Weird message on Montreal's message

[Presgirl 0]

My fiance called Montreal, pressed three for immigrant visa and heard a new menu from Montreal. They have a very long bunch of information regarding prolonged waiting times of 5-7 months from receipt of packet 3 to appointment and it said only to press 4 in cases of emergency. There was also a statement about some visas not being transferred to Montreal from NVC until an appointment is scheduled (though I don't think this is K1).

Any thoughts?

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

Sounds like they are finally updating their typical "2-4 months" response with something more accurate.

So glad we transferred.

What where you trying to call about? Informaiton you could get through e-mail?

Cass (bebop the great)

My fiance called Montreal, pressed three for immigrant visa and heard a new menu from Montreal. They have a very long bunch of information regarding prolonged waiting times of 5-7 months from receipt of packet 3 to appointment and it said only to press 4 in cases of emergency. There was also a statement about some visas not being transferred to Montreal from NVC until an appointment is scheduled (though I don't think this is K1).

Any thoughts?

[misa 2]

Sounds like they are working hard to clear the backlog so they're trying to avoid answering the phone to answer "when is my interview" questions. I know I used to change my voicemail at my old job when I was in a crunch and only specified to call the help desk instead to get me if it was an emergency.

[Flames9_RN 358]

Ya, they dont schedule the cr-1/ir-1 interviews, NVC does that!!

[Melyssa 0]

My fiance called Montreal, pressed three for immigrant visa and heard a new menu from Montreal. They have a very long bunch of information regarding prolonged waiting times of 5-7 months from receipt of packet 3 to appointment and it said only to press 4 in cases of emergency. There was also a statement about some visas not being transferred to Montreal from NVC until an appointment is scheduled (though I don't think this is K1).

Any thoughts?

Well it's good to hear they have a more accurate response for waiting time. Guess we're looking at late September to late November then! :S We were thinking September/October after reading many of the posts on here so we're kind of expecting it anyway... and I still think there is the slight possibility that Montreal just might catch up on the backlog and speed up a tiny bit. Not that we're counting on it or anything though!

Edited May 2, 2007 by melytha

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

I just looked at your timeline, and you are still early in the waiting process, I'd recommend looking into a transfer. Know anyone in the West Coast area that you trust to receive your USCIS documents and mail them to you? Also, are you able to make the trip to Vancouver if needed?

We originally were at Montreal, transferred to Vancouver using my husband's uncle's address and were in and out in by the time some people with similar timelines had gotten their Packet 3 from Montreal.

When we transferred in November, they didn't even really require a reason, just an address.

Cass (bebop the great)

Well it's good to hear they have a more accurate response for waiting time. Guess we're looking at late September to late November then! :S We were thinking September/October after reading many of the posts on here so we're kind of expecting it anyway... and I still think there is the slight possibility that Montreal just might catch up on the backlog and speed up a tiny bit. Not that we're counting on it or anything though!

[misa 2]

When we transferred in November, they didn't even really require a reason, just an address.

When I transferred at the end of January/beginning of February, they did need a reason. They are getting wise to people transferring for faster interviews. How do I know this? Because they told me that over the phone when I talked to them...

Having said that, never hurts to try though!

Edited May 2, 2007 by misa

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

Haha, probably because a good 20 of us transferred in November/December from VJ alone.

We did end up giving them the reason that Craig would like to visit his family while out there, and they seemed content with that answer. But again, that was in November.

Cass (bebop the great)

When I transferred at the end of January/beginning of February, they did need a reason. They are getting wise to people transferring for faster interviews. How do I know this? Because they told me that over the phone when I talked to them...

Having said that, never hurts to try though!

[CutienPurg 0]

WOW 20.....really?

[misa 2]

That's a lot of transfers! I think I'm the only recent VJ transfer from February/March.

Edited May 2, 2007 by misa

[bebop + rocksteady 0]

Yeah, I'm assuming number after we were transferred, because I didn't really keep up. But I know of at least 4 that were transferred before us, and then another 15 or so that were looking into it, I heard back from a decent number of those that they were going to try it. So maybe I assumed wrong, but I figured during December more trickled in? Could be wrong. It seemed to be trend that was catching on though!

Cass (bebop the great)

[Melytha Christine 0]

I just looked at your timeline, and you are still early in the waiting process, I'd recommend looking into a transfer. Know anyone in the West Coast area that you trust to receive your USCIS documents and mail them to you? Also, are you able to make the trip to Vancouver if needed?

We originally were at Montreal, transferred to Vancouver using my husband's uncle's address and were in and out in by the time some people with similar timelines had gotten their Packet 3 from Montreal.

When we transferred in November, they didn't even really require a reason, just an address.

Cass (bebop the great)

Well it's good to hear they have a more accurate response for waiting time. Guess we're looking at late September to late November then! :S We were thinking September/October after reading many of the posts on here so we're kind of expecting it anyway... and I still think there is the slight possibility that Montreal just might catch up on the backlog and speed up a tiny bit. Not that we're counting on it or anything though!

Yeah, we so wish we could do that!! We were actually going to try... I even found a job in Vancouver so I could live in Vancouver for a few months. It's so nice it worked out for you and your husband not to even hardly have a reason back then (I'm happy for you guys too! - I think you're the first Canadian/American couple I've come across when I first started very seriously looking up info on this process and realized maybe I could find other people who were doing the same thing, since it's seemed so confusing at first) but I guess too many people are trying to transfer now or something. We ended up changing our minds about trying to transfer because we weren't sure it would be honest - the reason I would have given was that I was going to be living/working there (per advice from this forum since Montreal wouldn't consider wanting a quicker interview a 'good reason') but that only would have been part of the truth. The reason we would have transferred - the reason for my looking for a job there in the first place - would have been for the quicker interview, and we didn't think being completely honest about that with Montreal would go over too well with them, plus we just want to be completely honest to begin with, so the idea of saying something like that bothered us...

Anyway, before we changed our minds about trying to transfer, I did email the Vancover Consulate, and THEY said that they could accept our case transfer once I was LIVING in Vancouver. :/ (I'm not going to Vancouver for the job after all but that's another story! In a way I don't mind, but in a way it's a little disappointing because I've wanted to go to Vancouver for ages anyway as I have tons of relatives there and I know it's a beautiful place!)

Edited May 2, 2007 by Melytha Christine

[misa 2]

FWIW, Montreal doesn't care if you transfer to Vancouver. Only Vancouver cares.

[Melytha Christine 0]

FWIW, Montreal doesn't care if you transfer to Vancouver. Only Vancouver cares.

Really? I thought they were the ones that wanted the "good reason" because they didn't want people to transfer just for quicker interviews... maybe I misunderstood??? Would Montreal really not care if I said we wanted to transfer for a quicker interview in Vancouver? Cause if THAT's the case... ;-)

[misa 2]

In my case, it was Vancouver that needed the reason and they were the ones that commented about people wanting to transfer for a faster interview. Montreal would not initiate the transfer until Vancouver accepted and requested my file.

Also I mentioned before that I had hoped I didn't bump anyone's Vancouver interview because of my transfer, but when I went, there was an empty K appointment. They take up to 4 K appointments a day and on my interview day, there were only 3 people there for K visas.

I'm sure that Montreal would be happy to have one less case to deal with.

Edited May 2, 2007 by misa