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Thread for outland Buffalo applicants!

cgagnon

Hero Member
Nov 10, 2011
820
15
Montreal,QC
Category........
Visa Office......
LA(Buffalo)
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
02-03-2012
AOR Received.
None
File Transfer...
31-05-2012
Med's Done....
13-12-2011
Interview........
Waived
Passport Req..
10/10/2012
Kiri said:
OMG CONGRATS G-MAN!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh the stuff from her bank statements were things that could only be done with me there (Dental work at the local dentist here in Canada, Airline ticket purchases for both he and I (I only have the stubs for my trip back to SC in November and back here to Canada.. she paid for the one earlier in the year for him to come down and me to come back), Vet services for my cat here in Canada, traveler's insurance for my time here, etc. -- there are things like winter boots purchase, Christmas gifts, etc that is there.. but those are the Canada specific things.

We do have my plane ticket stub round-trip (only one), and my concert ticket from the concert we went to together with 3 of our friends. We have printed email confirmations of purchases for each other, and some solid receipts... and then our bank statements for grocery purchased in Canada, things for each other, etc.

So the 35-40 photos were of you both in the same photo? We have a lot, haven't counted.. just didn't know if I could send photos we've taken of each other.

Darn, I should have photocopied the beneficiary form we mailed out.

As for texts... it only shows the amount per month, not who the top 5 are or anything ... so I dunno what to do there. :| I only have our text records from November to now.. and since we're living together, that's lacking. :(
I would contact your phone provider I am sure they must be able to do something. I only sent pictures with both of us in it with friends and family etc...you don't want to overwhelm them with too many pictures. My husband was in NC that is so cool...been to SC too! I think your file is pretty complete there! As an example behind the picture I wrote Wedding the date who was in the picture. You would just need the medical and FBI! Why can't you scan or receive the bank statemens by e-mail? I didn't even think of sending credit card stuff...oh well my lawyers said it was good so...it must be!Hope you can send it out soon!
 

DCGelfling

Star Member
Feb 16, 2012
74
1
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
13-04-2012
File Transfer...
13-07-2012
Med's Done....
13-03-2012
Passport Req..
03-11-2012
VISA ISSUED...
03-12-2012
LANDED..........
30-12-2012
Eeeeee! DH mailed our application today! Now there's nothing left to do but wait. :)

Well, kind of. I had to crop my photos myself, because Walgreens was happy to make sure my face was the right size, but wouldn't do the cutting. I hope they're close enough, but the edges are a teeny tiny bit uneven. I think when I go visit DH in May, I'll get proper photos done just in case.
 

York Region

Star Member
Oct 20, 2011
65
0
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
19-05-2011
AOR Received.
08-08-2011
Med's Request
extended
Med's Done....
19-04-2011
Interview........
waived
Passport Req..
08-05-2012
VISA ISSUED...
10-05-2012
LANDED..........
10-05-2012
g-man said:
Just checked yesterday and it still said "Application Received" -- checked again just now and it's finally changed to "In Process!" :)

So STOKED right now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgXObaM9i2Q
Sorry to ask you again but when you press In process line what do u see?
 

g-man

Star Member
May 15, 2009
118
1
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo -> Seattle
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
25-10-2011
AOR Received.
24-01-2012
File Transfer...
09-01-2012 (22-02-2012 Seattle)
Med's Done....
19-07-2011
Passport Req..
12-04-2012
LANDED..........
01-07-2012 (Canada Day!!)
York Region said:
Sorry to ask you again but when you press In process line what do u see?
Same thing it has said since the very first time I checked:

We received your application for permanent residence on October 27, 2011.

Medical results have been received.
 

Kiri

Hero Member
Jan 31, 2012
453
13
124
Hamilton, Ontario
Category........
Visa Office......
Ottawa
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
18-05-2012 App. Return....: 30-8-2012 App. Refiled....: 02-01-2013
Doc's Request.
24-01-2013
AOR Received.
23-01-2013 Mississauga 10-05-2013 Ottawa
File Transfer...
19-02-2013
Med's Request
23-07-2013 (New XRay)
Med's Done....
11-05-2012
Interview........
Waived
Passport Req..
Decision Made 03-09-2013 without PPR
VISA ISSUED...
27-09-2013
LANDED..........
04-12-2013
cgagnon said:
I would contact your phone provider I am sure they must be able to do something. I only sent pictures with both of us in it with friends and family etc...you don't want to overwhelm them with too many pictures. My husband was in NC that is so cool...been to SC too! I think your file is pretty complete there! As an example behind the picture I wrote Wedding the date who was in the picture. You would just need the medical and FBI! Why can't you scan or receive the bank statemens by e-mail? I didn't even think of sending credit card stuff...oh well my lawyers said it was good so...it must be!Hope you can send it out soon!
I did... but they can't get me anything. It really is frustrating me.

