Concerned Coronavirus may cause issues (merged)

[:Sarah: 84]

Yeah...I really hoped they would reopen this week...

 

But that was my wishful thinking. Safety comes first for everyone of course.

 

I just hope they would resume working on documents if interviews are too dangerous to conduct. 

 

But I guess it's hard to guess when this is over so they can't make decisions of any kind yet.

 

 

Let's hope it won't last too long...cuz our expiration date for medical is going real fast 😥

[DGF 730]

On 5/9/2020 at 7:52 AM, Dobbie said:

With schools and businesses planning to re-open at the end of the month in Montreal, is there hope that the embassy and MediSys will resume business in June as currently planned?

There is no current plan to open in June, that's USCIS. No one knows when the embassy will reopen and it will likely not coincide with businesses reopening in Montreal as the embassy never technically closed, they only suspended visa services. This is my own personal take on the situation, but I assume that they won't be resuming visa services until travel advisories are reduced and there is no longer a need for all their staff to work on US citizen services (such as organizing repatriation flights). 

[jackanddeona 310]

12 minutes ago, :Sarah: said:

Yeah...I really hoped they would reopen this week...

 

But that was my wishful thinking. Safety comes first for everyone of course.

 

I just hope they would resume working on documents if interviews are too dangerous to conduct. 

 

But I guess it's hard to guess when this is over so they can't make decisions of any kind yet.

 

 

Let's hope it won't last too long...cuz our expiration date for medical is going real fast 😥

Correct me if I'm wrong but there isn't much working on documents once it is at the consulate? I thought it was all about the interview at that point.

[:Sarah: 84]

1 minute ago, jackanddeona said:

Correct me if I'm wrong but there isn't much working on documents once it is at the consulate? I thought it was all about the interview at that point.

documents meaning, accepting of the documents that came in from NVC, sorting them, assigning them to different people? (I don't know the full process but I'm sure it takes different steps)

 

Also, administrative processing and issuing of new visas.

 

Because that to me is all document work that doesn't involve 'in person services' which is interviewing people.

 

So that was my thought process. 

[jackanddeona 310]

Just now, :Sarah: said:

documents meaning, accepting of the documents that came in from NVC, sorting them, assigning them to different people? (I don't know the full process but I'm sure it takes different steps)

 

Also, administrative processing and issuing of new visas.

 

Because that to me is all document work that doesn't involve 'in person services' which is interviewing people.

 

So that was my thought process. 

Ya fair enough. Hopefully they are trying to accomplish something while waiting for interviews but personally I'm not holding my breath.

 

There has been a June 4th date circulating the forum but I can't see where that was officially announced. Good news is Canada is easing restrictions as well as the states so hopefully that means interviews will be starting soon. 

[:Sarah: 84]

Just now, jackanddeona said:

Ya fair enough. Hopefully they are trying to accomplish something while waiting for interviews but personally I'm not holding my breath.

 

There has been a June 4th date circulating the forum but I can't see where that was officially announced. Good news is Canada is easing restrictions as well as the states so hopefully that means interviews will be starting soon. 

I think at the moment they're not doing any work at the consulate side, and June 4th is the date for USCIS and people thought consulate was related to that so they mistakenly thought consulate will reopen on the same date.

 

But I would think they will reopen about the same time when they think it's ready I guess.

 

Yeah I hope it will be safe enough to resume normal processing soon!

 

Good luck! 

[Dobbie 6]

26 minutes ago, DGF said:

There is no current plan to open in June, that's USCIS. No one knows when the embassy will reopen and it will likely not coincide with businesses reopening in Montreal as the embassy never technically closed, they only suspended visa services. This is my own personal take on the situation, but I assume that they won't be resuming visa services until travel advisories are reduced and there is no longer a need for all their staff to work on US citizen services (such as organizing repatriation flights). 

So we'll be separated from our loved one until a miracle vaccine it looks like...

[bojek 15]

56 minutes ago, Dobbie said:

So we'll be separated from our loved one until a miracle vaccine it looks like...

