NVC Thread for Canadians

[Raven4dragon 12]

Ours is at 9. My husband isn't exactly an early bird and since we will be taking an hour long metro ride to the interview we will probably get there around 8:30. I am a Texas girl and don't really want to stand in the near freezing temps for an hour if I don't have to! It seems like the wait time isn't too bad if you get there at your interview time. In and out in a couple hours. What time is your interview? Do you or your husband live in the Montreal area? If not when are you flying in and where are you staying?

Our interview is scheduled for 10 but we thinking we will try to go over early anyways worst case we get told no and go for coffee lol. He will be travelling up from PA on wednesday and i will meet him there no i am from just north of Toronto Ontario so be busing it to Montreal to meet up with him.

[Dualie 185]

Just submitted all my docs...one email, multiple attachments adding up to about 14MB. I had to fine tune it down from 30 because Outlook wouldn't send anything over 24MB. Been at it for nearly four hours after working a 12 hour shift. If I had wine, I would celebrate with a glass...and probably fall asleep halfway through it . I am over tired now, so I better go to bed before I digress...lol! Goodnight everyone!

[boardercrosser 8]

Just submitted all my docs...one email, multiple attachments adding up to about 14MB. I had to fine tune it down from 30 because Outlook wouldn't send anything over 24MB. Been at it for nearly four hours after working a 12 hour shift. If I had wine, I would celebrate with a glass...and probably fall asleep halfway through it . I am over tired now, so I better go to bed before I digress...lol! Goodnight everyone!

[boardercrosser 8]

Hi Dualie,

I see we are close to the same timeline. And you posted to my topic about CDN dollars so thanks for that. I hate to possibly be the bearer of bad news but I think your email package has to be less than 5MB in order for it to be accepted at NVC. I hope I am wrong but thats what is says at the NVC website and according to Saylins info. Maybe it is OK if you send multiple emails, But I hope I am wrong. I would double check this because to wait another 60 days for a checklist is ridiculous. Anyways good luck.

boarder

[Dualie 185]

Hi Dualie,

I see we are close to the same timeline. And you posted to my topic about CDN dollars so thanks for that. I hate to possibly be the bearer of bad news but I think your email package has to be less than 5MB in order for it to be accepted at NVC. I hope I am wrong but thats what is says at the NVC website and according to Saylins info. Maybe it is OK if you send multiple emails, But I hope I am wrong. I would double check this because to wait another 60 days for a checklist is ridiculous. Anyways good luck.

boarder

Hi boardercrosser! Thanks for the reply. The way I read it in the information provided on the NVC site was that each attachment had to be under 5MB. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html

I have so much documentation (old school military docs) that a complete file of only 5MB is totally unrealistic. If that is the case, I will have to contact them and snail mail it in. I couldn't reduce it any further without completely butchering it. Oh well, I guess I will see soon enough. I just want this to be over already!

Edited October 21, 2014 by Dualie

[P&DSigler 11]

Hi All,

I just had my medical in Montreal. They were great. It took about 1.5 hours. Doctor first, then the nurse to weigh and measure, draw blood and give the flue shot and then the chest ex-ray. It was not crowded but there were quite a few people and a steady stream of people all the time.

We drove from Ottawa and left home at 10:30 am for a 1pm appointment. We were there in lots of time. We parked right under the building for $17. We were back in Ottawa by 5:40pm.

NOTE: as of now you need 5 (five) 2X2 pictures for the medical. Probably because they now are doing the flu shot. There is a pharmacy just down the street that can do extra's if you need. After I was done and had paid we went and got the picture and returned to the office and she added it to my file.

[boardercrosser 8]

Hi boardercrosser! Thanks for the reply. The way I read it in the information provided on the NVC site was that each attachment had to be under 5MB. http://travel.state.gov/content/visas/english/immigrate/immigrant-process/documents/Submit_documents.html

I have so much documentation (old school military docs) that a complete file of only 5MB is totally unrealistic. If that is the case, I will have to contact them and snail mail it in. I couldn't reduce it any further without completely butchering it. Oh well, I guess I will see soon enough. I just want this to be over already!

