The Big Move
As I'm sure many of you know I am not a U.S. citizen. The United States has rules, and some pretty strict ones regarding immigration. Becca and I have wanted to live together for over a year now, and finally, after months of research, paperwork, and waiting, we have a result.
There's a few ways for a Canadian to enter the United States permanently, from specializing in a career and getting a job offer, to apply for a full-time University schedule down in the states and spending twice the amount for tuition because I am a "foreign student", to eloping abroad. But, I think we chose the option that was best for us, which is applying for the K-1 Fiancé Visa.
We applied on November 5th, 2018, were approved by the USCIS on March 7th, 2019. Then, on May 21st I received contact from the Montreal Consulate regarding my application, prompting me to book a doctor's appointment on June 17th, and an immigration interview on July 17th. At the time, Becca was visiting me, and we were overjoyed at the wait finally being over.
The next several months were filled with anxiety and frantic prepping for both appointments. I'll be honest, I love travelling, but I'd much rather have travelled to both interviews with Becca as my travel partner rather than just alone. As meditative as the experience was, especially Montreal, I think it would have been so much better if we had been there together.
On July 17th my Visa Application was approved, and a week later my visa arrived in the mail, allowing me to marry my soulmate. This gave me a month before one of my friends got married to pack and prepare to move, as my fiancee and I just wanted to be together at this point of being separated.
A few days after our friend's wedding, we crossed the border together on August 20th from my hometown and drove the entire length of North Dakota, stopping just after sundown across the border in a quaint little motel in Isabel, South Dakota.
The next day detoured slightly down to SouthWest corner of the state to see Mount Rushmore (it was under construction and quite underwhelming - but I loved the actual un-carved mountains in the area). Shortly after noon we had lunch and took off East towards home. Nightfall came fast, naturally, and we stopped at a Motel 6 in Sioux Falls. By this time, we were emotionally and physically exhausted, and just wanted to be out of South Dakota (no shade, it's just a very wide state).
The next day was spent just driving East, and a little South to avoid Chicago, mainly because I just didn't feel comfortable driving in that large of a city yet - especially while tired. By nightfall we had made it through Iowa, and most of Illinois, but we had to stop one last time before we made it back home. The first city we stopped in, it turned out had no open beds - apparently there was a Corn Festival of sorts in town, as well as college students parent's staying while their children move into their nearby dorms. So, we drove a half hour further down the interstate until the next city and got a room in a Econolodge. It wasn't the best room, but it was perfect for what we needed - especially because at that point I just didn't want to drive anymore.
Our last day of driving consisted of Indiana, where people drove fast, and Ohio, where people drove faster. After stopping at White Castle per my fiancée's request, we drove off towards Pittsburgh, through a little bit of West Virginia, arriving at home in the afternoon. Over the next couple days I filled up the dining room and living room with my junk and immediately jumped into a project of cleaning up the front "computer room" to make it my office (and to move my junk from the other parts of the house, haha.)
So, to summarize, on August 20th, 2019, I entered the US on a K-1 Fiancé Visa from my hometown in Southwest Manitoba, officially moving in to my home in Pittsburgh later that week on August 22nd after driving nearly 3000km/1900miles.
I won't lie, it's strange to live where the population is easily over 150x greater than my hometown in the city proper, never mind the 2.2 million folks in the greater area population. For me, it's unsettling that there's that many people around and it will take some time to get used to the way it is around here. I'm just not quite used to city living, but I'm doing my best to adapt. I'm not in Manitoba anymore!
Thanks for reading my ramble, and I hope you have a fantastic time of day.
Matt.
There's a few ways for a Canadian to enter the United States permanently, from specializing in a career and getting a job offer, to apply for a full-time University schedule down in the states and spending twice the amount for tuition because I am a "foreign student", to eloping abroad. But, I think we chose the option that was best for us, which is applying for the K-1 Fiancé Visa.
We applied on November 5th, 2018, were approved by the USCIS on March 7th, 2019. Then, on May 21st I received contact from the Montreal Consulate regarding my application, prompting me to book a doctor's appointment on June 17th, and an immigration interview on July 17th. At the time, Becca was visiting me, and we were overjoyed at the wait finally being over.
The next several months were filled with anxiety and frantic prepping for both appointments. I'll be honest, I love travelling, but I'd much rather have travelled to both interviews with Becca as my travel partner rather than just alone. As meditative as the experience was, especially Montreal, I think it would have been so much better if we had been there together.
On July 17th my Visa Application was approved, and a week later my visa arrived in the mail, allowing me to marry my soulmate. This gave me a month before one of my friends got married to pack and prepare to move, as my fiancee and I just wanted to be together at this point of being separated.
A few days after our friend's wedding, we crossed the border together on August 20th from my hometown and drove the entire length of North Dakota, stopping just after sundown across the border in a quaint little motel in Isabel, South Dakota.
The next day detoured slightly down to SouthWest corner of the state to see Mount Rushmore (it was under construction and quite underwhelming - but I loved the actual un-carved mountains in the area). Shortly after noon we had lunch and took off East towards home. Nightfall came fast, naturally, and we stopped at a Motel 6 in Sioux Falls. By this time, we were emotionally and physically exhausted, and just wanted to be out of South Dakota (no shade, it's just a very wide state).
The next day was spent just driving East, and a little South to avoid Chicago, mainly because I just didn't feel comfortable driving in that large of a city yet - especially while tired. By nightfall we had made it through Iowa, and most of Illinois, but we had to stop one last time before we made it back home. The first city we stopped in, it turned out had no open beds - apparently there was a Corn Festival of sorts in town, as well as college students parent's staying while their children move into their nearby dorms. So, we drove a half hour further down the interstate until the next city and got a room in a Econolodge. It wasn't the best room, but it was perfect for what we needed - especially because at that point I just didn't want to drive anymore.
Our last day of driving consisted of Indiana, where people drove fast, and Ohio, where people drove faster. After stopping at White Castle per my fiancée's request, we drove off towards Pittsburgh, through a little bit of West Virginia, arriving at home in the afternoon. Over the next couple days I filled up the dining room and living room with my junk and immediately jumped into a project of cleaning up the front "computer room" to make it my office (and to move my junk from the other parts of the house, haha.)
So, to summarize, on August 20th, 2019, I entered the US on a K-1 Fiancé Visa from my hometown in Southwest Manitoba, officially moving in to my home in Pittsburgh later that week on August 22nd after driving nearly 3000km/1900miles.
I won't lie, it's strange to live where the population is easily over 150x greater than my hometown in the city proper, never mind the 2.2 million folks in the greater area population. For me, it's unsettling that there's that many people around and it will take some time to get used to the way it is around here. I'm just not quite used to city living, but I'm doing my best to adapt. I'm not in Manitoba anymore!
Thanks for reading my ramble, and I hope you have a fantastic time of day.
Matt.
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