K-1 people waiting for interviews at Montreal

[trailmix 77]

SeekerSharer: Some words of encouragement are greatly welcomed regarding the interview. I'm living in paranoia that the more I bond with my step daughter and future wife that I'll be ripped out of their life for some unknown reason at the interview. My papers are disorganized still and I have no strength to organize them because I'm completely demoralized at how long it has taken to receive an interview date. We were supposed to get married this weekend at the annual music festival we met at last two years ago (which is this weekend). Instead, we've lost out on that and will likely get married in some ghetto hillbilly courthouse whenever Montreal decides to put their poutine down and sort the P3 files.

Time to turn that frown upside down!

But seriously, I can't look at your timeline because I get an error when I try to, however I just wanted to say - don't let this process get you down - you will get your interview, it will be ok and you will be together.

Try to remember that you are not a victim of this process, you are really in charge here - yes, they do get to make the decision about granting a visa - but that does not define you as a family.

What if they straight out denied your fiancee and future step daughter? Then you would go to plan B - whatever that would be and go from there.

[seekersharer 0]

As trailmix says... it'll happen. Think clearly. Be strong.

The interview is easy if you are fully prepared.

All the best!!!!!

[chadlaure 2]

SeekerSharer: Some words of encouragement are greatly welcomed regarding the interview. I'm living in paranoia that the more I bond with my step daughter and future wife that I'll be ripped out of their life for some unknown reason at the interview. My papers are disorganized still and I have no strength to organize them because I'm completely demoralized at how long it has taken to receive an interview date. We were supposed to get married this weekend at the annual music festival we met at last two years ago (which is this weekend). Instead, we've lost out on that and will likely get married in some ghetto hillbilly courthouse whenever Montreal decides to put their poutine down and sort the P3 files.

Hey Toronto guy, I would not see it that way...

I can't look at your timeline either so I don't know when you got packet 3 or NOA2 or whatever but anyways, I know this is frustrating.

This whole process is sort of a love-killer. You can't be together, you have to pay and re-pay and pay even more, you have no news until they decide to open your file. It is awful and you feel like the US immigration decides when you're going to get married, it kills the romantism, the princess wedding and everything...

When we talked to our friends in the past, we would just explain that we would get married at the courthouse and that would be it because we just have to make it legal. We were thinking about having the real wedding in France. But as things turned around, we found out that we can get married wherever we want to as long as someone certified marry us. Since that, we decided to get married in a garden of a castle and we are organizing the reception, did the invites, got the officiant, booked some champagne, book the reception site, DJ etc... and it makes the whole process better because you can make it "romantic" and forget about the immigration for ONE day before going back for more with the AOS.

Your interview will come and you will be more than ready because you know the papers and you know you have everything even if it's not in order. The date will come soon enough. Try to email Montreal and request a date before the end of June because your fiancee will come to Canada and will be able to come with you (try something like that)

I hope you get your interview date soon and then maybe after your interview, you could celebrate with some poutine

Edited June 3, 2009 by chadlaure

[ruby_mtl 0]

SeekerSharer: Some words of encouragement are greatly welcomed regarding the interview. I'm living in paranoia that the more I bond with my step daughter and future wife that I'll be ripped out of their life for some unknown reason at the interview. My papers are disorganized still and I have no strength to organize them because I'm completely demoralized at how long it has taken to receive an interview date. We were supposed to get married this weekend at the annual music festival we met at last two years ago (which is this weekend). Instead, we've lost out on that and will likely get married in some ghetto hillbilly courthouse whenever Montreal decides to put their poutine down and sort the P3 files.

Come on TG don't get so discouraged....Krinstin you need to cheer your man up!! *wink* LOLOLOL

Seriously...try to get your mind off it for a little while...Just enjoy the time that you are having together, keep planting flowers in your yard, buy some stuff you'd like to see in the house, etc. You are so lucky to have that wait together. And stop thinking about denial at the interview....why would it happen??? Focus on the positive.

