CR1 MTL Waiting to Interview

[C&C 0]

Maura Harty, Asst. Secretary, Consular Affairs

Stephen A. Edson, Deputy Asst. Secretary, Visa Services

U.S. Department of State

Bureau of Consular Affairs

Washington, DC 20520

Mary B. Marshall, Consul General

Gary L. Sheaffer, Consular Affairs

US Consulate, Montreal

P.O. Box 847

Champlain, NY, 12919-0847

Director, National Visa Center

32 Rochester Avenue

Portsmouth, NH 03801 Copies to:

The Hon. John Cornyn

US Senate

5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 1150

Dallas, Texas 75244-6199

The Hon. Kay Baily Hutchison

US Senate

961 Pickle Federal Building

300 E. 8th Street

Austin, TX 78701

Manager, MTL Inquiries, Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov Manager, NVC Inquiries, NVCInquiry@state.gov

RE: Stall in IR1/CR1 spousal immigrant visa interviews in Montreal

Dear public servants,

Please take action to resume scheduling of IR1/CR1 interviews for Canadians at the US Consulate in Montreal. The last group of Canadian spouses in my online community to receive an invitation for their IR1 or CR1 interview in Montreal had cases complete at NVC and joined the interview queue in the first few days of April, 2007. Those with cases complete only a few months earlier received invitations within weeks and had their interviews within a few months. In early April, you stopped allocating interview time and scheduling interviews for IR1/CR1 candidates at Montreal. We are now 6 months beyond that time with no progress.

You have continued to support interviews for other visa classes at Montreal. Spouse and fiancé candidates for K nonpermanent visas with case complete dates as late as August 2007 have already received their interview invitations; those with case complete dates from the spring are already reunited with their “better halves”. Yet separated IR1/CR1 spouses living in Canada, who’ve been in the system for much longer, and have earlier case complete dates, are still waiting to be invited to an interview.

Kudos for getting the Ks to their interviews so quickly, but why have you put IR1s and CR1s aside? Please get us back on the schedule! My husband’s case was complete on June 8. He should have had his interview in September and should be here with me by now. It would be wonderful to have him here by Christmas. Could you please try?

[Misty1979 0]

Just received an email back from Montreal regarding a few questions I asked to do with how CR1 interviews are scheduled.

Here's my letter:

Hello, I know I am supposed to email the NVC regarding CR1-related visas, however they don't seem to be as informed as you about the present backlog with immigrant visa so I was hoping you could shed some insight into this situation for me.

I was just wondering if you could give me any info as to how CR1/IR1 visa interviews are scheduled. I frequent a website where I have many acquaintances going through the same process as myself (also from Canada) who are going for many different types of visas.

As of right now, it seems anyone seeking a CR1 visa interview has been waiting anywhere from 3-6 months thus far, and the waiting period only seems to be growing. I myself have been waiting since June 18th, and am eager to be able to begin my life with my husband, and I really can't take much more time being separated at this point.

The K3/K1 visas seem to be getting interviews within 2 months or less waiting time now. I have a friend who was in line for an IR1 visa and had her interview this August after only waiting 6 weeks.

That being said, I am just curious, are CR1 visas given the leftover slots from the DCF interviews or the K3/K1's? If we had a little more info we might be able to plan our lives with a little more accuracy, but as of right now the waiting in the dark is frustrating and unecessary.

Thank you in advance for any info you can give regarding this situation.

Sincerely,

(My name here)

And their response:

I’m sorry but we do not discuss our administrative work.

Thank you.

Priceless.

[thermophile 0]

oh my god. take that email to your senator and see what he/she can do about getting an answer. we don't discuss our administrative work is a massive ###### you from our government. absolutely not acceptable.

[misa 2]

Definitely email your senator and whoever else at the NVC. That answer was completely unacceptable. They could have just said something like they had a backlog and they're trying to work through it best they can, blah blah blah... sure it's a non-answer but better than a ###### you answer.

[trailmix 77]

I guess they are just getting bolder. After months of giving non-answers they are getting a bit cocky and shaking it up a bit - there are only so many ways to say we aren't giving you any information and we are controlling this so accept our lame answer and be grateful we even responded.

I would definitely complain, totally unacceptable.

[parinita 0]

hey Trailmix,

Please update my timeline here since NVC had generated my IV bill on Oct 1, 2007

thanks and good luck to all

pari

[C&C 0]

Man that sucks. Clearly the purpose of the NVC and MTL telephone and email units is to provide a non-response - they are a valve - a distraction... with the appearance of responsiveness. The cannot be expected to provide a real answer, or to help us. That just isn't their job. We have to put these questions to those who have the power to influence the policy and procedures that are affecting us. I think the three points / complaints I'll be making in my next phase will be how truly unacceptable these policies are:

1. Failure to schedule interviews for our visa classes. Clearly we are on the not important, don't schedule us list, no one is listening or cares, and no one will even look into it. Overdue IR1/CR1 visa candidates already waiting longer than Ks for their interviews ought to be given some weighting SHOULD be on the schedule however it is currently constructed misguidedly - this needs to be changed
2. Failure to provide information on waiting times is secondary but also extremely important and totally not acceptable. Am I expected to just wait month by month for a year or two to get to have my husband with me again? They should give us a timeline. There is absolutely no good reason that they cannot provide a timeline, whatever it is. the Information IS available. The policy of non-information is misguided - it is driven by wanting to minimize negative information but this is outweighed by the interest of families and their need to plan. They are shooting themselves in the foot public relations wise the longer this goes on and the stupider their responses get.
3. Then there is interviewing staffing capacity - I guess there will always be excess demand over capacity, but it is a policy issue how much resourcing will go into services. Montreal is a cool city with nice parties -- perhaps that what they're spending money on?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No really there are other important consular services Montreal has to deliver but some of the allocated resources needs to be given to our visa class. They're busting the pants off of K spouse waiting lists - clearly they have some interviewing capacity

Please y'all, try to contact some of those listed in policy and management authority to complain about these issues. Five formal letters is better than one. I think we could muster at least 10 from our group, don't you think? Write the consular leadership, and your senators, and the state department

[C&C 0]

[L_n_O 3]

Here's some fairy dust to make everything better.............

