Montreal embassy EB-2 interview wait time

[topman 42]

3 hours ago, viksaw said:

My worry is that IR1/CR1/K1 are still 8-9 months backlogged. While MTL tries to catch up there will be more applications added making it an endless cycle. I don't think its reasonable for them to create 2+ years backlog for other while they exclusively focus on IR1/CR1/K1. Without any sense of estimated wait time how are we supposed to plan our life? Moreover EB cases are employer dependent. Is it resealable for employer to wait 3+ years (1 year labor/i140 processing and 2 year wait time) for the resource to join? If we were in US, pending adjustment of status allows job switch after 6 months (485J supplement). No such provision for us, leaving us to the mercy of employer.

Sorry for the rant  Just feeling helpless this morning.

100% agree with your comment. We need to find a way to influence NVC or department of state to relook at the employment based GC visa consulate processing. Now that pandemic related restrictions have changed in MTL, department of state should re-evaluate priority based immigrant visa processing based on a specific country, instead of a blanket policy for all countries. The COVID situation in Canada is completely different than in India, and family based case load that MTL receives is also significantly higher. We have little chance of getting any interviews anytime soon, if this cycle continues. Does anyone have any ideas on how we can influence department of state and NVC? 

[LMIV 19]

Yes, I agree!  It may be a good time to make some noise, with news like this lately - 

https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/02/economy/worker-shortage-immigration-chamber-of-commerce/index.html.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2021/06/01/us-chamber-launches-campaign-to-address-worker-shortage-crisis/?sh=2046f7ec76b1

And these numbers-  https://www.axios.com/immigration-labor-shortage-fc4134fb-2d44-4c8d-afa7-eff46bf1741d.html

I like the idea of reaching out to some appropriate senator(s) - perhaps a group letter/petition to someone who has been vocal about these issues?  And then they can bring it to the DOS who would ultimately give orders to the consulates.   What about also reaching out to the US Chamber of Commerce since they have already launched a campaign - the article mentions a push for doubling quotas and immigration reform but maybe they don't even realize the number of employment based visas being pushed to the bottom of the pile right now and not even being processed?!

[akposphil 1]

On 6/28/2021 at 1:05 PM, dskar said:

I got the PR in April 2018 and the DQ was 6 months before then. It's not a typical case because it's more like "follow to join" for family members. But I posted this update anyway because derivative family members still fall under EB-2 category and this will give other members an update that consulate is finally looking at EB-2 files now. I'll post in this group when my family gets an interview date.

Hi @dskar, congrats. That is a welcomed development after months (years) of silence. I am currently doing a follow-to-join too for my wife. But because she is abroad, I filed an I-824 to USCIS and after it was approved, her case moved to NVC which collected all the documents and she has been in line (Dq) for an interview since September 2020. Did you file your I-824 to CBP or USCIS? Also when was your I-824 approved?

[raisins 27]

In the FAQ on the consular operations page under "How long will it take to schedule my immigrant visa appointment?". They recently added details for where Tier 3 and Tier 4 (us) are.  

 

"Montreal is still rescheduling Preference category applicants in Tiers 3 and 4 whose interviews were cancelled in March and April of 2020. Most of those Preference cases were documentarily qualified between July-September 2019."

 

Espineapple, Pasand, JG, CycleSS, and Yu&Do should be getting their interview letters soon based on this, not that we may want to hold our breath. 

[Blueeyes1989 90]

Did @JG, @CycleSS, and @Yu&Do had their interview cancelled during March 2020 lockdown?

[raisins 27]

I'm not sure, I just included them since they were DQ in Sept 19

[Blueeyes1989 90]

@raisins hmm., so does the following who are waiting since January 2019.

 

[raisins 27]

Cool, well lets hope you hear something soon

[GLI 4]

Hi everyone,

Found this forum today, great support group

I understand that the situation is very bad, I have my EB2 case DQ in DEC 2020 so I should just wait for approx 1.5 years more, is that right?

 

My employer sent an expedited appointment request saying that I’m needed for projects with the government and health companies but consulate and NVC just ignored him. 
 

Can’t we find anyone that got an interview?

[Blueeyes1989 90]

@GLI Welcome. Please complete your profile at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yZKxht6igwJPXPU0EehKmmN2hx1g3EchEuB5G0yNO4/edit#gid=0 Here you will see who got interview and when. Thanks

[Yu&Do 6]

11 hours ago, Blueeyes1989 said:

Did @JG, @CycleSS, and @Yu&Do had their interview cancelled during March 2020 lockdown?

no we haven't been scheduled yet, we've been hoping to be scheduled once they are done with all the reschedules. 

and we've made a mistake on the sheet, our completed date is Aug 13, 2019. (this was what was written with the confirmation submission written 'Completed On'. or is the completed date when we receive a completed email from them?)

we have been receiving emails from NVC with 90 days and such. 

[Sorrel 83]

10 hours ago, Blueeyes1989 said:

@GLI Welcome. Please complete your profile at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14yZKxht6igwJPXPU0EehKmmN2hx1g3EchEuB5G0yNO4/edit#gid=0 Here you will see who got interview and when. Thanks

 

8 hours ago, Yu&Do said:

no we haven't been scheduled yet, we've been hoping to be scheduled once they are done with all the reschedules. 

and we've made a mistake on the sheet, our completed date is Aug 13, 2019. (this was what was written with the confirmation submission written 'Completed On'. or is the completed date when we receive a completed email from them?)

we have been receiving emails from NVC with 90 days and such. 

Our case complete date is March 11, 2020.  Looking at the spread sheet it would seem that there are at least 16 people ahead of us.  But the last update indicated that they were processing Tier 4's with dates between July and September, 2019. But it doesn't look like any of those people have received IL's.  We have tried reaching out to the senator in our area in Florida and their response was that they will only assist people directly linked to American Citizens.  The next update from Montreal should be on or before July 7th.  If they would let us know if in fact they are or will be conducting interviews for our category (EB1)  and how many per minth they will be doing, maybe we can guesstimate our interview date.

[GLI 4]

35 minutes ago, Sorrel said:

 

Our case complete date is March 11, 2020.  Looking at the spread sheet it would seem that there are at least 16 people ahead of us.  But the last update indicated that they were processing Tier 4's with dates between July and September, 2019. But it doesn't look like any of those people have received IL's.  We have tried reaching out to the senator in our area in Florida and their response was that they will only assist people directly linked to American Citizens.  The next update from Montreal should be on or before July 7th.  If they would let us know if in fact they are or will be conducting interviews for our category (EB1)  and how many per minth they will be doing, maybe we can guesstimate our interview date.

Sorry for my bad news for you but I assume 99.999% of applications are not being logged inside this spreadsheet, only in this small forum there 16 people ahead of you. 
In real life there thousands ahead of you. 

[Sorrel 83]

9 minutes ago, GLI said:

Sorry for my bad news for you but I assume 99.999% of applications are not being logged inside this spreadsheet, only in this small forum there 16 people ahead of you. 
In real life there thousands ahead of you. 

Just wondering about the numbers for Canada!  

[GLI 4]

7 minutes ago, Sorrel said:

Just wondering about the numbers for Canada!  

I was referring to Canada, you have thousands ahead of you. 
I think someone in this post was able to share the exact numbers a few months back