I am frustrated with the U.S. Consulate in Montreal

[Matt n Shannon 3]

Okay perfect thank you for all this information

[Owie111 0]

I just received a letter along with my passport from the US consulate in Montreal. The good news is, they had my mail after all and my file is still open for at least 1 more year. The bad news is I have to undergo another medical exam as my last medical certificate has apparently expired. I had completed this on January 2010. I received another 221g but this time I need to send them a valid medical certificate along with my passport.

[ravis 0]

Congratulations. Glad you finally got an answer, a positive one too.

[Dancob 1]

I just received a letter along with my passport from the US consulate in Montreal. The good news is, they had my mail after all and my file is still open for at least 1 more year. The bad news is I have to undergo another medical exam as my last medical certificate has apparently expired. I had completed this on January 2010. I received another 221g but this time I need to send them a valid medical certificate along with my passport.

Thats really good news for you and for everybody here. Looks like Montreal works fine. at the end only took 5 weeks to get your response, and next time for sure you will get it with your visa. (Medicals are only valid for 1 year).

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I sent my documents in February 10th, then I should expect some news by mid March.

[Darnell 8,478]

I just received a letter along with my passport from the US consulate in Montreal. The good news is, they had my mail after all and my file is still open for at least 1 more year. The bad news is I have to undergo another medical exam as my last medical certificate has apparently expired. I had completed this on January 2010. I received another 221g but this time I need to send them a valid medical certificate along with my passport.

Yer gonna be in Amerika soon, I can fheel it !!

To Celebrate, please have 3 kg of poutine after receiving visa packet back in yer hands.

[tauruslady 0]

I just received a letter along with my passport from the US consulate in Montreal. The good news is, they had my mail after all and my file is still open for at least 1 more year. The bad news is I have to undergo another medical exam as my last medical certificate has apparently expired. I had completed this on January 2010. I received another 221g but this time I need to send them a valid medical certificate along with my passport.

Just so you know we are on the same boat

I had my 2nd medical in Jan 2011 ( paid a whooping 550 because there's 2 of us)

I send them the document last Jan 20th 2011

To - date no update from them, regarding the status of my visa

I emailed Unit IV, no answer and I'm planning to send a fax

I'm going nuts and I dont know after few months what else will expire?

Everytime they require documents from you you have uncertainties for the wait time

And because they are sooo slowwww, maybe the Police Clearance which I got last September 2010 ( which will expire in sept 2011)

will need to be resent and so on and so forth

I got a mixed frustration, worries and anger of the kind of system they have

The immigration system needs to be reviewed/overhauled from the Top Government.

They don't care how we feel and how our lives had been affected because of this.

[Gauranga 0]

Dear Newbie,

EXACTLY the same thing happened to us, except the reason for our initial denial was different. We had our interview in January 2010. We sent in the information the consulate needed, by Xpresspost, to the PO Box address, in December 2010, and the consulate says they never received it. Right about the time we expected to receive the visa, in January 2011, my husband got a letter saying we missed our one-year deadline and they were closing our case, and then we couldn't get any communication from the consulate. Canada Post says they delivered our package, but to a different address than the one we gave them, and wouldn't tell us the different address. The consulate says they don't have our package and can't find it.

The problem is that sometime between January 2010 and December 2010, the consulate changed their procedure as to how they want mail sent to them. Now the Montreal consulate will deal only with a DHL office to receive and send packages. You can't send them anything directly. You have to go to this web site: http://canada.usvisa-info.com, follow the instructions to register, and take your documents to a DHL office. The consulate also sends your visa to the DHL office for you to pick up.

After two months of getting not a single word out of the consulate, I finally contacted my congressman, who sent a Congressional Inquiry to the consulate. They are supposed to respond to a Congressional Inquiry within 30 days, and no surprise, they didn't. Then she contacted the visa office in Washington, who got back to her right away. Two weeks later, she got an email from Montreal saying they can't find our package (which contains my husband's passport, by the way) and if we re-submit our documents and establish that we missed our one-year deadline for reasons beyond our control, they will consider reinstating our case.

The whole thing has been extremely frustrating and I cannot believe the gall these people have to say at this point that we have to establish that we missed the deadline for reasons beyond our control and then they will CONSIDER reinstating our case. This whole problem arose because we followed their instructions exactly about how to send our information to them, coupled with their utter failure to communicate with us. For crying out loud, they knew we had an open case, and they knew you had an open case and they knew they were waiting to receive information from us, and they knew they had told us to mail our documents to the PO Box via Xpresspost, so WHY DID THEY NOT TELL US THEY CHANGED THEIR PROCEDURES??? So now here I am in Chicago for the past three months while my husband is in Toronto, and it looks now like we will be separated for at least another three months while the wheels of bureacracy turn slowly.