Hi again Dualie,

You are right. Sorry to make you already more paranoid than the rest of us at this crazy process. I was looking at Saylin's notes, the gal who has a wiki for canadian spouses at the IR1 forum site. And she has it there. But it looks like she is wrong. Anyways my wife sent our IV documents on Oct 12. We didn't get any confirmation from our email yet and I guess the next correspondence will be a checklist or case complete. Praying for the latter. The operators don't tell you anything either. I don't think they could make this process more maddening

[NikLR 13,227]

Remember you can separate out all the documents as much as you need to keep the attachments smaller. And also I think it's 5mb per attachment not per email. Just make sure it's not being saved to an online drive (like google drive) vs being actually sent.

Also it's best to use a full PDF maker which can reduce the size of the document (like adobe for instance).

[Lakehouse 293]

Congratulations on your approval Sylea!!!

[Dualie 185]

Hi again Dualie,

You are right. Sorry to make you already more paranoid than the rest of us at this crazy process. I was looking at Saylin's notes, the gal who has a wiki for canadian spouses at the IR1 forum site. And she has it there. But it looks like she is wrong. Anyways my wife sent our IV documents on Oct 12. We didn't get any confirmation from our email yet and I guess the next correspondence will be a checklist or case complete. Praying for the latter. The operators don't tell you anything either. I don't think they could make this process more maddening

That's okay! Saylin is not wrong so much as she is a busy gal and NVC is changing. She is probably monitoring all this to tweak her wiki when she is convinced that the changes are a steady process.

I haven't received anything yet either, but I am guessing we will be waiting at the very least a week for them to acknowledge receiving them. Their email volume is rather high, I am sure. And I have only ever called NVC once, and had I waited an extra day, I would have received what I was looking for in an email. I won't bother calling them unless I have to. Praying for no checklist!!

Good luck and hang tight. You should hear something soon!

[Dualie 185]

Remember you can separate out all the documents as much as you need to keep the attachments smaller. And also I think it's 5mb per attachment not per email. Just make sure it's not being saved to an online drive (like google drive) vs being actually sent.

Also it's best to use a full PDF maker which can reduce the size of the document (like adobe for instance).

Yes, that's exactly what I did. Thank God for Adobe Acrobat's free trial!! I reduced and reduced those files... I am a dinosaur, so they scanned 309 pages of my military records at the National Archives in Ottawa, and put them on a CD. It was originally 44,700kb. I managed to get it down to 11 MB, in six parts. NVC should have fun with that, lol!

[Dualie 185]

Hi All,

I just had my medical in Montreal. They were great. It took about 1.5 hours. Doctor first, then the nurse to weigh and measure, draw blood and give the flue shot and then the chest ex-ray. It was not crowded but there were quite a few people and a steady stream of people all the time.

We drove from Ottawa and left home at 10:30 am for a 1pm appointment. We were there in lots of time. We parked right under the building for $17. We were back in Ottawa by 5:40pm.

NOTE: as of now you need 5 (five) 2X2 pictures for the medical. Probably because they now are doing the flu shot. There is a pharmacy just down the street that can do extra's if you need. After I was done and had paid we went and got the picture and returned to the office and she added it to my file.

Holy guacamole! 5 photos now. By the time I get to that phase they will want 8 or 10...geez! I am gonna be on a first name basis with the CAA lady pretty soon! I have a premium membership with them so I get passport photos for free (they do them for many different countries ).

Thanks for the info! I plan on having my medical done there a few days before my interview. I will have my flu shot at work though, as they give it to us for free.

[AustinCanada 681]

Holy guacamole! 5 photos now. By the time I get to that phase they will want 8 or 10...geez! I am gonna be on a first name basis with the CAA lady pretty soon! I have a premium membership with them so I get passport photos for free (they do them for many different countries ).

Thanks for the info! I plan on having my medical done there a few days before my interview. I will have my flu shot at work though, as they give it to us for free.

I had the medical exam in BC last week. They only required 4 photos. http://www.drgulzarcheema.com/index-3.html

[Raven4dragon 12]

Morning all interview yesterday resulted in APPOVED woot. hmm now how do i go about paying this green card fee?? any help be appreciated.

[Sarah&Marc 22]

Morning all interview yesterday resulted in APPOVED woot. hmm now how do i go about paying this green card fee?? any help be appreciated.

Congrats again Raven and it was great meeting you yesterday! We were also approved!! I had the same thoughts on the green card fee. I signed up for the ELIS site but our status on CEAC hasnt changed to approved yet so IDK if we can even pay yet.

EDIT: It now says issued on CEAC so I am assuming we can now pay the fee? NLR any advise??

Edited October 24, 2014 by Sarah&Marc