Which visa option is better for me to move to the US??

As already mentioned, Montreal is the ONLY consulate that does the CR-1/IR-1 Visas! Doesnt matter if you live in Victoria Or Halifax or the Yukon!

The USA spouse does NOT have to attend the interview, only the canuck(s) does. And yes after the interview one asks, I just spent all this $$$$$ for a 5 min interview!! Most of ur time at the Consulate is spent waiting around,lol and the interview itself is super quick! And to top it off, you do NOT get the visa that day! They now mail it to you via DHL. And guess what, some get it back within a few days some it has taken a few weeks!! As I said, its the waiting that a huge pain!!

Again, u as a USa citizen have a Right to goto the USA---Canadians do NOT have that same Right!

As well the Cdn will have to have a Physical and there are only a few Dr in all of Canada that are approved to do them! Used to be 1 in each province, but thats no longer the case! Pretty much just Vancouver, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto I believe. 1 has to have certain vaccinations as well. You can find all that and more on VJ.

I have been there done it! 100's, 1000's of Canucks do it every yr! Most are not as fortunate as you and already residing together. Wife and I did the long dist relationship for over 3 yrs! Airlines loved us, as we flew and saw each other monthly! Just suck it up and carry on,lol

OMG what a pain this is going to be...O.K. so we are now looking at trying to do it the "right" way, I guess its not the wait, but all the inconvenience of having to do the stuff thru a consulate that is 8 hrs away.
I would much rather (if I could) enter the US with my US spouse, go to a immigration office there and do everything we need to and return back here and then do the waiting.
I have never been to Montreal, and can count the number of times on 1 hand that I have been to Toronto.
For over 20 years we have done a majority of our entertainment, travel, and shopping (even for our regular groceries and fuel every other week). If we could bring fresh fruit and vegetables across we would rarely darken the doors of a Canadian grocery store.

As for going over on a work permit, that would be a problem...and one of the key reasons we are wanting to get out of Canada. I have a skilled trade (but currently laid off for the 3rd time in 3 years), and my spouse has 2 university degrees, but no one here wants to hire you full time and keep you. Its great if you only want a temp contract or project work with no benefits...No one wants to hire a full time, long term committed person unless you are willing to work for $10/hr. We have had to struggle to much for it to be worth it here any longer.

We have already started getting my spouses credentials reviewed/licensed so she can get in to the same field in the states that she is in here. I will have to get there and then write some tests to get certifications once I arrive, but that is more for legalities than conditions of employment.
I would hope that an application for a state teaching license being made by my spouse would be somewhat useful in proving domicile, not to mention our current search for a rental property.

I would much rather (if I could) enter the US with my US spouse, go to a immigration office there and do everything we need to and return back here and then do the waiting.

There is no process -- legal orotherwise -- that allows for this.

If you apply in the US you MUST wait in the US as I described, or your petition is scaapped and you are barred from re-entering until you get IR-1 anyways.

Cheese with your whine?

You dont have to goto Mtl unitl you reach the Interview stage. You submit you paperwork through the mail or electronically!. And of course for ur medical, you have to goto 1 of the approved DR's.

And ONLY the CDn has to go,the USA spouse does not have to attend the interview. In some countries is highly recommended that the USA spouse be there, but not for Canada!.

Its a pain, but u can suffer with us on VJ in the Canada section,lol Was a faster process back in 2004, only took me 6 months for the CR-1!! Best of luck

We have got things rolling and so far I-130's approved for myself and our 2 kids. And it took less than 1 month! No for the packets and the rest of the process. Should be done by April or May apparently. Which would work great as we have adjusted our timeline to allow the kids to finish out the school year here.

congrats! Just saw in the Cdn forum on VJ, it took 1 CR-1 just over 6 months from start to finish!! Not sure if they are still keeping a timeline for all the cr-1//IR-1 in the Cdn forum!! Hopefully things will speed up!! And if you get the Visa faster then what you intended--you have up to 6 months to use it. Best of luck