Ahh gotcha on photos. Just counted, we have of 34 us together (mind you, some of those are from the same event). Yeah, I'll be writing on the back of them. Yeah, I saved my PDFs from my emailed bank statements.. just have to print them and highlight the entries that are relevant. :)

We now have...


Hard Evidence:

Shared bank account in Canada
Shared hydro account

Occupant letter from landlord for apartment since September, and from May-September a letter from his parents (stamped by postal service as a notarization) stating we resided with them during that time.
(waiting on confirmation letter) Term Life Insurance his policy with me as beneficiary.

Soft Evidence:

Letters: A couple notarized letters and several letters from family and friends. Total so far: 10 -- only 3 of these are from my family (my grandma, dad, and sister-in-law) -- then we have 5 from friends, and 2 from his family so far (mom, uncle) -- the ones with notarizing is my grandma, my dad, a friend of ours, and his mom has gotten a postal stamp like notarization. -- we have 2 coming from friends, 2 coming from friends of the family that know us, and 3 from his family.. so that'll end us with a total of 17.
64 Photos - 34 of us together.. others are what we took of each other during those events, or with each other's pets or with each others family or friends or with a picture of us with gifts we got for each other.
Phone logs for voice from May 2011 to present, Text from November 2011 to present.
Skype receipts for the past year to show I've purchased it to use for communicating if we could not via phone (I used this before I got a Canada/US calling plan)
30 Email confirmation and/or Receipts for purchases through Steam(game service), Shirt.Woot(clothing), Discovery Store(BluRays for his birthday), Torrid (many clothing receipts where he got me clothes while here), Blizzard(gaming stuff), Amazon -- maybe TMI, but specifics might be important?
Bank statement printouts for proof of purchases of Grocery stores or Walmart, etc from my account and his (for shared household expenses during my time here)
Bank statement printouts for proof of purchases from 3 jewelry stores by him (we can't find receipts except for one necklace for Christmas we have the hard receipt for), other proofs of purchases from both accounts.
Receipts from his mom from the veterinarian where she paid to have my cat fixed, and also a receipt where she paid around $2000 worth of dental work for me.
Bank statements from his mom to prove purchases of travel insurance for me, plane ticket purchases, gifts, etc.
1 concert ticket where we went to see Within Temptation in September with my friends from Canada that I've known longer than him.
Bank Statement to show purchase of Segwun Steamboat tickets for 2 dates.
Bank Statements to show purchases of movie tickets (2 adults.. or 3 if we brought his brother), etc.
Facebook printout of wall and album with comments from friends/family.
(To be done) Letter from both of us stating how our relationship has been, what we're looking toward the future, etc. Couple pages each.
Printed time-line roughly outlining our relationship month by month.
Email from grandma where she says things about our relationship to me personally, about how happy she is, etc.
Wire transfer email confirmation of $800something money transfer from my bank account to my CL's.
10 Emails between us ... most of it's blacked out because I don't want to expose personal stuff... so that's why there are only 10 salvageable that could be shared.
Reciepts for purchase both of our subscription for the past year to World of Warcraft, the game where we met and play together.

... hope I'm not forgetting anything, haha. Any extra suggestions as I finalize this bad boy?
 

cgagnon

Hero Member
Nov 10, 2011
820
15
Montreal,QC
Category........
Visa Office......
LA(Buffalo)
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
02-03-2012
AOR Received.
None
File Transfer...
31-05-2012
Med's Done....
13-12-2011
Interview........
Waived
Passport Req..
10/10/2012
Kiri said:
I did... but they can't get me anything. It really is frustrating me.

