Advice for Immigrants!



A few pieces of advice that I’ve gained from this experience:





If your case is pretty simple (first marriage for both of you, no children, no crimes, etc.), you probably don’t need to pay for a lawyer. There are other, considerably less expensive services that help you through some of the issues you might have (the biggest challenge is the submitting of the initial form to USCIS--we were thankful we had Boundless to help us with that one). After that, the instructions are pretty clear from the US government itself.


Every piece of paper, every test, every form, everything has a price tag. We were constantly coughing up $150, $250, $700, $1200 for every step of the way. Be prepared that it is a PRICEY endeavour to immigrate, and if you’re cross-border dating, I recommend starting a separate savings account for immigration costs. Not to mention the travel you will have to do unless you’re lucky enough to live in Montreal.


Move heaven and earth to get your medical results to your interview with you. We should have rented a car from Montreal, driven to Toronto and picked up the results from my step-sister. I have no idea why we didn’t, except the doctor had told me that it wouldn’t be a big deal to go to the interview without it. (and it’s not, in that they still let me have the interview. But it was, in that they actually refused my visa application, which sent me into a different pile of paper I guess).


If you have the ability to apply for something like Nexus or an enhanced driver’s license before you get stuck in the middle of immigration, it’s worth it to be able to at least cross the border by land while you wait. One of the most awful things about this was not just that my husband and I were apart (which we were for basically our whole relationship), but that we also had no idea when we’d be reunited. He could have come up and visit me, but he has a job (and I did NOT, so he needed to keep his!).

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