting around doing nothing and then he'd think about his family and get depressed. But once he got his SIN card (we had a weird paperwork issue which caused it to take awhile, I doubt anyone else will have this issue since the lady at CIC said she'd never heard of it ever happening before) and started working a few weeks ago he perked up. He's working pretty crazy hours (up to 70 hours a week!!) but likes it as it keeps his mind off missing his family and makes him feel like 'A MAN' for providing for me. He wants to get a car and a house for us plus take care of his family back home. I keep reminding him it's a marathon not a sprint and he doesn't need to do everything in the first couple months. But I'm really proud of him.

Haven't really seen him get totally shocked or wowed by anything so far...but big dramatic reactions are just not his style. We went to a pumpkin patch/cornfield maze farm on the weekend and honestly that seemed to be one of his favourite things so far. Along with Lotto Max tickets, Niagara Falls and pretzels. Smartphone apps, baseball games, youtube, netflix are also a hit with him. He'll pretty much eat anything but at home it's usually basic Cuban-style food cooked by either of us. He has joined a soccer team, his #1 passion is soccer, but rarely gets to play cause of work. He took me out on an official date on Friday which was super-sweet. I did help him pick the restaurant but I loved that he felt confident enough in his knowledge of the city to start making plans for us.

 

[sassylassie]

He's doing really well. The first month was a bit hard as he spent a lot of time sitting around doing nothing and then he'd think about his family and get depressed. But once he got his SIN card (we had a weird paperwork issue which caused it to take awhile, I doubt anyone else will have this issue since the lady at CIC said she'd never heard of it ever happening before) and started working a few weeks ago he perked up. He's working pretty crazy hours (up to 70 hours a week!!) but likes it as it keeps his mind off missing his family and makes him feel like 'A MAN' for providing for me. He wants to get a car and a house for us plus take care of his family back home. I keep reminding him it's a marathon not a sprint and he doesn't need to do everything in the first couple months. But I'm really proud of him.

Haven't really seen him get totally shocked or wowed by anything so far...but big dramatic reactions are just not his style. We went to a pumpkin patch/cornfield maze farm on the weekend and honestly that seemed to be one of his favourite things so far. Along with Lotto Max tickets, Niagara Falls and pretzels. Smartphone apps, baseball games, youtube, netflix are also a hit with him. He'll pretty much eat anything but at home it's usually basic Cuban-style food cooked by either of us. He has joined a soccer team, his #1 passion is soccer, but rarely gets to play cause of work. He took me out on an official date on Friday which was super-sweet. I did help him pick the restaurant but I loved that he felt confident enough in his knowledge of the city to start making plans for us.

Weeee! That all sounds amazing!!! Good for him for getting out there and getting integrated in his new city!! It really is such a blessing how much Cuban men want to provide for their families. There are sooo many Canadian men ( not all but a lot) that need to learn this : ) Cuban men are also SOOO resourceful. I mean my man can fix or make anything. It really is sexy

Where do you guys live?