Changing embassy to save time? (Canada-France)

[Rose__ 303]

Hello!

 

My fiancé (American) and I (Frenchie) are February 2018 filers, our NOA1 date is the 16th.

 

I'm living in Montreal, Canada, so this is the embassy I was planning on having my interview at. However, I hear that Montreal is known to be particularly slow. From what I can see here ( https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html ), Montreal has a waiting time of 74 calendar days for a visa appointment whereas Paris has only 8 days.

I also compared the pages for both consulates here on VJ, the waiting time to get an interview in Montreal is usually from 2 to 6 months, summer and fall being the busiest time of year. According to our timeline, we're expecting our NOA2 around the 17th or 19th of August so during this busy time. In Paris though, it usually takes around 2 months.

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Canada&cty=Montreal

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=France&cty=Paris

I looked at the timelines of other members too and it does seem faster for people going through the Parisian embassy, the fastest times I've seen being about a month and a half, with an average of about two months; in Montreal it's at least two months or two months and a half, sometimes it seems to take 4 months.

 

So basically we're considering asking for a case transfer to Paris, but wondering whether or not it'd be worth it. Technically we could save 1 to 4 months but it's hard to know for sure, of course.

 

Has anyone here done something like this? If so, was getting your case transferred difficult to do? Was it worth the trouble or did it just complicate your case?

 

Cheers!

 

A&J

[payxibka 10,047]

Theoretically you can do the interview in the country of residence or country of nationality.  A transfer such as this means contacting the Montreal Embassy requesting the change.  If approved, the file transfer can take a few weeks.

 

With that said, you really don't know why some of the petitions took up to four months.  There maybe extenuating or applicant planned circumstances that created and apparent delay

[Naes 12,205]

12 minutes ago, Aurora194 said:

Hello!

 

My fiancé (American) and I (Frenchie) are February 2018 filers, our NOA1 date is the 16th.

 

I'm living in Montreal, Canada, so this is the embassy I was planning on having my interview at. However, I hear that Montreal is known to be particularly slow. From what I can see here ( https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/wait-times.html ), Montreal has a waiting time of 74 calendar days for a visa appointment whereas Paris has only 8 days.

I also compared the pages for both consulates here on VJ, the waiting time to get an interview in Montreal is usually from 2 to 6 months, summer and fall being the busiest time of year. According to our timeline, we're expecting our NOA2 around the 17th or 19th of August so during this busy time. In Paris though, it usually takes around 2 months.

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=Canada&cty=Montreal

http://www.visajourney.com/consulates/index.php?ctry=France&cty=Paris

I looked at the timelines of other members too and it does seem faster for people going through the Parisian embassy, the fastest times I've seen being about a month and a half, with an average of about two months; in Montreal it's at least two months or two months and a half, sometimes it seems to take 4 months.

 

So basically we're considering asking for a case transfer to Paris, but wondering whether or not it'd be worth it. Technically we could save 1 to 4 months but it's hard to know for sure, of course.

 

Has anyone here done something like this? If so, was getting your case transferred difficult to do? Was it worth the trouble or did it just complicate your case?

 

Cheers!

 

A&J

You should read the details part as it says “it does not include k visas”

[Rose__ 303]

3 minutes ago, Naes said:

You should read the details part as it says “it does not include k visas”

 silly me!! Thanks Naes!

 

EDIT: do you know where I can find the waiting time for the K visas then? I once saw 37 days for Montreal but I can't find this page anymore for some reason, I just assumed that the time had increased since I didn't notice the details box on the side.

Edited April 17, 2018 by Aurora194

[Rose__ 303]

12 minutes ago, payxibka said:

Theoretically you can do the interview in the country of residence or country of nationality.  A transfer such as this means contacting the Montreal Embassy requesting the change.  If approved, the file transfer can take a few weeks.

 

With that said, you really don't know why some of the petitions took up to four months.  There maybe extenuating or applicant planned circumstances that created and apparent delay

Yes you make a good point, you never really know what happens with other cases... The two embassies seem to have very different speeds though so I wonder if the time we would potentially save would be worth the fuss or not, especially if the transfer itself takes a few weeks. I assume we'd have to wait for them to actually touch our case? Or can we ask for the transfer between the NOA1 and 2?

