Approved!

[mtlgato 2]

Hi everyone--

Well, I made it: I was approved today for my CR-1 visa. I'm not sure I have time to write a full review (as some of you know, I have a 3-month-old baby), but I'll try to cover a few key points.

1) I'm happy to report that the new online scheduling system worked for me. I remember it seemed to good to be true when I first discovered its existence, but it is for real and YES you can successfully reschedule interviews. I was originally assigned a date of October 8, 2010 by NVC, but it was totally unworkable because I was due to give birth around October 3, and live all the way in Vancouver. In the event, I didn't acutally give birth till October 17, but certainly couldn't be flying on October 8 (too late in the pregnancy). Anyway, I first used the rescheduling online system to book a new date of October 28, but then even THAT date didn't work out, because I ended up with a c-section on the 17th and missed my scheduled medical (which was supposed to be October 20th). So I had to re-book AGAIN, this time for January 19th, 2011. I was certainly apprehensive about rebooking twice...but turns out it's perfectly fine if you do it right. I was duly on the list today and they had my whole file with nothing missing. They were expecting me and I had a totally normal interview. Thank goodness for this new booking system! Back not so very long ago someone like me would be stuck in limbo indefinitely!!!

more later...baby's crying

[Udella&Wiz 325]

Congratulations - you're com'in to America!

[Mariye & Ky 172]

Congratulations No.#1 There's a new baby in the house!

Congratulations No.#2 Welcome to America, Mommy!!!

May God Always Bless Your Family!

Mari and Kadir

[Canadiandggal 49]

Hi everyone--

Well, I made it: I was approved today for my CR-1 visa. I'm not sure I have time to write a full review (as some of you know, I have a 3-month-old baby), but I'll try to cover a few key points.

1) I'm happy to report that the new online scheduling system worked for me. I remember it seemed to good to be true when I first discovered its existence, but it is for real and YES you can successfully reschedule interviews. I was originally assigned a date of October 8, 2010 by NVC, but it was totally unworkable because I was due to give birth around October 3, and live all the way in Vancouver. In the event, I didn't acutally give birth till October 17, but certainly couldn't be flying on October 8 (too late in the pregnancy). Anyway, I first used the rescheduling online system to book a new date of October 28, but then even THAT date didn't work out, because I ended up with a c-section on the 17th and missed my scheduled medical (which was supposed to be October 20th). So I had to re-book AGAIN, this time for January 19th, 2011. I was certainly apprehensive about rebooking twice...but turns out it's perfectly fine if you do it right. I was duly on the list today and they had my whole file with nothing missing. They were expecting me and I had a totally normal interview. Thank goodness for this new booking system! Back not so very long ago someone like me would be stuck in limbo indefinitely!!!

Congrats, about time you come home I knew you would pass

Take care

more later...baby's crying

[jkelly07 120]

congratulations

[LADYDARE 28]

Congratulations

[Sweetcheeksss 91]

Congratulations!! So happy for you.

[RICARDO4EVA2 194]

:thumbs: congrats

[mtlgato 2]

:thumbs: congrats

Wow! So many "congratulations" messages already! Thanks so much everyone! The visa journey community has been a great help to me, even if I haven't been on the forums too much since the baby came.

Anyway, back to my review of today's experience...

One key point I wanted to make is this: It was *fine,* in my experience, to arrive at the consulate at almost 8:10am for an 8:30 appointment time. I think some people are still arriving really early--like before the consulate opens--regardless of their appointment time. The booking website does tell you to arrive on time but no earlier than 20 minutes before the appointment time. I think some people are still disregarding this and doing things the old way. I decided to go with the new guidelines--if for no other reason than that it's JANUARY and I had a little baby with me. I'd rather have to wait all day *inside* the consulate than half an hour outside with my little daughter (she's only 12 lbs!) who's never experienced real cold weather in her life (before this week, that is!).

So, like I said: I arrived just a little more than 20 minutes early for my 8:30am appointment. I was approved at about 9:40am. Quite acceptable! We actually had to wait around longer at the Vancouver consulate when we went to get the baby's Consular Report of Birth Abroad and Passport.

Let's see...what else do I have to report?

I guess it could be worth mentioning that the first time they called me up to the wicket from the waiting room they just went over my visa application to ask whether anything had changed. I don't know whether they do this with everyone, or whether they did this with me because my application was relatively old. The one thing that had changed, of course, was that I'd had the baby. So they official asked me to write in her name, date, and place of birth on the form (DS-230, I think). He then asked if she was a US citizen (he seemed a little worried for a minute that maybe she wouldn't be, and that maybe we'd have to do a whole immigrant application for her). When I said yes she was a US citizen, he asked if we'd done the Consular Report of Birth Abroad for her. I said yes. He then wrote in red ink on the application next to her name "US citizen." Interestingly, he did NOT ask to see documentation of her citizenship status. I had all that in my folder, but he didn't ask. I guess he probably figures that will all be checked at the POE--which, of course, it will.

Later on during the interview (at this point I was talking to a different official) I volunteered that we had with us an updated AoS with the baby added as a third household member. She seemed very glad to have us offer this up, but note that she hadn't acutally asked for it.

The questions we were asked during the interview (oh, and btw, my husband came up to the wicket with me. He wasn't asked to do so, but they didn't stop him either) were (to the best of my recollection):

*Where did you meet?

[then there was a joke question: When we named the online dating site we'd used, she asked if she could use the same site in Montreal, and did we think it could help her meet a guy!!]

*When when did you meet?

*[to my husband]: what do you do for a living?

*[to me]: What degree were you persuing when you were last in the US?

*[to my husband]: How much money do you make?

[Note: that's when we offered up the updated AoS]

* [to me]: Are you going to use your fabulous university degree, and how?

Then at the end she said "congratulations: you qualify for the visa."

Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that she fussed over the baby a bit and admired her and talked to her right when we first arrived. She said to the baby "You're moving to America!"...So I knew we were approved before we even got underway...not that I ever had any real doubt! All my doubts were just about getting the dang Montreal appointment, and then rescheduling!!

Anyway, thanks again everyone. I hope some of this helps. I would have sturctured this more elegantly if the baby didn't keep me pretty distracted.

C

[sdw 10]

Congrats!!!

[Veronik 19]

Congratulations! Very good news!

[Tater&Bugger 3]

Congrats!

[Ontarkie 14,143]

Congrats

[OBX 51]

Congratulations!

[Penny Lane 8,159]

Congratulations.