Ahh gotcha on photos. Just counted, we have of 34 us together (mind you, some of those are from the same event). Yeah, I'll be writing on the back of them. Yeah, I saved my PDFs from my emailed bank statements.. just have to print them and highlight the entries that are relevant. :)

We now have...


Hard Evidence:

Shared bank account in Canada
Shared hydro account

Occupant letter from landlord for apartment since September, and from May-September a letter from his parents (stamped by postal service as a notarization) stating we resided with them during that time.
(waiting on confirmation letter) Term Life Insurance his policy with me as beneficiary.

Soft Evidence:

Letters: A couple notarized letters and several letters from family and friends. Total so far: 10 -- only 3 of these are from my family (my grandma, dad, and sister-in-law) -- then we have 5 from friends, and 2 from his family so far (mom, uncle) -- the ones with notarizing is my grandma, my dad, a friend of ours, and his mom has gotten a postal stamp like notarization. -- we have 2 coming from friends, 2 coming from friends of the family that know us, and 3 from his family.. so that'll end us with a total of 17.
64 Photos - 34 of us together.. others are what we took of each other during those events, or with each other's pets or with each others family or friends or with a picture of us with gifts we got for each other.
Phone logs for voice from May 2011 to present, Text from November 2011 to present.
Skype receipts for the past year to show I've purchased it to use for communicating if we could not via phone (I used this before I got a Canada/US calling plan)
30 Email confirmation and/or Receipts for purchases through Steam(game service), Shirt.Woot(clothing), Discovery Store(BluRays for his birthday), Torrid (many clothing receipts where he got me clothes while here), Blizzard(gaming stuff), Amazon -- maybe TMI, but specifics might be important?
Bank statement printouts for proof of purchases of Grocery stores or Walmart, etc from my account and his (for shared household expenses during my time here)
Bank statement printouts for proof of purchases from 3 jewelry stores by him (we can't find receipts except for one necklace for Christmas we have the hard receipt for), other proofs of purchases from both accounts.
Receipts from his mom from the veterinarian where she paid to have my cat fixed, and also a receipt where she paid around $2000 worth of dental work for me.
Bank statements from his mom to prove purchases of travel insurance for me, plane ticket purchases, gifts, etc.
1 concert ticket where we went to see Within Temptation in September with my friends from Canada that I've known longer than him.
Bank Statement to show purchase of Segwun Steamboat tickets for 2 dates.
Bank Statements to show purchases of movie tickets (2 adults.. or 3 if we brought his brother), etc.
Facebook printout of wall and album with comments from friends/family.
(To be done) Letter from both of us stating how our relationship has been, what we're looking toward the future, etc. Couple pages each.
Printed time-line roughly outlining our relationship month by month.
Email from grandma where she says things about our relationship to me personally, about how happy she is, etc.
Wire transfer email confirmation of $800something money transfer from my bank account to my CL's.
10 Emails between us ... most of it's blacked out because I don't want to expose personal stuff... so that's why there are only 10 salvageable that could be shared.
Reciepts for purchase both of our subscription for the past year to World of Warcraft, the game where we met and play together.

... hope I'm not forgetting anything, haha. Any extra suggestions as I finalize this bad boy?
I wouid not send all pictures! You can add a few of you not in it but its great that you have 34! But wow that is a lot of information! My application did not have that much stuff! For sure they will have plenty!
 

moochops

Hero Member
Aug 13, 2011
224
6
124
Alberta
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
09-06-2011
Doc's Request.
06-01-2012
AOR Received.
24-08-2011
File Transfer...
09-08-2011
Med's Request
new request 19-12-2012
Med's Done....
24-10-2010 / 16-01-2013
Interview........
waived
fantastic news G-man congrats!

