Got visas, BUT where are the ORIGINALS??!!!

[sapa_uscan 0]

My sister (a US Citizen) filled for my parent’s immigration on an I-130 basis. All went well and parents had their interview in Montreal, Canada last week. This morning, they received an envelope with their passports and visas there in. YAAY!

They also received a brown sealed envelope. BUT, what they do not have are the following four original documents:

- Mom’s birth certificate

- Dad’s birth certificate

My sister’s

- Birth certificate

- US Citizenship certificate

Questions:

Is it normal the above four documents will be mailed separately by the embassy in Montreal, Canada? Isn’t the embassy supposed to have mailed them back to my parents/sister or given them back during the interview?

Or, are the above four documents in the sealed envelope? How can we confirm that?

What do we do next?

Geez! Small things like this outweigh the excitement of the visas!

All help is highly appreciated!

[trailmix 77]

The originals are probably in that envelope and as another poster posted this morning, once they are in there - they are not taking them out:

Quick update on the Birth Cert. Just went through the POE yesturday and they kept the my wifes Birth Cert and our Marriage Cert. Hope it's not another mistake, but I ask a few times if I can have them back and the Agents at the border said Nope, it has to stay in the file here.

Montreal has screwed this up.

Now the only hope you might have of retrieving them is if you:

- Email Montreal and explain the situation and tell them you want the originals back

- Wait for a response

- They may ask you to send the entire envelope back and offer to retrieve the originals for you and reseal the envelope.

You have to weigh this up - if could take them weeks to do this - so you need to be prepared to wait. Of course there is no guarantee they will do this for you, but I can't see why they wouldn't.

[sapa_uscan 0]

The originals are probably in that envelope and as another poster posted this morning, once they are in there - they are not taking them out:

Montreal has screwed this up.

Now the only hope you might have of retrieving them is if you:

- Email Montreal and explain the situation and tell them you want the originals back

- Wait for a response

- They may ask you to send the entire envelope back and offer to retrieve the originals for you and reseal the envelope.

You have to weigh this up - if could take them weeks to do this - so you need to be prepared to wait. Of course there is no guarantee they will do this for you, but I can't see why they wouldn't.

Thanks for your insights! I still remember your 'trailmix' name... have not been here for a long time!

Anywas, the process asked that originals be mailed to them (Embassy) in the course of the application, and when my parents went to the interview they needed took copies as well. My dad even asked the immigration officer during the interview what about the above four docs, and the gentleman said that they will mail them with the passports!

This is frustrating.

We are trying to contact them but no luck on the phone... email and fax are the next options...

Anyone had similar issues? What is the best way to do this?

[trailmix 77]

You don't really have any choice in how to handle it unfortunately. Montreal does not answer the phone (as you have discovered). You can try email and fax - be sure to put your case number and URGENT in the subject line.

The only way this is going to get fixed is if they request that you send the envelope back.

[Otto 83]

Would it be helpful to NOT have two identical threads on the same subject?