Interview Consulate

[TayL 0]

So I live in Ontario and am applying for the K-1. (Our application is going to be sent next week, we're just waiting for his new cheques to get sent to his new place) This means, obviously, that I should be going to Montreal for the interview. But the wait time for Montreal is around 100 + days vs. Vancouver, which is around 50 days, it seems. Has anyone from Eastern Canada requested and received a date in Vancouver instead of Montreal? I know I'd be willing to pay a little extra in travel fees and accommodations and so on to get a faster interview time, but I don't know if it would even be worth trying.

Any ideas?

[SapphireDreams 71]

The only way that would ever happen is if you actually moved to the West provinces that are serviced by Vancouver to live.

There is no way to switch Consulates. Waiting times change all the time though, so it may not be 100 days wait by the time you get to the Consulate portion of your petition.

My advice is to just plan for 12 months and be happy if you finish it sooner. Makes the wait a lot less stressful in my experience!!

[TayL 0]

Bleh. I HATE waiting. For ANYTHING. Even something I don't want to do. Even something I do want to do.

>.<

I need to move back out west, but that's so expensive that I can't right now and I'm fairly sure I'd be unemployed there, too. No jobs in my area (we've lost a couple thousand jobs since the economy crash, in a small community), but because I can't get a job to get money, I can't afford to move out of my parents' house (where I moved back to because when I moved, there were lots of places hiring so we figured I could find a job--but I moved about 2-3 weeks before the economy really started getting bad and everyone stopped hiring just as I got here), so I can't go somewhere I can get a job. Love the vicious cycle.

*sigh*

Given the trends on the charts I can find for Montreal and Vancouver, it's HIGHLY unlikely that Montreal will go down to where Vancouver is. Vancouver has been dropping since December and Vancouver spent the first half of last year down in the 50-70 range. Montreal has spent about 5 months total between 80 and 100 at its lowest point in over a year.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Yes - agreed, hate to be the bearer of bad news - you're in for a wait. I do feel sad that it seems like we're bursting your happy bubble. It will be worth it, yes it will be a wait..plan for longer and then be pleasantly surprised if it's not.

There is very little if anything that you control in this entire process.

[YuAndDan 153]

I have read of people who have tried, but NVC assigns the case to the consulate having jurisdiction over beneficiary's residence.

[TayL 0]

@Udella&Wiz:

You're not bursting my happy little bubble. I figured the answer would be negative, but it was simply a thought I had and I figured that the worst thing that could happen would be I get told no, it wouldn't work. The best thing that could happen would be that it was possible. It's not that big a deal. Just if I didn't ask the question and found out later that it was possible, I'd be kicking myself HARDCORE.

It's just annoying. Double the wait time and not a thing you can do about it. Add in that EVERY TIME I see anyone who knows I'm engaged (which is pretty much everyone in this community. One person finds out anything and then everyone knows the next day), they always ask "When are you leaving?" And of course, I have to respond with "I have no idea." Or they want to know "When did you set a date for?" and I have to say "We can't." My response is rapidly becoming "Why don't you call the American government and ask them? They can tell you better than I can."

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Oh man - don't we know it. this process is slow and irritating beyond belief,

It's a big eye opener for so many of us when you realize that just because we're neighbours, we don't get any special treatment from the US when it comes to immigration. All your friends and collegues will eventually look at you with pathetic sadness as if they think you are lying when you say 'soon.....' ..because it takes so riduclously long.

I remember that it felt so anticlimactic after being approved in Montreal...I had been waiting for this fabulous moment for a year and then all of a sudden it was done in 10 minutes...ooh, but then the really good planning could be finalized - moving wedding...being with my hubster

[Flames9_RN 358]

Is it impossible NO! In the past (not recently) a few have had success in changing their consulate from Mtl to vancouver. To do that one has to have a valid reason--as your now working in one of the western provinces that goto Van for thie intyerview, and you would need a Address to back thjat up! And yes, some of those people "made it up or fabrcated their story" and were successful in getting it chnaged. One can always ask to switch consulates, and they canalways say no,lol

[TayL 0]

Some people, I've gotten to stop asking. Unfortunately, those are few and far between. It'd be so much easier if no one knew, but of course I went and told some friends and it rapidly spread to everyone around. I mean, there are days I can just go "Okay, it's gonna be awhile. No big. I get to spend some extra time hanging around and I don't have to deal with moving my cat yet or getting rid of all my stuff." But then stuff like birthday and Christmas or whatever comes and I'm going "Guys, please, don't buy me ANYTHING big. Nothing larger in size than a DVD unless it's Christmas. I'm trying to keep my stuff from getting any larger in volume." And they're like "Well, when are you moving? You can enjoy X until you move." And then I just want to beat them because it could be a short time (you never know, they COULD light a fire under their collective @$$es and my visa could speed right through) or, more likely, it'll be around a year.

Either way, I don't want to add to my pile of stuff. I'm already trying to reduce the amount of stuff I need to move, but without a move date set, no one understands this and I get handed stuff that people don't want anymore and it gets added to my pile. (I've long been the person that everyone gives their hand-me-downs to. I'm the smallest member of my family or group of friends and have always gotten hand-me-downs from my younger siblings, my siblings' friends and anyone else who has a "cool" device or item that they don't want anymore but is still good or only slightly broken. I HATE throwing stuff away.)

[TheATeam 0]

Don't throw things away if they can still be used! I literally got rid of all of my things, furniture and all. I had nothing but two suitcases on the airplane and my dog when I moved. I used Freecycle to get rid of things that I couldn't give or didn't want to give to the Salvation Army. I knew that there were so many people out there who were having a hard time and needed furniture etc. It made me feel SO great to know that I helped someone out who really needed it. It's easy to use as well. You just posted what you needed to get rid of on Freecycle and then people email you and arrange a time to pick up or have said item dropped off!

It is a very long wait time regardless of which consulate you're filing through, although I will say that Montreal does take longer. I know that sucks, but you can do it! By the time everything is over you'll look back on it and it will all be worth it.

[TayL 0]

Oh, I won't chuck it all out. There are all kinds of places to send it. It just makes me mad that people INSIST I need new things (well, new-to-me) even when I say "I'm moving to another country and can't take much with me."