Waiting for our passports from Montreal

[spielerin 24]

Emailed again and here is the reply;

Good morning,

Thank you for your email!

Please note that your file is with the consular officer for review. We are experiencing a huge backlog due to worldwide technical problems with visa issuance in the past couple of weeks. Please note that consular officers are working to adjudicate cases in the order they were received. We will gladly notify you should further information be required on your behalf.

We apologize for the inconvenience!

[l&ns 2]

Hi I&ns:

When was your interview and what's your status on CEAC please? my husband had his on May/21 we are on AP since then. wrote an email to the embassy after the 60 days and received an automatic response, basically telling me to wait.

Our interview was June 22, it was a clean approval they needed nothing more from us and welcomed my wife to the United States. We were told we would have the visa in hand in 2.5-3 weeks, and he told us that it would take that long due to the downtime so we were fully aware of the issues at the time. Our CEAC status shows Ready and our dates have only updated when we have emailed. We actually emailed again today in light of Akazmi getting issued so fast (2 weeks).

We asked them to reply with more information since we already knew "our case was with a consular officer" from their other replies to our emails. They did change up the reply and told us they are working hard to clear the backlog and that they are processing visas in the order they are received. To me, I don't quite understand why they aren't offering up more information to all of us, but their reply is just not true considering that if they were working on the backlog those of us still waiting would be first in line and then they said they process them based on when they are received which again isn't true considering someone from July 9th got issued in two weeks compared to how many of us are double that time or more...

[l&ns 2]

Emailed again and here is the reply;

Good morning,

Thank you for your email!

Please note that your file is with the consular officer for review. We are experiencing a huge backlog due to worldwide technical problems with visa issuance in the past couple of weeks. Please note that consular officers are working to adjudicate cases in the order they were received. We will gladly notify you should further information be required on your behalf.

We apologize for the inconvenience!

That's the same email we got back today. I replied back, very politely mind you, but stating that we know people who have been issued the same visa we were approved for in two weeks or less, so how is that in the order they were received? We haven't gotten a response back yet however...

[akazmi 3]

My CEAC status updated date change and its says my visa is in final processing

[spielerin 24]

That's the same email we got back today. I replied back, very politely mind you, but stating that we know people who have been issued the same visa we were approved for in two weeks or less, so how is that in the order they were received? We haven't gotten a response back yet however...

I am curious to see what their reply would be..please do follow up once you hear from them!

[spielerin 24]

My CEAC status updated date change and its says my visa is in final processing

Congrats! Happy for you akazmi!

[akazmi 3]

Congrats! Happy for you akazmi!

Thank You spielerin i hope i get the way bill number soon so i can get the visa packet by next week.

[l&ns 2]

I am curious to see what their reply would be..please do follow up once you hear from them!

I doubt we will get a reply back because what they wrote is inaccurate. If we do, I will certainly fill you in though. My wife was iffy on us replying, but I'm over it at this point, we've been patient long enough. If by some stroke of luck we are actually issued today that will make it almost 5 weeks just to get issued and then add another week at least to get the visa in hand so 6-6.5 weeks total. That's more than twice as long as we were told.

[spielerin 24]

I doubt we will get a reply back because what they wrote is inaccurate. If we do, I will certainly fill you in though. My wife was iffy on us replying, but I'm over it at this point, we've been patient long enough. If by some stroke of luck we are actually issued today that will make it almost 5 weeks just to get issued and then add another week at least to get the visa in hand so 6-6.5 weeks total. That's more than twice as long as we were told.

I hope you get yours by today. It's ridiculous how long the wait has been and yet we are so close...I feel like they could have informed us regarding the backlog issue after the interview so that at least we will be better prepared.

I will be kicked out of my current apartment by this month end and my fiance and I were planning on doing a civil wedding early August, now seems like we have to re-arrange a lot of things.

[l&ns 2]

I hope you get yours by today. It's ridiculous how long the wait has been and yet we are so close...I feel like they could have informed us regarding the backlog issue after the interview so that at least we will be better prepared.