[trailmix 77]

Updated Parinita - added fairy with dust supplied by Liz!

Member..........NOA2.....Case# @NVC..3032/AOS.....I-864......IV Bill......DS230......Done @NVC...Interview...DTI

thermophile...03/01/05...06/05/05....06/05/05....11/28/06....08/15/06....11/15/06....04/03/07....08/09/07....128

neiks.........05/02/06...05/30/06....06/06/06....07/03/06....07/03/06....08/10/06....09/20/06....06/28/07....281R

djc..............--.........--..........--..........--..........--.......03/26/07....04/16/07

kaftar........09/21/06...10/04/06....10/24/06....11/01/06....11/04/06....11/20/06....04/26/07

pororoca......10/31/06...11/27/06....11/27/06....12/17/06....12/26/06....01/16/07....04/27/07

midalake......12/19/06...01/02/07....01/08/07....01/28/07.......--..........--.......05/15/07

Aliznely......01/19/07......--..........--..........--..........--..........--.......05/09/07

Glady.........01/28/07...03/11/07....03/14/07....04/23/07.......--.......04/23/07....05/29/07

C&C..............--.........--..........--.......05/01/07.......--.......05/01/07....06/08/07

Misty1979.....03/06/07...03/26/07....04/02/07....04/23/07....04/23/07....06/06/07....06/18/07

Karina........03/13/07...03/26/07....04/23/07....05/14/07....05/07/07....05/21/07....06/01/07....08/30/07.... 90

comelly.......04/19/07...05/01/07....05/29/07....06/26/07....06/14/07....07/15/07....07/30/07

kcmetzy.......05/03/07...05/18/07....06/12/07....06/25/07....07/06/07....07/23/07

Knowledge.....05/09/07...--/--/--....06/12/07....07/19/07....07/19/07....08/22/07

trailmix......06/05/07...06/19/07....07/02/07....07/02/07....08/09/07....08/17/07

Schmelle......06/06/07......--.......07/25/07....08/17/07....08/18/07

LadyJane......07/02/07...07/20/07....08/06/07....09/05/07....09/06/07....09/24/07

whitesnail....08/21/07...08/27/07....09/11/07

parinita......08/22/07......--.......09/24/07......--........10/01/07

r = rescheduled by member

DTI - Days between completion at NVC and interview

[L_n_O 3]

[MGW 0]

Hi everyone,

I LOVE the letter writing campaign idea! I don't frequent this website regularly as I find what I learn often makes me more frustrated with the whole process. I did not realize until I skimmed through THIS thread that there was such a discrepancy in processing times b/w the CR1s and K1 & K3s. The fact that K3s have the option to transfer from montreal to vancouver was painful to learn, but this info... it REALLY stings!! Had I any idea I would have gone the K3 route but our lawyer suggested that the time frames (of K-3 and CR-1) were within a month of each other so for economical reasons we chose ONLY CR1!!! (The cost of seeing each other - he lives in WA and I am in MB - is really adding up; hardly "economical" at this rate!)

As for the reply to a well written email request for information... "we do not discuss administrative business" ... how appalling!

I am quite willing to write a letter. Is the proposal that we write basically the same letter or each our own version? I am open to either. Any thoughts?

Also, please add my info to the list. Our I-130 was approved May 18, NVC # assigned Sept 24, bills (DS-3032 and I-864) received Oct 2. Do you need more info?

I have to learn to navigate this site better! (Hope I post this right!?)

Keep up the great job everyone, and HANG IN THERE! I shall try to visit more regularly.

Thanks.

[thermophile 0]

this isn't a huge letter campaign, but I'd still suggest that everyone write their own letters. A few years back I did some data entry for another division of the park service who had just finished a comment period on a new policy. All of the identical postcards from a couple of clubs were basically counted as 1 even though there were from several hundred people. this is one case where uniqueness actually counts for something.

[trailmix 77]

this isn't a huge letter campaign, but I'd still suggest that everyone write their own letters. A few years back I did some data entry for another division of the park service who had just finished a comment period on a new policy. All of the identical postcards from a couple of clubs were basically counted as 1 even though there were from several hundred people. this is one case where uniqueness actually counts for something.

I agree with thermophile, I think putting a more personal edge on each letter will be more effective. I'm actually just getting my letter sent to the consul general in the mail today, will let you all know if/when I hear back.

Oh and if you are in Canada the address is the Canadian one for the Consulate rather than NY:

Mary B Marshall

Consul General

P.O. Box 65

Station Desjardins

Montreal, Quebec

H5B 1G1

Edited October 3, 2007 by trailmix

[C&C 0]

yes I totally agree a uniquely personal letter is best. I'm so glad others will be writing.

Thank you for the fairy dust, Liz - I'll take all the prayers, spells and blessings I can get!

C&C