Refused at US Consulate in Montreal

[Aria637 0]

Hello everyone,

My parents had their interview June 9th and they were refused because of the affidavit of support signature page looked like a copy and not the original so the officer said just send me the original and ill mail out your passport with the visa on it, so basically its approved after we turn this in. But now im wondering reading everyones experiences how long will that take? Im suppose to mail it through Loomis so as soon as my parents get back, they will go to Loomis and mail it to them, please keep updating me on your cases, cant wait anymore

I thought maybe I would have got to spend fathers day with my parents

[Andy&Vanda 8]

Same situation with us.. So I feel your pain! We were rejected on May 6th for proof of employment in the US. I sent them my job offer May 11th. Then two weeks later they said it had to be signed. Raced to get them a signed one by June 3rd. They just received it. I'm officially transferring my job from Canada to the US June 15 so had my US Manager email the consulate urgently and they blew him off saying they won't accept anything from a third party. Only the petitioner or applicant can correspond So I forwarded it pleading to process it. Just today they acknowledged they received my June 3rd package. Even after they approve everything, it can still take weeks to get your passports back.

I spoke with immigration lawyers Green and Speigel in Toronto because we are running out of time and thought they might have some magic hot line or contact in the Consulate. They do not and said the consulate prefers to work directly with the petitioner and applicant, not "some high falutin lawyer". We're under a lot of pressure; house sold, wedding booked in Fla, job transferred and no visas.. He advised me well by saying I'm a US citizen so have every right to demand action. I have been so timid to email them thinking they would just play God and put at as the end of the line, but now I email them continuously with new evidence like PDFs of our wedding invitations, auto insurance binders for Florida, and got my US manager to email them too. Anything that has to do with us moving I send it. Each time they acknowledge receiving our evidence saying they are working on it, so I feel it's better than sitting idle wondering what's going on.

Good luck and keep us posted..

[New User 1000 4]

Hi all,

My status has been "ready" after "administrative processing" since June 4th. The date was last updated June 8th and I saw that I could send an email to see what is going on with my case. I put the request in today to check and I got following response:

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your email!

Please note that on June 4th, 2015 we received your documents and they have been forwarded for review. As soon as we have an update on your file we will gladly notify you.

Best regards,

I don't understand why it said it's in review. Loomies delivery was on June 1st and the status was changed to ready on June 4th. I thought ready meant they were done with the AP process. Also the date is now updated to June 10th.

Edited June 10, 2015 by New User 1000

[Aria637 0]

Wow I hear your guys pain esp when you have all these things planned!! It must be hard to try to juggle all this when you thought everything would be approved. It's really the waiting game and in my situation the document was not a copy but you can't argue with them. I hope everything turns out for you guys as well as for me, keep me updated and I'll do as well

[Aria637 0]

Forgot to ask about your passports? Do they have them, the officer took my parents and told them as soon as that paper comes in, he will issue the visa and send it out, he also said that they are approved but just need this paper before he can proceed

[Andy&Vanda 8]

In our case they kept the passports. I took that as a good sign like; "we're hold them, get us the documents and we'll process the visa". Now we're not sure about anything. You would think since they give you just 90 days to get married, who wouldn't plan ahead of time? We're now past the 6 month mark in the process. Very frustrating!

[Ash.1101 1,756]

Same situation with us.. So I feel your pain! We were rejected on May 6th for proof of employment in the US. I sent them my job offer May 11th. Then two weeks later they said it had to be signed. Raced to get them a signed one by June 3rd. They just received it. I'm officially transferring my job from Canada to the US June 15 so had my US Manager email the consulate urgently and they blew him off saying they won't accept anything from a third party. Only the petitioner or applicant can correspond So I forwarded it pleading to process it. Just today they acknowledged they received my June 3rd package. Even after they approve everything, it can still take weeks to get your passports back.

I spoke with immigration lawyers Green and Speigel in Toronto because we are running out of time and thought they might have some magic hot line or contact in the Consulate. They do not and said the consulate prefers to work directly with the petitioner and applicant, not "some high falutin lawyer". We're under a lot of pressure; house sold, wedding booked in Fla, job transferred and no visas.. He advised me well by saying I'm a US citizen so have every right to demand action. I have been so timid to email them thinking they would just play God and put at as the end of the line, but now I email them continuously with new evidence like PDFs of our wedding invitations, auto insurance binders for Florida, and got my US manager to email them too. Anything that has to do with us moving I send it. Each time they acknowledge receiving our evidence saying they are working on it, so I feel it's better than sitting idle wondering what's going on.

Good luck and keep us posted..

Are you the US citizen? Did you not have a co-sponsor or anything? Generally it seems that you don't have to have proof of employment UNLESS you don't have a co-sponsor because you need to prove you make X amount of money to support your fiance.

Your situation doesn't actually seem like the norm since you were living in Canada working, technically you don't have any US income and I believe they need you to prove you make US income and not US income in the future but currently.

There's plenty of people approved with no employment, they just happened to have had co-sponsors.

Double Edit: Yeah you're situation is def different, saw on your other post that you also were denied for proof of domicille. Tbqh it seems to me, for canada at least, that the process is easier if you're already settled in the US.