I'm here with our daughters that miss their daddy soooo much....and I'm just enjoying my last weeks (hoping to move in August, because I don't expect an interview before mid to late July) here in Montreal to see friends and family as much as I can!

And for the courthouse thing....please don't call it ghetto hillbilly. I know it's not what you had envisoned, but you could always do the ceremony next year at that same festival! Do not let this system get the best of you casue your still in it for a long while....(AOS, EAD, AP, removing conditions....) good luck!

[Toronto Guy 0]

Thank you seekersharer for your PM and your kind words. My post was a little vague. Of coarse, demoralized or not, I will put my papers together as best I can before the interview - but I think you and trailmix said it best as that I keep feeling "victimized". I have felt victimized since day 1 when I first glanced at the immigration websites for the U.S and saw how daunting and overwhelming it was. I feel victimized by not being able to work, waiting forever and loosing our wedding date, and of course giving up my health care so I can sell a kidney to pay pay for my heart transplant one day (a figure of speech). If we had it any other way, we'd live in Canada but my step-daughter is court mandated to see her bio-dad every other weekend and so I chose to come here to the U.S. I'd sacrifice just about anything for both of them because I love them so much. Every time I see someone have a good interview, it makes me feel reassured. Is it true what others have said? Is the interview really the easiest part of the K1?

[chadlaure 2]

Thank you seekersharer for your PM and your kind words. My post was a little vague. Of coarse, demoralized or not, I will put my papers together as best I can before the interview - but I think you and trailmix said it best as that I keep feeling "victimized". I have felt victimized since day 1 when I first glanced at the immigration websites for the U.S and saw how daunting and overwhelming it was. I feel victimized by not being able to work, waiting forever and loosing our wedding date, and of course giving up my health care so I can sell a kidney to pay pay for my heart transplant one day (a figure of speech). If we had it any other way, we'd live in Canada but my step-daughter is court mandated to see her bio-dad every other weekend and so I chose to come here to the U.S. I'd sacrifice just about anything for both of them because I love them so much. Every time I see someone have a good interview, it makes me feel reassured. Is it true what others have said? Is the interview really the easiest part of the K1?

Oh yes it is but you won't believe it until you are there and then, like all of us, you'll say "oh you were right it WAS super easy"

They are organized, nice, patient and they smile when they say "your visa is approved"!!

[Toronto Guy 0]

REPOSTED with EDIT

Thank you everyone for kind words. They are reassuring to know that I am not alone and that there is more to this thread than dates, times, paper work, and poutine. :-)

My post was a little vague. Of coarse, demoralized or not, I will put my papers together as best I can before the interview - but I think what some of you said about me feeling "victimized" is most correct. I have felt victimized since day 1 when I first glanced at the immigration websites for the U.S and saw how daunting and overwhelming it was. I am an A+ University student who could blast through an exam with flying colours yet I tremble everytime I see another immigration form - is that defeated or what?!?! I thought I could be smart enough to calculate the timelines and promise myself that second week of June would be our idealized wedding date at our magical music festival - I was wrong. So yes, I feel victimized by not being able to work, waiting forever and loosing our wedding date, and of course giving up my health care so I can sell a kidney to pay pay for my heart transplant one day (a figure of speech). If we had it any other way, we'd live in Canada but my step-daughter is court mandated to see her bio-dad every other weekend and so I chose to come here to the U.S. I'd sacrifice just about anything for both of them because I love them so much. Every time I see someone have a good interview, it makes me feel reassured. Is it true what others have said? Is the interview really the easiest part of the K1?

At least my wild flowers are sprouting in the front yard...... :-)

(My timeline does not work and the admins haven't replied to my requests to fix it)

And yeah, I've never been to Montreal and I really am looking forward to having real poutine.....

[childress_london 3]

Hubby is supposed to mail back our checklist to Montreal today. We did the DS 160 online over the weekend and it was a big pain with a lot of glitches. I hope they fix that thing! His medical is in Montreal on June 19th.

