Canadian August+September 2018 Case Complete To Interview For Spousal Visa Filers Thread

[Sh.0911.CANtoUS 4]

On 11/9/2018 at 10:05 PM, MtnBoarder said:

Good Friday evening everyone. So, I  was in Montreal today for my 8am appointment.  Despite taking almost 3 hours, it’s done and over with, and more importantly, a success. Im very relieved. 

 

Thanks to to this site I had a pretty good idea of what was gonna happen, and it pretty mich did, as I’ve read on here. I was 8am, got to the embassy at about 7:45 and I was #6. My advice to everyone, get there sooner. I didn’t leave the embassy until 1040am, waiting times combined made up almost 2.5 hours of that time.

 

as people have said, they call you up and take your documents. Then you wait and wait and wait. Eventually I was called up and the interview itself was quick and easy, no trickery.

 

But I did manage to get some very important information regarding passport delivery and pick up! THEY ARE NOT MAILING OUT PASSPORTS DUE TO THE CANADA POST STRIKE(This is effective Oct 17th, and can be read on the state department website as well). And the next part is good or bad, depending on where you live. Residents of Ontario and Québéc have the option to pick up the passport in person. They said my “package”(which is really just my passport) should be ready by Wednesday, 3 business day turnaround, and they will call Tuesday to confirm. The rest of the Canadian applicants are at the mercy of the Canadian post office strike, is basically what I was told by the gentleman that did my interview. Sorry to be the bearer of this news. And paying extra for the courier service doesn’t do it either as the courier service they chose to use was, you guessed it, Canada Post.

 

Overall, aside from sitting for what felt like eternity, it was pretty straightforward process.

 

feel free to ask me anything and I’ll fill in any missing pieces or questions from my experience there today.

 

congrats to everyone who got dates, and good luck to those with appointments coming up...Courtney, didn’t see you guys anywhere in the city, but good luck Monday.

 

My husband's interview is on Dec 20. We were originally booked for a flight out of the country on Dec 12 but decided to cancel our flights (unfortunately loss of money) in order to not miss his interview. He is from Ontario and hoping to get his passport back as soon as possible so we can fly out. We are wondering what day we should rebook our flight as he needs his passport to fly outside of the country. Would Dec 24 be safe?

[Bfrank2me 3]

29 minutes ago, Sh.0911.CANtoUS said:

My husband's interview is on Dec 20. We were originally booked for a flight out of the country on Dec 12 but decided to cancel our flights (unfortunately loss of money) in order to not miss his interview. He is from Ontario and hoping to get his passport back as soon as possible so we can fly out. We are wondering what day we should rebook our flight as he needs his passport to fly outside of the country. Would Dec 24 be safe?

I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news, but since the interview is on Thursday and you can’t count on them staring to work on putting your Visa in the passport that day, you will have only one business day on the Friday. If you were to fly out on Monday, you would need to get your passport back on Friday the 21st. The quickest i’ve Seen anyone report the interview to Passport return was three days later, with most being 5 to 6 days. Ask yourself how many steps in this process have taken less time than anticipated, then ask yourself if one business day of processing has a greater than 50% likelihood. With the holiday schedule I’d suggest you rebook your flights in the New Year.

Sorry.

[Pinkyone19 3]

12 hours ago, Sh.0911.CANtoUS said:

My husband's interview is on Dec 20. We were originally booked for a flight out of the country on Dec 12 but decided to cancel our flights (unfortunately loss of money) in order to not miss his interview. He is from Ontario and hoping to get his passport back as soon as possible so we can fly out. We are wondering what day we should rebook our flight as he needs his passport to fly outside of the country. Would Dec 24 be safe?

Whats your case complete date?

[Sh.0911.CANtoUS 4]

1 hour ago, Pinkyone19 said:

Whats your case complete date?

Our cc date was Sept 11

[MtnBoarder 61]

On 11/13/2018 at 11:43 PM, Courtney86 said:

Off topic- but did you get your originals back?? (Birth & marriage specifically) If not, did they mention them coming with your passport? 

Hey sorry for the delay, in the US as of last night and half way to Colorado now.

they kept my originals as well and handed them back when I picked up my passport in Montreal.

congrats and good luck with the timeline you have! 😊

[MtnBoarder 61]

On 11/16/2018 at 8:30 AM, Pinkyone19 said:

Whats your case complete date?

