Updated appointment site - Vancouver booking confusion?

[theanswerisdance 144]

Hi all,

This is my first post on Visa Journey, as I have tried to avoiding posting in the past so that I don't accidentally repeat the same questions a million people have asked before me! However, I have turned to this site many times for the wealth of knowledge, so thank you for that.

I have managed to make it through the K-1 process thus far with pretty smooth sailing, however, with the upgraded appointment booking website, I am completely confused. My account from the old booking site was successfully carried over, as was my payment and receipt of payment and so on, so there were no issues with that. However, when you go onto the new site to look at the calendar of availability, this disclaimer is on the calendar page:

Do not continue with this process if you have not received a Consular appointment letter from the National Visa Center (NVC), Kentucky Consular Center (KCC) or the Consular Section.

Enter the Consular location and exact date from the appointment letter you received from the NVC, KCC, or the Consular Section.

You are not scheduling an appointment, you are only registering your appointment information from the received appointment letter.

The Consular Section will not process applicants who enter false or different information than what is on your appointment letter.

I wrote to the Vancouver consulate 3 times since the upgrade to clarify this disclaimer, as I had received my instructions to book the appointment last year, before the upgrade, when you could go onto the old site and self-schedule; additionally, I had paid the appt. fee of $265 USD in December, before the upgrade as well, and had been attempting to book an appointment before they started their upgrade but there was no availability at that time. I have even included screenshots in my e-mails to them to clarify what my question is -- do I still use this calendar page to SELF schedule an appointment, since I did not receive an appointment letter from the NVC with an exact appointment date? -- and they have been absolutely no help. Their last response to me instructed me to phone the call centre, which I did last week. The lady on the phone assured me that yes, I should just disregard the warning and go ahead and self-schedule my appointment.

Today, dates became available for March (heads-up for those of you who want to book dates!), so I went ahead and selected one. On the "instructions" page is this note:

Please attend your Consular interview at the date and time assigned to you in your appointment letter. You must print this instruction page and bring it with you, along with the appointment letter, to the Consular interview.

For additional information on the Immigration Visa process and required documents, please refer to your appointment letter or visit the Consular Section Website at http://montreal.usconsulate.gov/visas/visas/immigrant-visas.html.

My question is: does anybody know what appointment letter they are referring to? The only letter I have ever received in the mail was the letter from Vancouver instructing me to download packet 3 from their website. I am really afraid to proceed with this and book hotels, flights, etc. then arrive in Vancouver for my medical or for the interview and have them turn me down for not having "the" appointment letter with an EXACT appointment date as it states in bold. I have my DS-160 confirmation page, and the instruction sheet which has my Loomis location, appointment date and time that I just scheduled myself, etc., but not sure what constitutes the appointment letter they say I need to already have in hand. I have written Vancouver again for clarification and in previous issues they have been really helpful, but it seems like they are as unsure as anybody what the new procedure is now with the upgraded website. Any ideas?

Thank you in advance!

[PickleChips 56]

Check this out:

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/535287-letter-confirming-interview-in-montreal/

I believe it is the same question if I have understood correctly.