[Toronto Guy 0]

Hubby is supposed to mail back our checklist to Montreal today. We did the DS 160 online over the weekend and it was a big pain with a lot of glitches. I hope they fix that thing! His medical is in Montreal on June 19th.

Mine had glitches too. When I printed the photo with barcode page, it only saved/printed half a page. Thank god I saved it as a PDF before it glitched because I had Acrobat PRO. ;-p

What happened to your page?

[M613 6]

I just sent my checklist/DS-230 form and stuff to the Montreal consulate today... Have everything-now it's just a waiting game.

Lame-o questions, answer I couldn't quite cipher perusing are: What's the average re: the consulate getting back to you with an interview date..? That and when you do get the letter, how much time/advance notice does one get between receipt of the interview and the actual interview date?

Info/experiences are of course super welcome... thanks

Average wait time from sending checklist to interview is 2-4 months. Notification between when you find out and actaul interview ranges from 2-6 weeks. Letter is usually sent a week after your scheduled. Letters have been known to get lost, so I would call around the 2 month mark, or sooner if u want

Hotwire.com has cheap hotel rates. Go to mapquest and put in address for consulate, you can then cross reference that with hotel area on hotwire and get a good idea how close your hotel will be.

Good luck!

Thanks PR! I sent in the whole kit and caboodle (completed forms/checklist included-as I've had everything they needed for a while now)...so yeah-I guess it's just a waiting game. 2 to 4 months though?! holy eff....

re; where to stay-I'm from Ottawa, which is an hour and a half away from MTL, so I'm good to go... I'm strategizing and curious right now, however, because I'm currently staying in Austin, and therefore wanna sorta have a timeline whilst out and away from my homebase

[amberL 0]

Sooo I missed calling last Friday because I had to work and head to the airport right after work because I flew down for a 4 day weekend to see my hunnie.... Crossing at the Peace Bridge was interesting, it was the first time I ever had any trouble from the immigration people, the officer wasnt going to let me into the US until I dug out my p3 and went through it with a magnifying glass. He didnt believe me that I met my bf on World of Warcraft and brought over 3 other people to look at me and point and say that I play WoW. Finaly after like 15 mins of being lectured about how I have to return to Canada and cant stay in the US without a visa he let me go and I was on my way to the airport So it really does pay afterall to keep your documents with you at all times, he even told me to do so. Anyways I had a really nice, relaxing weekend with my hunnie, especially when he surprised me with a ring at our favourite spot at the beach. Was soo totally worth the sunburn. I got home late yesterday and tried to call DoS but they were closed So I tried today after work and ..... JULY 8, 8:30 am!!!!!!

[KristinL 0]

Sooo I missed calling last Friday because I had to work and head to the airport right after work because I flew down for a 4 day weekend to see my hunnie.... Crossing at the Peace Bridge was interesting, it was the first time I ever had any trouble from the immigration people, the officer wasnt going to let me into the US until I dug out my p3 and went through it with a magnifying glass. He didnt believe me that I met my bf on World of Warcraft and brought over 3 other people to look at me and point and say that I play WoW. Finaly after like 15 mins of being lectured about how I have to return to Canada and cant stay in the US without a visa he let me go and I was on my way to the airport So it really does pay afterall to keep your documents with you at all times, he even told me to do so. Anyways I had a really nice, relaxing weekend with my hunnie, especially when he surprised me with a ring at our favourite spot at the beach. Was soo totally worth the sunburn. I got home late yesterday and tried to call DoS but they were closed So I tried today after work and ..... JULY 8, 8:30 am!!!!!!

WHAT!???! :dance: You got a date!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

and more importantly, I'm glad you got to spend some much needed time with your honey!

someone else call now, lets see what happens.

