Approval times in Montreal after the interview

[trailmix 77]

No, I agree that you have to give them time to do their job. I mean a 4 week wait is - not good, but it's not amazingly bad. Has anyone recently actually got anything back in 4 weeks? As kball mentioned - they predict their own backlog is 2 months.

If I were waiting for my Husband's visa and it took 4 weeks, I might have emailed them once. I guess what i'm saying is that I wouldn't be outside with a sign protesting after a couple of weeks, just so everyone understands where I am coming from.

If you look around these boards, you will note that other foreign consulates manage:

- To get people in for an interview within a reasonable time

- Many can call the consulate and ask questions

- In many cases the consulates have a lot of information on their websites for applicants.

Montreal has none of these things. Why is that?

This is why Montreal has become a big black hole in terms of sending documents back, there is virtually no communication. Does this come from arrogance? Are they just under too much pressure? I have no idea. We know they are understaffed, we have heard this for a few years now, does no one want a posting in Montreal, are they unable to get staff? I doubt that is true. So, unless people speak up, through their congressperson or senator, nothing is going to change. When I suggest this, it is not to put more pressure on Montreal, they obviously cannot do anything about it, it is to inform whomever makes these decisions that something needs to change in that consulate.

When someone here says that they are afraid to rock the boat for fear of annoying them, I 100% understand that - but I have to say it sounds more like you are dealing with a government office in cold war Russia than the U.S. government.

We don't have an application pending, been there and done that. However I have written to the consul general, more than once (since) and when we were waiting for our interview (2 years ago) I contacted them and asked why they could not schedule sooner so that people could make plans on when they might be able to get the visa and travel etc etc. Just so you know this isn't something I just advocate and don't actually do myself.

Edited March 13, 2010 by trailmix

[Flames9_RN 358]

Probably not a hot bed for psotings! lol handful of wives relatives worked for the Foreign service, and they been around the world working in consulates/Embassies, but never to Canada!! Have to ask them why. Probably make more $$$ at other locations! Mot much of a hardship allowance, or very tropical in Mtl,lol

[trailmix 77]

Probably not a hot bed for psotings! lol handful of wives relatives worked for the Foreign service, and they been around the world working in consulates/Embassies, but never to Canada!! Have to ask them why. Probably make more $$$ at other locations! Mot much of a hardship allowance, or very tropical in Mtl,lol

Probably right

Oh and i'm sure there is a consulate 'grapevine' and when they hear about Montreal they just say.....umm no!

[Flames9_RN 358]

I'm sure better in mtl than in Iraq where many have been forced to go,lol

[intuitionsys 0]

Well if I were a consular officer and had my choice, Montreal would definitely not be my first pick, especially if I perused VJ once in a while And who wants to move to Montreal if they don't speak a word of French and know they will be deluged every day at work, and probably as Flames mentioned the "hardship" allowance wouldn't be all that great? I wouldn't want to that's for sure.

It could be a) it is very poorly managed, b) very poorly funded, c) very poorly staffed, or d) some or all of the above. Just judging from a distance it just seems very odd that the United States' closest neighbor doesn't also have one of the better/faster/friendlier consulates. That was something we kind of naively assumed when we started this mess. Who would have guessed without investigating it's the complete opposite of all three. The NVC is hard to get through to and you have to push to get answers sometimes but at least you CAN get answers, and not always a canned 5-line e-mail. You can actually talk to a real person. Most of them are actually very nice too. They may be the nicest people in the world at the Montreal Consulate as well but you sure don't get that impression from what comes off from the average joe's perspective as arrogance. That may or may not be the case but that's how they come across given it's almost impossible to communicate with them and when you can the answer is either too late to have done any good or a canned response you could have just as easily read on the USCIS website.

I understand the the U.S. only wants one immigrant visa consulate per country and that's fine but one thing that's always kind of bugged me is why they don't have it in central Canada or at least Ottawa or Toronto? I know the Ottawa embassy is huge as I've been there a couple times. Just my 2c.