If he plans on picking the passport up in Montreal then you should be good to go approx 5 business days after the interview. I interviewed in a Friday, and picked up May passport the following Thursday. I wouldn’t book a flight based on what I say but it does seem that’s a reasonable turnaround time to expect. I think December 24th would be pushing it to be honest, especially with Christmas happening.  I bet you will be ready to pick it up on the 27/28th, that’s my guess. 

Edited November 18, 2018 by MtnBoarder

[MtnBoarder 61]

On 11/13/2018 at 11:43 PM, Courtney86 said:

Off topic- but did you get your originals back?? (Birth & marriage specifically) If not, did they mention them coming with your passport? 

If and don’t think I got the original marriage cert back, don’t know if they took it to begin with!?! 🤔

anywaus we have multiple copies so not a big deal if they kept it, but not sure on that one.

[Courtney86 29]

37 minutes ago, MtnBoarder said:

Hey sorry for the delay, in the US as of last night and half way to Colorado now.

they kept my originals as well and handed them back when I picked up my passport in Montreal.

congrats and good luck with the timeline you have! 😊

Thanks for the response! I emailed them and they got back to me a couple days ago. They said they usually send them back with the passport, but because of the strike they won't send them right now and gave the option to have them picked up. (Unfortunately we are in Calgary)

 

What was unclear was if they won't send them *at all* because of the strike, or just not right away. So I responded back asking to clarify that and haven't heard back yet. That said, looks easy enough to replace both. I was frustrated thinking of the effort and money to deal with it but what's another $60 at this point 😂

[Courtney86 29]

Also, heads up- we spoke to a friend today who works for Canada Post and they did not accept the deal today. 😏

She said it's the Union holding it up, not the people- the last time they were directly asked what they wanted it was a year ago. Cross your fingers they get this sorted asap! 

[LaurenJSchafer 13]

1 hour ago, Courtney86 said:

Thanks for the response! I emailed them and they got back to me a couple days ago. They said they usually send them back with the passport, but because of the strike they won't send them right now and gave the option to have them picked up. (Unfortunately we are in Calgary)

 

What was unclear was if they won't send them *at all* because of the strike, or just not right away. So I responded back asking to clarify that and haven't heard back yet. That said, looks easy enough to replace both. I was frustrated thinking of the effort and money to deal with it but what's another $60 at this point 😂

Hey Courtney, so I remember you saying that you were in Calgary. Just to be clear... because we are looking at staying for a couple of weeks in Montreal if this is true...they gave you the option of picking up your passport in person? I read that they were only allowing certain people to pick up in person (ON and QC residents), which didn't make sense to me. But if you wanted to and had chosen to stay and wait, you could have picked up your passport in Montreal, correct? We are planning on staying a couple of weeks to do the medical, the interview, and then wait on the passport if we can pick it up in person. Thanks for your help. Congrats again! 

[Courtney86 29]

1 hour ago, LaurenJSchafer said:

Hey Courtney, so I remember you saying that you were in Calgary. Just to be clear... because we are looking at staying for a couple of weeks in Montreal if this is true...they gave you the option of picking up your passport in person? I read that they were only allowing certain people to pick up in person (ON and QC residents), which didn't make sense to me. But if you wanted to and had chosen to stay and wait, you could have picked up your passport in Montreal, correct? We are planning on staying a couple of weeks to do the medical, the interview, and then wait on the passport if we can pick it up in person. Thanks for your help. Congrats again! 

Hey sorry, I can't actually speak to that. My wife didn't ask about the possibility of getting the passport in person (as we knew we couldn't stay an extra 3 biz days...we had already been there 9 days due to the wait time btw the medical and the interview). 

 

I'll copy their email response about getting documents back below. It only mentioned the documents, not the passport, so I wouldn't 100% count on it to mean both:

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

 

All original documents are usually returned to the applicants by Canada Post registered courier mail when the passport and the visa packet are sent out.

 

Regrettably, because of the postal strike the courier service is unable to ship your documents at this time. The Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service is offering you to pick up your documents in person or through a representative at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal located on 1155 rue St-Alexandre, Montreal Quebec H3B 1Z1. 

 

You or your representative are authorized to come Monday to Friday, from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Please bring a copy of this email AND a written authorization if a representative is picking up your documents, for our local guards in order to let you into our building. Please note that the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal is closed on American and Canadian holiday’s.