Looks like they are doing the user names begining with G this week <considers changing name to Goochops>
 

GOGOGO

Hero Member
Jan 12, 2012
540
13
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo-&gt;New York
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
27-09-2011
Doc's Request.
23-02-2012
AOR Received.
04-01-2012 (Email from Buffalo)
File Transfer...
02-02-2012 (Buffalo-&gt;New York: notified by email from Buffalo)
Med's Done....
18-01-2012
Passport Req..
11-04-2012; 23Apr: PP copy delivered at NY
VISA ISSUED...
01-05-2012 (as per COPR); 4May: Decision Made on eCAS; 8May: COPR rcvd (Canada address)
LANDED..........
10-05-2012; 12May: Status in eCAS disappeared; 13Jul: PR Card rcv'd
Haha... love it Goochops! 8)

moochops said:
Looks like they are doing the user names begining with G this week <considers changing name to Goochops>
 

Kiri

Hero Member
Jan 31, 2012
453
13
124
Hamilton, Ontario
Category........
Visa Office......
Ottawa
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
18-05-2012 App. Return....: 30-8-2012 App. Refiled....: 02-01-2013
Doc's Request.
24-01-2013
AOR Received.
23-01-2013 Mississauga 10-05-2013 Ottawa
File Transfer...
19-02-2013
Med's Request
23-07-2013 (New XRay)
Med's Done....
11-05-2012
Interview........
Waived
Passport Req..
Decision Made 03-09-2013 without PPR
VISA ISSUED...
27-09-2013
LANDED..........
04-12-2013
cgagnon said:
I wouid not send all pictures! You can add a few of you not in it but its great that you have 34! But wow that is a lot of information! My application did not have that much stuff! For sure they will have plenty!
Sounds good, thank you!
 

QCSunshine

Hero Member
Aug 25, 2010
425
13
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
Kiri said:
Ahh gotcha on photos. Just counted, we have of 34 us together (mind you, some of those are from the same event). Yeah, I'll be writing on the back of them. Yeah, I saved my PDFs from my emailed bank statements.. just have to print them and highlight the entries that are relevant. :)


64 Photos - 34 of us together.. others are what we took of each other during those events, or with each other's pets or with each others family or friends or with a picture of us with gifts we got for each other.
Phone logs for voice from May 2011 to present, Text from November 2011 to present.
Skype receipts for the past year to show I've purchased it to use for communicating if we could not via phone (I used this before I got a Canada/US calling plan)

10 Emails between us ... most of it's blacked out because I don't want to expose personal stuff... so that's why there are only 10 salvageable that could be shared.
Just popped on here to see what was going on... I'm an old-timer I guess, but I wish everyone the best.

Anyhow, I saw the above comment and wanted to respond. I would go ahead and send most or all of those photos (but maybe taking out any duplicates from the same event that don't add any new information, if there are any of those). We sent in about 100 pictures, BUT they were digital and I copy/pasted them into a Publisher document. There were multiple photos on each page (with notes/dates/etc for each) and arranged chronologically. I think there were only 10 or 11 letter-size pages of photos in total.

Emails/letters/written communication.... If you have just a bit more of something in these lines, I would try to add it in. We sent in emails, cards and letters from the beginning of our relationship to the point where we sent off the application. I printed/copied a representative sample spread out about equally throughout our dating/marriage.

Yes, it was hard to decide to share that stuff with a complete stranger, but I wanted to err on the side of open communication. We only put emails that we felt comfortable including, but they were personal (as well as appropriate). I figured the people reviewing the file would want to see that our relationship was one where we communicated personally. So...whoever read our file (and approved it) knows our nicknames for each other, how we sign off emails to each other, how we talked about what we ate for dinner, and how cheesy we can be with each other. They got copies of our anniversary cards and other hand-written cards/notes.

Yep. It's personal. But I didn't share anything I wasn't okay with sharing with whoever was going to decide if we had a real relationship. And it was worth it to me to feel like I did everything I could to provide the "evidence" that would clearly communicate the authenticity of our relationship. I'm an extrovert, so maybe I didn't struggle too much with this idea, but for me, I wanted to do everything I could to get our application approved, including sharing personal details because I thought it would help give a better idea about our relationship.

Good luck in your process, whatever you decide!
 

g-man

Star Member
May 15, 2009
118
1
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo -&gt; Seattle
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
25-10-2011
AOR Received.
24-01-2012
File Transfer...
09-01-2012 (22-02-2012 Seattle)
Med's Done....
19-07-2011
Passport Req..
12-04-2012
LANDED..........
01-07-2012 (Canada Day!!)
moochops said:
fantastic news G-man congrats!