Anyway, what we are going to do now is get a new passport for my husband, resubmit our information following the new procedure, and include a letter describing the whole crazy situation and how they caused this problem by not communicating with us. I recommend you do the same. I also recommend you, or your family member, whoever is in the United States, contact your congressman's office to get them involved. They can send a congressional inquiry, which will at least get someone's attention on your case. My congressman's office has been great -- very responsive (which was a nice change), and very sympathetic.

Good luck.

[tauruslady 0]

we did that already and still with congressman's inquiry, i did not hear anything from Montreal yet.

The following had been tried:

- sent fax to IV supervisor

- sent email to IV almost every week

- called DOS 202-663-1225

- contacted congressman to do an inquiry

I have no idea anymore because after you submitted docs there are time frames and it will expire at certain times

like medical, and police clearance also the taxes and what not....

Very frustrating and this is killing me!!

[Northern Light 0]

Which mailing address MTL is exactly using. I found it in one website as 315 Place d'Youville, but in another as the physical address of US consul (1155 ..).

My local DHL office uses the physical address not the you mentioned. Not I am tensed whether my package reached to the right place.

Thanks

I'm not sure WHEN exactly the US Consulate in Montreal changed their mailing address but according to their website (http://www.consular.canada.usembassy.gov/montreal.asp)AND ( http://montreal.usconsulate.gov/content/content.asp?section=about&document=index) the address to send mail to is:

Mail

315 Place d'Youville

Suite 500

Montréal, Québec

H2Y 0A4

Again, let me stress, I have NO clue as to when they changed their mailing address but maybe that could be the reason for the delay.

Good luck with everything!

[Sweetcheeksss 91]

From the U.S. Consulate General Montreal's website it says:

The United States Consulate General's mailing address is:

315 Place d'Youville Suite 500

Montréal, Québec

H2Y 0A4

For quicker service, please mark the envelope to the attention of the appropriate department, such as the Office of Consular Affairs or Public Affairs.

AND (someone correct me if I'm wrong) IF YOU ARE SENDING DOCUMENTS BY COURIER the address to use is the consulate's physical address of:

1155 rue Saint-Alexandre

Montreal, Quebec

That is correct (to the best of my knowledge) but I could be mistaken.

*edit* - the post you quoted above specially makes mention of sending mail, not a courier service.

Edited April 5, 2011 by Sweetcheeksss

[Owie111 0]

Hi Everyone

About a month ago I sent my passport to the US consulate along with an updated medical report since my last one had expired (over 1 year). This was sent by DHL upon their request and courrier expense was prepaid on their behalf. I'm thinking since I already had taken the interview on Jan. 2010 I was close to being granted a US Visa. Now I just received an email stating that my passport has been picked up from the Consular Section and within the next few days I will be able to pick it at DHL. Would anyone venture to guess if this is good news or bad! This whole process has taken over 3 years and I can't wait any longer.

Thanks

[Shorah 2]

Hi Everyone

About a month ago I sent my passport to the US consulate along with an updated medical report since my last one had expired (over 1 year). This was sent by DHL upon their request and courrier expense was prepaid on their behalf. I'm thinking since I already had taken the interview on Jan. 2010 I was close to being granted a US Visa. Now I just received an email stating that my passport has been picked up from the Consular Section and within the next few days I will be able to pick it at DHL. Would anyone venture to guess if this is good news or bad! This whole process has taken over 3 years and I can't wait any longer.

Thanks

Sounds to me like you're getting your visa

[OBX 51]

Hi Everyone

About a month ago I sent my passport to the US consulate along with an updated medical report since my last one had expired (over 1 year). This was sent by DHL upon their request and courrier expense was prepaid on their behalf. I'm thinking since I already had taken the interview on Jan. 2010 I was close to being granted a US Visa. Now I just received an email stating that my passport has been picked up from the Consular Section and within the next few days I will be able to pick it at DHL. Would anyone venture to guess if this is good news or bad! This whole process has taken over 3 years and I can't wait any longer.

Thanks

Sounds like good news! Congratulations.

[ravis 0]

Congratulations. Keep checking the dhl.ca website. Your passport is on the way to you.

[Dancob 1]

Well,

For those who sent their passport or any additional documentation to Montreal, I just want to share my timeline:

I sent my passport and medical exam on February 10th 2011.

On April 28th I got a call from Montreal. They apologize for the delay, said they are very busy, and that my visa was issued, and sent through express-post because I should use it ASAP (Medical Exam Expiring soon).

I got it yesterday,

Total waiting time since I sent my documents 11 Weeks.

Good Luck to people waiting for this.