I will be kicked out of my current apartment by this month end and my fiance and I were planning on doing a civil wedding early August, now seems like we have to re-arrange a lot of things.

Yup exactly! We feel your pain. I'm currently living in Canada with my wife (I'm the US Citizen), we both had great jobs that we gave notice at and had to move out of our condo during all of this as well. We gave ourselves ample time and planned according to what they told us and then some. Now due to everything we are living out of suitcases at her parents place, left jobs where we could still be making stupid money, and paying for a condo in Florida we aren't even living in! It's kinda a comedy of errors lol...

[spielerin 24]

Yup exactly! We feel your pain. I'm currently living in Canada with my wife (I'm the US Citizen), we both had great jobs that we gave notice at and had to move out of our condo during all of this as well. We gave ourselves ample time and planned according to what they told us and then some. Now due to everything we are living out of suitcases at her parents place, left jobs where we could still be making stupid money, and paying for a condo in Florida we aren't even living in! It's kinda a comedy of errors lol...

Same here, we got on a waiting list for this place in Rochester Hill, Michigan last December and they informed us this May that we would have to either take it or they'd pass on to the next person on the waiting list. So my fiance had to move in first into that big place by himself (at least it's not empty) and currently I pay both my rent in Canada as well as my share for the new place (we split the expenses).

Oh well, my fiance and I can't see each other daily and I have been putting tons of pressure on him due to my frustration. I know it's not his fault or anything, but the stupid waiting really drives me crazy.

Either way, best of luck! Hopefully yours will be issued by the end of today!

[l&ns 2]

I am curious to see what their reply would be..please do follow up once you hear from them!

We actually got a reply, I don't buy it, but at least for the first time in an email it seems we got a real answer that responded to our question, as opposed to a copy and paste, so that's something at least. It said:

"Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email!

Please note that each case is unique and so are the documents that consular officers need to review in order to adjudicate them."

Our case isn't complex in any way, we've had a clean case from start to approval, so no idea why ours would take longer. I just think it's a statement to try and pacify us honestly...but at least they did reply, I guess they didn't have to. Hopefully we get a quick resolution, everything is just on hold for us unfortunately

Edited July 24, 2015 by l&ns

[spielerin 24]

My status literally just changed to AP...hmmm maybe has something to do with the morning communication I had with them?

Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks, or longer. As explained on the day of your interview, if further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved when administrative processing is finished, you will receive notification to collect the passport with the visa from the Loomis branch you selected when you booked your appointment.

[Idy Fdez 34]

Our interview was June 22, it was a clean approval they needed nothing more from us and welcomed my wife to the United States. We were told we would have the visa in hand in 2.5-3 weeks, and he told us that it would take that long due to the downtime so we were fully aware of the issues at the time. Our CEAC status shows Ready and our dates have only updated when we have emailed. We actually emailed again today in light of Akazmi getting issued so fast (2 weeks).

We asked them to reply with more information since we already knew "our case was with a consular officer" from their other replies to our emails. They did change up the reply and told us they are working hard to clear the backlog and that they are processing visas in the order they are received. To me, I don't quite understand why they aren't offering up more information to all of us, but their reply is just not true considering that if they were working on the backlog those of us still waiting would be first in line and then they said they process them based on when they are received which again isn't true considering someone from July 9th got issued in two weeks compared to how many of us are double that time or more...

Thank you so much for letting me know. I have a friend also waiting for Montreal, the case has been showing READY for 8 weeks today. I really don't understand what is happening in there!

Hope you'll get your wife with you soon!!

[duvalin 3]

My status literally just changed to AP...hmmm maybe has something to do with the morning communication I had with them?

Your visa case is currently undergoing necessary administrative processing. This processing can take several weeks, or longer. As explained on the day of your interview, if further information is needed, you will be contacted. If your visa application is approved when administrative processing is finished, you will receive notification to collect the passport with the visa from the Loomis branch you selected when you booked your appointment.

Hi Spielerin! That's pretty cool! Its a good sign, I think! I emailed them too, I used the form online, did you too?