What's up with MTL during this shutdown ?!

[MeghanK 629]

Howdy. I am a K1 filer at MTL stuck in limbo between Packet 3 and 4 since December 31 (I know, only 8 days... BUT, uncharacteristically long based on most recent timelines), despite chatter that visas are prodecing as usual. 

 

Have any others, especially K1s, received any correspondence from the consulate since the shutdown began, p3s, p4s, or otherwise?

 

Any other pending visas out there finding business as usual? Wondering if I should assume we ain't gonna see nothin' until the government opens back up. 

[C90 376]

Government shutdown doesn't affect USCIS or the visa process. Sometimes it takes 3 days, sometimes it takes 3 weeks (also depending on how busy your consulate is) Just wait a little longer, and if you didn't hear anything in 2 weeks you can try to contact your consulate. Also, keep in mind that the holidays usually have a little effect, since everything is shut down for 2 days.

[MeghanK 629]

7 minutes ago, C90 said:

Government shutdown doesn't affect USCIS or the visa process. Sometimes it takes 3 days, sometimes it takes 3 weeks (also depending on how busy your consulate is) Just wait a little longer, and if you didn't hear anything in 2 weeks you can try to contact your consulate. Also, keep in mind that the holidays usually have a little effect, since everything is shut down for 2 days.

Thank you, yes I know how unpredictable the process is and am very well versed on the "wait a little longer." But I am looking for conformation from others at the Montreal consulate specifically, right now, on whether or not they have received any correspondence so I can better understand if it's business as usual and K1s are at a delay, or if it is an out of the ordinary stand still.

 

So they say visas move on as usual, but I'm skeptical given that I am now at a wait of 7x longer than nearly ALL cases immediately before the shutdown, with some other Montreal K1s I've spoken to at even longer wait. Just curiosity here as I wait.

Edited January 9, 2019 by MeghanK

[MeghanK 629]

I see the MTL site uses the term "scheduled" services will continue, so that could be the fine print. 

[C90 376]

Just now, MeghanK said:

Thank you, yes I know how unpredictable the process is and am very well versed on the "wait a little longer." But I am looking for conformation from others at the Montreal consulate specifically, right now, on whether or not they have received any correspondence so I can better understand if it's business as usual and K1s are at a delay, or if it is an out of the ordinary stand still.

 

So they say visas move on as usual, but I'm skeptical given that I am now at a wait of 7x longer than nearly ALL cases immediately before the shutdown, with some other Montreal K1s I've spoken to at even longer wait. Just curiosity here as I wait.

I completely understand. When I was in the K1 process (Amsterdam) I was sooo impatient lol. Is there any way to contact your consulate? I know the consulate in Amsterdam would respond to the emails (they cannot be reached by phone) if they noticed that something was wrong or they 'forgot' about the case. Maybe Canada is the same. I hope that someone here is in the same stage in Canada as you! Good luck, you're almost there!  

[MeghanK 629]

4 minutes ago, C90 said:

I completely understand. When I was in the K1 process (Amsterdam) I was sooo impatient lol. Is there any way to contact your consulate? I know the consulate in Amsterdam would respond to the emails (they cannot be reached by phone) if they noticed that something was wrong or they 'forgot' about the case. Maybe Canada is the same. I hope that someone here is in the same stage in Canada as you! Good luck, you're almost there!  

Personally not worried enough to contact them. Not so much impatient as I am curious for clarification. We'll see how it plays out! 🙂

[geowrian 22,337]

The parts of USCIS that handle petitions and applications is unaffected.

 

NVC is generally fine as well, although is not entirely funded by fees and relies on DOS funds. It's possible to have holdups here if it went on for an extended period of time, but there's no sign of that actually happening yet.

 

Individual embassies/consulates have their own funds to pull from visa fees. They may or may not be self-sufficient to keep running on those fees. To date - and as far as anybody publicly knows - there's no holdups with visa processing as a result of the shutdown. This could change later, and some non-visa services have been closed.

The bigger risk - IMHO - is with the contracted employees who handle administrative processes that may eventually decide to work elsewhere. But there's no reputable reports of this being an issue anywhere yet.

Edited January 9, 2019 by geowrian

[JP John 65]

I have been waiting 12 days now for Packet 4 and for the last year Montreal has been consistently sending out Packet 4 in 1-3 days.  Even the email we received from Packet 3 was worded differently than others have received as recent as middle of December.

[MeghanK 629]

15 minutes ago, geowrian said:

The bigger risk - IMHO - is with the contracted employees who handle administrative processes that may eventually decide to work elsewhere. But there's no reputable reports of this being an issue anywhere yet.

Yeah I think this might be what's going on in Montreal at least. My guess is the folks that handle the checking and pushing of e-mails between Packet 3 and Packet 4 are not essential employees. I think I've landed in a non-essential function grey area for this shutdown 😏 Going to have to scour some other regional threads and see what's going on there. 

[Smashy 155]

20 hours ago, MeghanK said:

I see the MTL site uses the term "scheduled" services will continue, so that could be the fine print. 

I actually think you are right Meghan. I am noticing that there have been zero interviews scheduled for Feb yet, less interviews scheduled overall in Jan as of today and a bit less of the average in Dec. There is indeed such a thing in the public service wherein workers and mid management "protest" but not officially but "working less". This is common and a part of how solidarity is shown but not officially. We see this, its a known "thing" in the UK for decades, its upfront and also in Canada to a lesser degree with the changing of gov'ts, actual/perceived abusive gov't etc...

 

 

I think you are right. That's my take.

Edited January 9, 2019 by Smashy

[Smashy 155]

20 hours ago, JP John said:

I have been waiting 12 days now for Packet 4 and for the last year Montreal has been consistently sending out Packet 4 in 1-3 days.  Even the email we received from Packet 3 was worded differently than others have received as recent as middle of December.

"Even the email we received from Packet 3 was worded differently than others have received as recent as middle of December."

 

@JPJOHN Can you redact your personal info and share this new P3 letter with us? Thank you

[JP John 65]

It was just 

[Smashy 155]

Thank for sharing this

[NikLR 13,227]

You may have to wait for a paper p4? Interesting. 

[Joan58 47]

My Packet 3 came via mail. My confirmation of Packet 3 recd by Montreal consulate was same as 

JP John. The CEAC Ready date will change when they process items. Ours hasn't changed since Jan. 3rd as this is when I recd an email. We never recd email regarding Packet 3.