Frustrating experiences with Calgary consulate

[jobst 0]

I had an interview last week in the Calgary consulate for a L1 renewal. Very frustrating experience:

1. Many people (including myself) had to resubmit the DS-160, to get a confirmation sheet with the correct consulate on it. The instructions they provided on how to do this were unclear and incorrect. The poor woman in the copy shop down the hall has to deal with a mob of people every morning who need to do this. Without her there a lot of people would not be getting their interviews!
2. Communication has been inconsistent and misleading. The consular officer who told me my visa was approved said it would be printed within a day or two, and suggested proactively contacting Loomis to expedite any pickup time. I was handed a sheet with the https://ais.usvisa-info.com info on it - nothing to do with Loomis!
3. Calling Loomis revealed they were unable to do anything until they had made the pickup, and got the documents back to their depot and entered everything in their system.
4. The status of my visa on the CEAC stat tracker changed to "Issued" the morning after the interview - apparently confirming the consular officer's prediction. However, three days later it changed to "Ready".
5. Emailing the consulate to ask what was going on got a very short response: "Visa still being processed. Expect 7-10 business days processing time before passport is issued to courier". This contradicts what the consular website says about processing times (5 days). They did not say anything about why the status previously said it was issued.

Few questions for anyone who has gone through this recently:

• Should I be listening to/planning around any of these time estimates, or just ignore all of them? I'm applying as a visitor in Canada, so currently feeling a little in limbo.
• Has anyone else had experience of their visa status changing from issued to anything else? Should I even bother checking the CEAC status?
• Does anyone know how long Loomis could take to get the documents from the consulate (once they're ready of course), back to the pickup location in Calgary, so that I can pick up? I've read reports of this adding another 5+ business days to the process.

Cheers for any direction, comforting words etc.

[TBoneTX 45,305]

Thread is moved from the Embassy/Consulate forum to the Work Visas forum, in hopes of a higher concentration of answers. Am also posting a reference link in the Canada regional forum, in case someone there can comment at least partially.

[Boiler 45,525]

I have heard of people going for L and H renewal and then being stuck in AP for months, you are dealing with the US Government and they do not really care about how long it takes and any inconvenience.

The impression I get is that you were not prepared very well by the Lawyer involved with your case.

I assume you are not Canadian and the Canadian forum would not be appropriate, you mention being a visitor and a Canadian would apply at the Border.

[TBoneTX 45,305]

Yes, not Canadian, but perhaps someone can comment about Loomis at least, and who knows what other aspects.

[jobst 0]

I'm fairly familiar with the process from my original L1 application and interview (in New Zealand), and my first visa extension (in Toronto). This time it's a "recapture" of the time I've spent outside of the US since the visa was initially approved, but the process looks exactly like the extension did.

The main difference this time has been the astonishingly incoherent communication. Every single person and system I have interacted with has told me something different:

1. Consular officer said my visa was approved, and would be with the courier one, max two business days from the interview. The same thing happened in Toronto last time, except it actually came true.
2. Travel.state.gov website says NIV processing times at Calgary are five business days. I'm currently on day six or seven, depending on how you count.
3. An email to the consulate resulted in them saying "Visa issuance happens 7-10 business days from interview". It's unclear whether they feel this applies to my visa or not. I guess if you include some (long) Loomis delays this could be consistent with the five days from travel.state.gov.
4. Today my CEAC status changed to "Administrative Processing" (after 3 days of "Issued, then 4 days of "Ready").

Fortunately I'm not totally stranded here, due to another passport I have. Doesn't help me get back into the US, but at least I can escape if my visitor status in Canada runs out.

Anyway, enough of the ranting from me! I'll hold on until Monday (business day 7 or 8) before emailing the consulate to ask if I'm in the "difficult" AP bucket and should consider alternate travel plans. I realize some people sit in AP for months. I guess I'm just impatient because of what the consular officer said at the end of the interview.

[Boiler 45,525]

May be the recapture is the issue? Not going for GC?

[jobst 0]

GC is underway, the recapture is to ensure I have enough time for that process to complete.

I emailed the consulate late yesterday and they said that the passport had been mailed out in the afternoon, finally. Does anybody know how long it should take to get a waybill or tracking? I have not received an email from Loomis yet (I have checked my spam folder).

It's really getting into crunch time here with some more travel I have to do at the end of the week. I hope Loomis have their act together.