[ruby_mtl 0]

Sooo I missed calling last Friday because I had to work and head to the airport right after work because I flew down for a 4 day weekend to see my hunnie.... Crossing at the Peace Bridge was interesting, it was the first time I ever had any trouble from the immigration people, the officer wasnt going to let me into the US until I dug out my p3 and went through it with a magnifying glass. He didnt believe me that I met my bf on World of Warcraft and brought over 3 other people to look at me and point and say that I play WoW. Finaly after like 15 mins of being lectured about how I have to return to Canada and cant stay in the US without a visa he let me go and I was on my way to the airport So it really does pay afterall to keep your documents with you at all times, he even told me to do so. Anyways I had a really nice, relaxing weekend with my hunnie, especially when he surprised me with a ring at our favourite spot at the beach. Was soo totally worth the sunburn. I got home late yesterday and tried to call DoS but they were closed So I tried today after work and ..... JULY 8, 8:30 am!!!!!!

YAY!!! That's GREAT!!!! finally some movement! I'm glad to see Montreal's moving! I hope they keep giving interviews this week...so if they got you in their system in April and you got a July interview, that means I'm getting an August interview...that sucks i was hoping for July...oh well, can't do nothing about it....

Still really happy for you and hoping that more people will get interviews soon!!!

[KristinL 0]

Sooo I missed calling last Friday because I had to work and head to the airport right after work because I flew down for a 4 day weekend to see my hunnie.... Crossing at the Peace Bridge was interesting, it was the first time I ever had any trouble from the immigration people, the officer wasnt going to let me into the US until I dug out my p3 and went through it with a magnifying glass. He didnt believe me that I met my bf on World of Warcraft and brought over 3 other people to look at me and point and say that I play WoW. Finaly after like 15 mins of being lectured about how I have to return to Canada and cant stay in the US without a visa he let me go and I was on my way to the airport So it really does pay afterall to keep your documents with you at all times, he even told me to do so. Anyways I had a really nice, relaxing weekend with my hunnie, especially when he surprised me with a ring at our favourite spot at the beach. Was soo totally worth the sunburn. I got home late yesterday and tried to call DoS but they were closed So I tried today after work and ..... JULY 8, 8:30 am!!!!!!

WHAT!???! :dance: You got a date!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

and more importantly, I'm glad you got to spend some much needed time with your honey!

someone else call now, lets see what happens.

I couldn't help myself!! I called.... we got a date tooo! its also July 8th!!!

I ran home and found TorontoGuy huddled in a corner rocking back and forth mumbling about an interview date (just kidding). he was ecstatic - but is having computer issues, so cannot come back on to say so.

July 8th. I can't believe it! YAY! Amber, I guess we will see you there :-)

[ruby_mtl 0]

Sooo I missed calling last Friday because I had to work and head to the airport right after work because I flew down for a 4 day weekend to see my hunnie.... Crossing at the Peace Bridge was interesting, it was the first time I ever had any trouble from the immigration people, the officer wasnt going to let me into the US until I dug out my p3 and went through it with a magnifying glass. He didnt believe me that I met my bf on World of Warcraft and brought over 3 other people to look at me and point and say that I play WoW. Finaly after like 15 mins of being lectured about how I have to return to Canada and cant stay in the US without a visa he let me go and I was on my way to the airport So it really does pay afterall to keep your documents with you at all times, he even told me to do so. Anyways I had a really nice, relaxing weekend with my hunnie, especially when he surprised me with a ring at our favourite spot at the beach. Was soo totally worth the sunburn. I got home late yesterday and tried to call DoS but they were closed So I tried today after work and ..... JULY 8, 8:30 am!!!!!!

WHAT!???! :dance: You got a date!!

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!

and more importantly, I'm glad you got to spend some much needed time with your honey!

someone else call now, lets see what happens.

I couldn't help myself!! I called.... we got a date tooo! its also July 8th!!!

I ran home and found TorontoGuy huddled in a corner rocking back and forth mumbling about an interview date (just kidding). he was ecstatic - but is having computer issues, so cannot come back on to say so.

July 8th. I can't believe it! YAY! Amber, I guess we will see you there :-)

Kristin that cracked me up you have no idea!!!

CONGRATS!!!!!!!!! I'm sooooo happy for you 2!

Maybe I should call too...it would be nice to be in the same AOS thread also!!