[payxibka 10,047]

Just now, Aurora194 said:

Yes you make a good point, you never really know what happens with other cases... The two embassies seem to have very different speeds though so I wonder if the time we would potentially save would be worth the fuss or not, especially if the transfer itself takes a few weeks. I assume we'd have to wait for them to actually touch our case? Or can we ask for the transfer between the NOA1 and 2?

NVC assigns the Embassy/Consulate after petition approval.  The downside is that a K-1 petition does not stay at NVC very long and it may be gone before you even know it was there.  With that said, make sure you understand if it is really a difference in processing times for the K-1 at the to locations

[Naes 12,205]

9 minutes ago, Aurora194 said:

 silly me!! Thanks Naes!

 

EDIT: do you know where I can find the waiting time for the K visas then? I once saw 37 days for Montreal but I can't find this page anymore for some reason, I just assumed that the time had increased since I didn't notice the details box on the side.

Many people are waiting on Montreal around here actually. You can try creating a post calling them out.

 

or try the visajorney consulate waittime averages.

 

I was also thinking of moving my case. However it seems like it would take 2-3 weeks to transfer it and then I still need to schedule an interview after it gets ready there. So I gave up.

 

if I were you I would try finding Paris waittimes in visajourney to get an idea.

[Rose__ 303]

@Naes when would you have moved it, after you got your NOA2? Or between the NOA1 et NOA2?

 

I had a look earlier today and according to the most recent timelines for both Canada and France, there's a significant difference between them. If it takes a couple of weeks to transfer it and then about a month and a half to finish the whole process (packet 3, medical exam, interview and receiving my visa) while it would have taken 3 months to only have an appointment here in Montreal, it might be worth a shot... It comes down to whether or not we'd save enough time to make up for the energy and money spent on the transfer process and the plane tickets! 

 

Maybe I'm just overly stressed out and trying to find a "loophole" to make the process go a little bit faster 

Edited April 17, 2018 by Aurora194

[Naes 12,205]

14 minutes ago, Aurora194 said:

@Naes when would you have moved it, after you got your NOA2? Or between the NOA1 et NOA2?

 

I had a look earlier today and according to the most recent timelines for both Canada and France, there's a significant difference between them. If it takes a couple of weeks to transfer it and then about a month and a half to finish the whole process (packet 3, medical exam, interview and receiving my visa) while it would have taken 3 months to only have an appointment here in Montreal, it might be worth a shot... It comes down to whether or not we'd save enough time to make up for the energy and money spent on the transfer process and the plane tickets! 

 

Maybe I'm just overly stressed out and trying to find a "loophole" to make the process go a little bit faster 

It is extremely hard to change that from what I gather while waiting for noa2 because whatever you do. And even if you wrote a different embassy in the form. NVC ends up sending the files to the embassy looks after beneficiary’s last physical address. (This happens regularly)

 

so normally this kind of transfer happens (for k1) after your case reaches to Montreal embassy. Then you contact with embassy in France (and prove that you are in fact living in Paris at the time) and request for your case to be transferred from Montreal. Embassy in France then requests the case from Montreal and when it gets ready of after France sends you your package you can continue with process (I don’t know how France does it- they may let you schedule or they may schedule it themselves)

[Rose__ 303]

Thank you, this is really helpful. Do you have to prove that you live there or only that it's your home country? I think I read somewhere today that you can send a birth certificate or passport for example, to prove that you have the citizenship of the country where you want to be interviewed.

[Naes 12,205]

Just now, Aurora194 said:

Thank you, this is really helpful. Do you have to prove that you live there or only that it's your home country? I think I read somewhere today that you can send a birth certificate or passport for example, to prove that you have the citizenship of the country where you want to be interviewed.

Now that’s the part I’m trying to understand too. For me I am registered in the country I’m living so I don’t have an address in my home country as a resident but I believe if I show my family’s address it would solve this. So I don’t really know how it works for France. You may ask the embassy though.(I think..)