[yourcdnangel 2]

Wow...just reading what others have gone through with Montreal makes me really stressed about what kind of result Joey and I will have later this year. What does or doesn't constitute enough information or proof?

[intuitionsys 0]

Wow...just reading what others have gone through with Montreal makes me really stressed about what kind of result Joey and I will have later this year. What does or doesn't constitute enough information or proof?

My recommendation is to go through everything you have, even if it has been previously approved/completed/whatever by the USCIS or NVC and ensure it is perfect and conforms exactly to all instructions. For people who are having rediculous requirements for proof of domicile I'm not sure why they're being so picky. I just recently moved back to the U.S. from Canada and they didn't even ask to see any proof of domicile documents at all. For us it was something else. I'm sure they have their reasons but what they are is a mystery to me.

[marisp 0]

I'm just over a month now, with no answer after sending in additional proof of domicile. Not sure that it will help any, but i'm planning on sending an email this afternoon inquiring about my case, and its status.

I am not too confident that i'll even get a reply, since I sent an email at the beginning of February about a related matter, and about 5 1/2 weeks later, I haven't got a reply!

[marisp 0]

Woo hoo! I just got an automated reply that they'll get back to me within 2 weeks!

[intuitionsys 0]

I'm just over a month now, with no answer after sending in additional proof of domicile. Not sure that it will help any, but i'm planning on sending an email this afternoon inquiring about my case, and its status.

I am not too confident that i'll even get a reply, since I sent an email at the beginning of February about a related matter, and about 5 1/2 weeks later, I haven't got a reply!

We're nearing the month mark since our additional docs arrived in late Feb. I sent an e-mail two weeks ago today just asking at least for confirmation that they received my docs and no big surprise haven't gotten a reply yet (other than the instant auto-response ). I sent an e-mail about 6 weeks ago and never got a response for that either. Their attitude towards customer service reminds me of Bell Canada

[Kimbear 53]

Wow...just reading what others have gone through with Montreal makes me really stressed about what kind of result Joey and I will have later this year. What does or doesn't constitute enough information or proof?

This is pertaining proving domicile and DCF (which i had thought was getting better apparently not) K1 does not have to worry about this.

[marisp 0]

We're nearing the month mark since our additional docs arrived in late Feb. I sent an e-mail two weeks ago today just asking at least for confirmation that they received my docs and no big surprise haven't gotten a reply yet (other than the instant auto-response ). I sent an e-mail about 6 weeks ago and never got a response for that either. Their attitude towards customer service reminds me of Bell Canada

...or maybe Rogers. But at least they eventually answer on the other end...even if its not what you want to hear.

[coraliesolms 47]

UGGGGGG!!! I wanna cry now, I just sent my additionals off on friday (Daughters CRBA and co-sponsors 08 taxes). I dunno if domicile takes longer or not, of if it just all goes into the same black hole...Tired of crying over this nonesense.. about a week before the 4 week mark, Im gonna call the congressmen and get a foot in the door!

Its pretty bad when you send and email and they dont ever respond (still waiting on the response from one I sent in the beginning of february), you cant call, because its just a robot you get to listen too. So congressmen is the way to go!

gonna go rip some more hair out now, and smoke another pack.

[marisp 0]

Your guess is as good as mine.

Everything else in the process of getting the visa has fallen within the times they stated, except this.

[Lenie7 0]

Hmmmm...so Montreal hasn't gotten any better?!? How depressing! After looking at this forum, I decided that I am going to contact my congressperson to look into the case after the four week mark. When I went to my representative's website, it had a separate immigration topic under constituency services for help with immigration matters. In fact, she has a specific person who is an immigration expert in the office, which surprised me. It at least gives me some hope that they have experience with this and may be able to push it along. I just submitted my proof of domicile this past Friday, so we'll see.