[MtnBoarder 61]

5 hours ago, Courtney86 said:

Hey sorry, I can't actually speak to that. My wife didn't ask about the possibility of getting the passport in person (as we knew we couldn't stay an extra 3 biz days...we had already been there 9 days due to the wait time btw the medical and the interview). 

 

I'll copy their email response about getting documents back below. It only mentioned the documents, not the passport, so I wouldn't 100% count on it to mean both:

 

Thank you for your inquiry.

 

All original documents are usually returned to the applicants by Canada Post registered courier mail when the passport and the visa packet are sent out.

 

Regrettably, because of the postal strike the courier service is unable to ship your documents at this time. The Official U.S. Department of State Visa Appointment Service is offering you to pick up your documents in person or through a representative at the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal located on 1155 rue St-Alexandre, Montreal Quebec H3B 1Z1. 

 

You or your representative are authorized to come Monday to Friday, from 10:00am to 12:00pm. Please bring a copy of this email AND a written authorization if a representative is picking up your documents, for our local guards in order to let you into our building. Please note that the U.S. Consulate General in Montreal is closed on American and Canadian holiday’s.

 

6 hours ago, LaurenJSchafer said:

Hey Courtney, so I remember you saying that you were in Calgary. Just to be clear... because we are looking at staying for a couple of weeks in Montreal if this is true...they gave you the option of picking up your passport in person? I read that they were only allowing certain people to pick up in person (ON and QC residents), which didn't make sense to me. But if you wanted to and had chosen to stay and wait, you could have picked up your passport in Montreal, correct? We are planning on staying a couple of weeks to do the medical, the interview, and then wait on the passport if we can pick it up in person. Thanks for your help. Congrats again! 

Ya I was told, and posted, by the consulate official that “we are giving residents of Ontario and Quebec a chance to pick up their passports in person”. I agree it doesn’t make sense, but that is exactly what the gentleman who did my interview told me.

maybe the consulate assumes no one from a further distance will actually pick it up?

and the consulate also told me they aren’t mailing out passports at all...but not sure what’s true anymore!

 

Edited November 18, 2018 by MtnBoarder

[MtnBoarder 61]

And I’m sorry, I have no clue why that captured two posts for my one reply(☝️)...technology🙄

 

anyways I’ve crossed into the US and they literally asked for nothing but my passport.  The consulate official also have me a sheet, the day I picked up my passport, and told me that all I would need is my passport. I figured I’d need something more, but nope, nothing else. We did my passport, imported two vehicles(easy because we originally bought them in the US), and updated our Nexus cards for my family of 4,  and were out of the immigration in less than an hour, so way easier than I had expected it to be. Immigration seemed to process it like it’s just another green card....not like I was needing a tenth interrogation, so that part was fabulous.

 

hope everyone gets passports back, appointment dates, etc! 

[MtnBoarder 61]

7 hours ago, Courtney86 said:

Thanks for the response! I emailed them and they got back to me a couple days ago. They said they usually send them back with the passport, but because of the strike they won't send them right now and gave the option to have them picked up. (Unfortunately we are in Calgary)

 

What was unclear was if they won't send them *at all* because of the strike, or just not right away. So I responded back asking to clarify that and haven't heard back yet. That said, looks easy enough to replace both. I was frustrated thinking of the effort and money to deal with it but what's another $60 at this point 😂

They led me to believe that they weren’t sending them at all because they didn’t want green cards just sitting ‘somewhere’ in the system with no delivery date known. So, it sounded like they are holding onto them until the strike is over. I bet they would give the passports back if you showed up with that letter. My email said that my passport was ready to pick up starting Thursday and would be available any other business day after that between the hours of 10 AM and 12 PM noon.  They said that I could pick it up any day and then if I didn’t pick it up they will simply mail it back out when the postal strike is over.

And like you said, what’s another $60? I figured whats another 16 hour round-trip drive🙄, so I went to get it

[Sh.0911.CANtoUS 4]

9 hours ago, MtnBoarder said:

If he plans on picking the passport up in Montreal then you should be good to go approx 5 business days after the interview. I interviewed in a Friday, and picked up May passport the following Thursday. I wouldn’t book a flight based on what I say but it does seem that’s a reasonable turnaround time to expect. I think December 24th would be pushing it to be honest, especially with Christmas happening.  I bet you will be ready to pick it up on the 27/28th, that’s my guess. 

Thanks for your feedback. Very helpful