My wife is and American living with me here in Canada. I would love so very much to take here home to live, as that is where her family is and where she wants and needs to be. I have no family here now in Canada to speak of, as my parents have passed on and my sister and brother-in-law have just become Americans and have been living in Florida for close to 40 years now. When I was alot younger I hung with the wrong crowd here and had a few problems with the law. Since that time I have cleaned up my act and have been living a proper life. I had a pardon granted to me here a few years back by the Canadian Goverment so that I would no longer have a Canadian record. It seems though that the U.S. Immigration don't honor Canadian Pardons. Two of my offences here were for possession of marijuana for person use. I received a 150.00 fine for the first offence and a year later a 300.00 for the second offence. Since that time I have not been in trouble. The date of my last offence was 1976, 30 years ago. The wife and I have done what we could to get me into the States but to no avail. Since we have been married this last six years she has lost her Father, Brother, and her Grandmother. She needs to be with her remaining family and I need to be closer to my sister. Is there no way that we can get INS to give me permission to move with her to Tennessee ? I have been a law abiding person for 30 years now. If someone was to kill someone in the States their sentence would be over with now and they would be free. I smoked pot in my younger years and they have sentenced me to a life sentence in the U.S. for what ? I'm 55 now and the only thing that I want from life now is to take my wife home to her family and see that smile that I loved so much, return to her face. Please help us find a way that we can fulfill this dream. Please

Can you tell us what steps, your wife took to bring you the U.S.? You said you wife tried what she could to bring you in to the U.S., did she file an I-130 or one of the K visas for you?

Was your application denied by U.S. Immigration? If so, on what ground?

A little bit more details will allow some of us to point you in the right direction.

Cheers,

Newly

Dave and Amy,

was your case the one where USCIS said that they'll not take the Canadian pardon into the consideration as it was obtained to circumvent US immigration rules?

I hope some smart brains here will have some smart suggestions.

Thanks for your reply. My wife and I were told by INS that it was the possession charges that were the problem. The one charge was for around 80 something grams and we were told that they would have considered me for immigration if it was under 30 grams. The second offence was for residue in a pipe so that did not come into play. We did the application for living and working in the U.S. first and then we did a waiver package with about 30 letters from family and friends on the hardships of us not being able to live in the U.S. And then we did an appeal of their verdict and all were turned down. The lawyers that we have talked to in the U.S. and Canada all told us that if my record here was for assults and the such that it would not be such a problem, but the possession of pot for personal use would be the problem for INS. Sure enough it seems to be. I find it very sad that I could harm someone here, get a pardon, and get into the U.S. with a little more work. But to smoke pot 30 years ago when I was a kid is the thing that has given me in my eyes a life sentence. So Sad. I had my pardon here a few years before I even knew my wife as I just wanted it to clear my name and be able to apply for certain work here and live my life as a person here in good standing.

Dave and Amy,
its little weird the INS makes sure no one is allowed to live in the US who commited a silly crime 30 years ago with some "smokes"...

But I have faith it will work out for you,since it was 30 years ago and you are now a "grown man" you know...
Unless you did more stuff you did not mention us.

But is true,the INS looks at every single detail of your criminal record regardless from where you are.Even if the own country says "it will not count against you" you are entering another country,that new country has nothing to do with the pardon or what not,to them its what you did in the past.Thats all they see and all they care....

But get a lawyer, you case is not that complicated.