Edit: As for them not caring about peoples time lines. USCIS and here on VJ they always say do not make any plans until you have the visa approved in your hand. Once approved you have SIX months to enter the country and THEN 90 days to get married. There is time to make wedding arrangements within that six months, that's generally why they don't care because they consider it possible for all of that to happen.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Ash.1101

[Andy&Vanda 8]

Thanks for the correction and the hard truth. I pray we're not screwed! Yes, I'm a US citizen and read that the minimum required sponsorship for my fiance and son is about $19,000. I have a multitude of assets and income already in the US. Truly, my job, and income from it is secondary to what we already have. Unfortunately, during the interview, the Officer threw us under the bus as soon as I said my job transfer was in process. He shooed us away without even looking at the stack

of bank statements, trust fund, or property. He said they would keep the passports and to get them the job offer letter which we've done twice.

I could easily get my sister living in the US to co-sponsor us if that would help, but seems too late at this point. Or is it? Thoughts?

Guess we're down to groveling

[Ash.1101 1,756]

They might just look at the 125% of the federal level for when you apply for their green cards, but if you have a son that you take care of then your minimum needed is 25112$. You have to show that you can take care of yourself, your son, and your fiance which makes your household a family of 3. The only way it's 19912 is if you didn't have a dependant and ONLY had your fiance.

Household doesn't mean the number of people you're bringing in, but all of the people included that you are financially responsible for, so you, your fiance, your son.

In my case, my mom will be co-sponsoring. She has no dependants, so her household will be considered herself and my fiance (even if he's not living there) because she'll be deemed financially responsible for herself and him. That means her minimum is 19912$. If I tried to solely sponsor him I'd need to show I made 25112$ because I have a daughter that lives with me, so I would have to show I made enough for myself, my daughter, and him.


Chances are the CO thought you already had the job in the US and when you mentioned it was a transfer it red flagged up immediately because you technically -don't- have the job in the US yet. They have to base your finances off of you already having a US income, which at the moment you technically have 0.

As for assets, you'll have to prove that you have 3 times the amount of assets for a household of three to cover three years worth since you don't make any US income. You'd have to show them that you have at least 75336$ in liquid assets (meaning you can turn that into cash without causing hardship (aka you can't sell the house you would be living in to get this money)). That number is simply the 25112$ needed in income a year, times 3 for spouse/immediate family.


Tbqh, I'd send in more info on your assets, make sure to make copies of everything you send. If you do infact have enough assets then they shouldn't just brush it off and you can get in contact with a senator or congressman to hopefully have them help you out if you do infact have a solid case. But tbqh I think the reason you're being scrutinized is because you had already been kicked back once for proof of domicille and now you have to prove that you will have this job 100%. And just because they say you might work doesn't always mean you actually will. My dad was an expat working in Austrailia for four years, they decided to bring him back to the states and then laid him off within 3 weeks of returning, he hadn't even recieved his furniture from austrialia at that point. lol.

You could possibly send them papers for your sister to co-sponsor (she'll need to fill out and send the same stuff I-134, taxes, bank statement, employment letter) and meet the same household requirements as applied to her (meaning herself, your fiance, and if your son isn't a USC, your son). If she has any dependents then they get included in the household number. I'd write a letter saying that you have obtained a co-sponsor in regards to your case, please contact if any more information is needed.

Sounds like at the end of the day though your case has a lot of red flags they don't want to deal with which sucks. I'd keep on them though, send them everything they need, make copies, try to get receipts and proof you sent them this stuff.


Edit: If you do have US income and it meets over the requirements, and you can prove it's a form of taxable income then I would just go contact a senator or congress man as a lot of people have done in the past. I've never done it, nor do I know how long it could take for them to sort your stuff out, other people at other consulates who are generally harder on people have had to do this. But if you do have a steady income within the US and it meets the guidelines then they shouldn't be able to just ignore it. If you claimed your canadian job as income then you may need to re-send a I-134 with the income you make from within the US only. I would resubmit proof of trust funds, and what ever income that you do make, a long with a letter saying that this is your proof of income, because they're probably scrutinizing that as well since there's already been a couple of red flags in the case to start with.

Edited June 11, 2015 by Ash.1101

[Ash.1101 1,756]

I think it is worth noting that they simply may be doing a lot of background checking and verifying everything you've said which could take a bit. You never know with them, but I'd def call and make sure they got the papers you sent, inquire, and send more information if needed.

[Andy&Vanda 8]

Wow! Brilliant information. Thank you for that. You are correct, it's 3 of us so the higher $25k is accurate. I have no problem showing three years worth..... and then some.

I only wished I had the balls to question the CO when we got denied. I thought; no problem, getting the transfer papers is easy enough. The only reason we're throwing the assets into the pot now is because they are foot dragging on the proof of US employment.

Thank you very much for the advice.

[Ash.1101 1,756]

You're very welcome, and again if you feel like it's taking too long send in proof of assets or what ever you can if you know you meet all of the requirements. Simply say it's further income information in regards to your annual income other than current employment. You can also mention in the cover letter that this is further evidence along with the evidence of job offer that you have already sent in.

Keep on them if you can, you don't want to stay in processing limbo and potentially have nothing happen because no one's doing anything.

[Aria637 0]

If it's a easy paper to provide like in my case, does anyone know how long it could take?

[NikLR 13,227]

4-12 weeks or longer. Montreal is slow.

[Aria637 0]

Wow here comes the waiting game. Anyone got it sooner than that?