Looks like they are doing the user names begining with G this week <considers changing name to Goochops>
haha, do it!
 

bbiery

Star Member
Aug 7, 2011
64
3
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
04-10-2011
Doc's Request.
5-3-2012
AOR Received.
20-12-2011
Med's Request
08-03-2012
Med's Done....
20-09-2011
Passport Req..
26-04-2012/Decision Made 14-05-2012
Y u no give me birthday present Buffalo!!

Hoping to have this done with by May at least please.
 

GOGOGO

Hero Member
Jan 12, 2012
540
13
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo-&gt;New York
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
27-09-2011
Doc's Request.
23-02-2012
AOR Received.
04-01-2012 (Email from Buffalo)
File Transfer...
02-02-2012 (Buffalo-&gt;New York: notified by email from Buffalo)
Med's Done....
18-01-2012
Passport Req..
11-04-2012; 23Apr: PP copy delivered at NY
VISA ISSUED...
01-05-2012 (as per COPR); 4May: Decision Made on eCAS; 8May: COPR rcvd (Canada address)
LANDED..........
10-05-2012; 12May: Status in eCAS disappeared; 13Jul: PR Card rcv'd
We did similarly to photos, arranged them in a word document (3 x 4, total 12 on a page, pictures are good enough to show the faces clearly), total 10 pages including those taken during our travels, events with family and friends, wedding and honeymoon. Thought it's more environmentally (and wallet) friendly than printing individual pictures traditionally.

We didn't feel comfortable sharing any personal email at all, so we ended up sending nothing. We didn't send in any phone log either (because it's ridiculously big), though we mentioned in the application that we spoke several times a day via phone calls, emails, online chats, webcams.

But we did send in proofs of our travels (yes, we're big on that): flight tickets and itineraies, boarding passes, hotel bookings, if they're still available, passport stamps, plus the pictures. We mentioned 23 places that we travelled together in the application so figured out we had to put some effort into this proof.

QCSunshine said:
We sent in about 100 pictures, BUT they were digital and I copy/pasted them into a Publisher document. There were multiple photos on each page (with notes/dates/etc for each) and arranged chronologically. I think there were only 10 or 11 letter-size pages of photos in total.
 

GOGOGO

Hero Member
Jan 12, 2012
540
13
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo-&gt;New York
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
27-09-2011
Doc's Request.
23-02-2012
AOR Received.
04-01-2012 (Email from Buffalo)
File Transfer...
02-02-2012 (Buffalo-&gt;New York: notified by email from Buffalo)
Med's Done....
18-01-2012
Passport Req..
11-04-2012; 23Apr: PP copy delivered at NY
VISA ISSUED...
01-05-2012 (as per COPR); 4May: Decision Made on eCAS; 8May: COPR rcvd (Canada address)
LANDED..........
10-05-2012; 12May: Status in eCAS disappeared; 13Jul: PR Card rcv'd
Isn't it a great relief to have it out of your hands? Good job! :D

DCGelfling said:
Eeeeee! DH mailed our application today! Now there's nothing left to do but wait. :)

Well, kind of. I had to crop my photos myself, because Walgreens was happy to make sure my face was the right size, but wouldn't do the cutting. I hope they're close enough, but the edges are a teeny tiny bit uneven. I think when I go visit DH in May, I'll get proper photos done just in case.
 

homi2285

Full Member
Oct 28, 2011
36
0
Category........
Visa Office......
Buffalo / Ottawa office
Job Offer........
Pre-Assessed..
App. Filed.......
05-07-2011
File Transfer...
06-09-2011
Med's Done....
before sending the application in July 2011
Passport Req..
21-12-2012
CONGRAT GOGOGO!!!

I'm so worried right now.. What's going on with July batch ( like mine) and the May batch :( ?

My US OPT will end in mid-June. I'm planning to apply for Canadian visitor visa in mid May and move to Canada to be with my husband in visitor visa if I still haven't heard back about the PR by then.

Could anyone let me know if that would be a good idea? thanks in advance.

GOGOGO said:
Thanks all for your kind words, nice picture, good suggestions and PM. Hope to hear good news soon from you too!

And who says they don't listen and act? ;D :p

EDIT:

e-CAS still showing "In progress"...
We received your application for permanent residence on September 27, 2011.
We started processing your application on February 1, 2012.

Nothing else. No "Medical Received".

By the way, I'm non-US citizen. They did not ask me to attend interview. 8)