Visa applicants from other Countries

[Brenda2010 1]

Has anyone else noticed that non-Canadian visa applicants seem to be processed much faster? In some cases a couple months from start to finish.

Any one have any theories? Just curious.

[trailmix 77]

You mean people who are not interviewing in Montreal? No theory there - just fact - the Montreal consulate is absolutely one of the slowest in the world.

[Brenda2010 1]

lol

good to know, kinda!

[FireRay 1]

You mean people who are not interviewing in Montreal? No theory there - just fact - the Montreal consulate is absolutely one of the slowest in the world.

Lol trailmix.

Yeah Montreal sucks for getting things done in a "Timely manner"

Trailmix also has a list going on in another thread, that shows how long folks are waiting for interviews in montreal.

[Adichiwa 0]

I was told at the embassy in Toronto that the Montreal office laid off a lot of people a few months ago so they've been really struggling to stay on top of things. To top it all off, apparently after Haiti's quake they received a great deal of new applicants.

Having said that, my I-130 acceptance letter mentioned that I should expect an interview date within 6-8 months and another letter shortly after mentioned 4-6 months (this is through DCF).

I guess I just have to have faith in the system and remain hopeful.

[MacTO 6]

I never took that route, so I have no idea, but, if this makes you feel any better, mine took exactly 3 1/2 months. Definitely, it's not a couple of months from start to finish. And today I received the Welcome Notice. Another 3 weeks to wait to hold that GC in my hand.

Cheers.

[trailmix 77]

I never took that route, so I have no idea, but, if this makes you feel any better, mine took exactly 3 1/2 months. Definitely, it's not a couple of months from start to finish. And today I received the Welcome Notice. Another 3 weeks to wait to hold that GC in my hand.

Cheers.

Just to clarify, Brenda was talking about Canadians going through the Montreal consulate, not Canadians vs others in general.

It takes 3-5 months, generally, just to get an interview in Montreal - AFTER you have had processing at USCIS AND the National Visa Center.

So generally a CR1 or IR1 takes 11-12 months, start to finish.

[MacTO 6]

Just to clarify, Brenda was talking about Canadians going through the Montreal consulate, not Canadians vs others in general.

It takes 3-5 months, generally, just to get an interview in Montreal - AFTER you have had processing at USCIS AND the National Visa Center.

So generally a CR1 or IR1 takes 11-12 months, start to finish.

I knew that she wasn't talking about the route I took. That's why I said that I don't know. I just wanted to say that it still takes more than 3 months for Canadians who come here and marry Americans. But I am sure that more than 3-5 months or 11-12 months isn't any closer to the time I spent. Hope their love relationships grow stronger as they are apart. Good luck to all.

Cheers.

[Sam and Ben 2]

I was told at the embassy in Toronto that the Montreal office laid off a lot of people a few months ago so they've been really struggling to stay on top of things. To top it all off, apparently after Haiti's quake they received a great deal of new applicants.

Having said that, my I-130 acceptance letter mentioned that I should expect an interview date within 6-8 months and another letter shortly after mentioned 4-6 months (this is through DCF).

I guess I just have to have faith in the system and remain hopeful.

We were told the exact same thing last year by Montreal employees. With this economy, you'd think there'd be no shortage of folks willing to step into those apparently vacant positions.

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Maybe we wait a little longer but consider that we don't have to bribe people or worry that we'll be accused of sham marriages

[Hugglebuggles 60]

Maybe we wait a little longer but consider that we don't have to bribe people or worry that we'll be accused of sham marriages

Good point It may not be faster, but in many cases it is a little easier for us.

Montreal is brutally slow, but Vancouver is rather quick. So, It just really depends on what part of the country you live in. Unfortunately for the bulk of us, we fall into Montreal's jurisdiction.

[zenaxe 22]

I'm sure staffing issues and the rationale for processing CR1/IR1s in Montreal only is complex - but naturally when you have one US consulate out of what? four? in Canada processing the immigrant visas PLUS non immigrant visas it is bound to slooooooow things down. All the other consulates in Canada are charged with the responsibility of processing non immigrant visas. MTL gets the luxury of doing them all. It would be great if all consulates addressed all visas or at least leaving Montreal to complete ONLY immigrant visas. Last year they were hit with staffing issues and, as I understand it, staff were fed up and walked off the job. Someone may have more factual information on this. This occured over the summer months and things crawled and eventually ground to a halt. They have since moved and have been doing ok overall. But here we sit. It's hard to know from the outside looking in perspective, as to what's going on there but all we have is conjecture/guesswork

I'm still very very optimistic that visas are being done if less than the 11 - 12 month range. Many have completed in around 7 months or so. Again that may be ambitious but it has been done. And evidence of things moving can be seen with a few VJ members that had case completes at NVC on Apr 8 and 9th and have Jun 18th and 23rd respectively, for MTL interviews. There are those of us in April that get seduced by those numbers and think...'hmmmm it's possible for June or July !!' But who knows.

Edited May 8, 2010 by zenaxe