 

This is entirely speculation either way, but it would depend on when the borders will open again. It's hard for me to imagine the US-CA border will be closed entirely for several more months but maybe it will be too, idk...

 

https://globalnews.ca/video/6926159/canada-u-s-border-closure-agreement-expiring

 

 

1 hour ago, :Sarah: said:

documents meaning, accepting of the documents that came in from NVC, sorting them, assigning them to different people? (I don't know the full process but I'm sure it takes different steps)

 

Also, administrative processing and issuing of new visas.

 

Because that to me is all document work that doesn't involve 'in person services' which is interviewing people.

 

So that was my thought process. 

Are we sure they haven't been working on that or did they actually announce everything altogether was on pause? I know repatriation and assisting Americans abroad was the priority but aside from that. I don't know if they had all their staff work from home or what they've been doing/how they've been operating so who knows...I haven't really looked into it since I was at the interview stage and it got cancelled until they can rebook it.

Edited May 11, 2020 by bojek

[:Sarah: 84]

11 minutes ago, bojek said:

Are we sure they haven't been working on that or did they actually announce everything altogether was on pause? 

Yes I'm sure they haven't been working on anything other than possible emergency cases.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/suspension-of-routine-visa-services.html

 

This was the official link that the Montreal consulate sent me  (in email responding to my question) but instead of 3/20 like it said on the link,

 

they told me they suspended routine immigrant and nonimmigrant visa processing since 3/17/20.

 

And We've finished medical, interview and we're at the last stage of administrative processing or issuing of new visa and have been stuck there and last update I got was on 3/18.

Edited May 11, 2020 by :Sarah:

[DGF 730]

3 hours ago, Dobbie said:

So we'll be separated from our loved one until a miracle vaccine it looks like...

I desperately hope I'm wrong, but that's the feeling I get from the DOS reopening guidelines. It's been 600 days so far for us and I really hope we get some good news soon because I'm just so tired of waiting. 

[bojek 15]

Sorry, nothing new to report but I was thinking about this conversation we had and I think it's probably for the best that they didn't keep processing everything because there would just be a bottleneck of people at the interview stage when they'll be open for them again. Seems fair that the people who were at that stage and had their interviews cancelled should be prioritized when the time to reschedule will come.

 

With other countries talking of allowing travel between them and airlines trying to coax people in traveling, I wonder if the border will finally open in June. I think I'll visit my fiance if the border opens again but that there's no date for the interview for a while after that. 

 

I hope you all stay strong and healthy. Courage and good luck. 

 

 

[bojek 15]

I just saw the other thread about people being allowed to air travel, what the heck. I might do just that. Sorry double post, I can't edit anymore.

 

[Kay__ 7]

1 hour ago, bojek said:

Sorry, nothing new to report but I was thinking about this conversation we had and I think it's probably for the best that they didn't keep processing everything because there would just be a bottleneck of people at the interview stage when they'll be open for them again. Seems fair that the people who were at that stage and had their interviews cancelled should be prioritized when the time to reschedule will come.

 

With other countries talking of allowing travel between them and airlines trying to coax people in traveling, I wonder if the border will finally open in June. I think I'll visit my fiance if the border opens again but that there's no date for the interview for a while after that. 

 

I hope you all stay strong and healthy. Courage and good luck. 

 

 

thank you for your post. there is a rumor around, that USCIS will reopen on june 4th. I checked USCIS webpage, it says,"USCIS staff are continuing to perform duties that do not involve face-to-face contact with the public."  

is that mean no face to face interview? Kind of confusing cause, they will reopen and not doing any face to face contact...?

[DGF 730]

9 hours ago, Kay__ said:

thank you for your post. there is a rumor around, that USCIS will reopen on june 4th. I checked USCIS webpage, it says,"USCIS staff are continuing to perform duties that do not involve face-to-face contact with the public."  

is that mean no face to face interview? Kind of confusing cause, they will reopen and not doing any face to face contact...?

Nah, USCIS has nothing to do with consulates as they are operated by different departments. They're simply saying that they are continuing to do work such as processing petitions while they are closed to the public (which they are currently set to reopen where possible on June 4th - that part isn't a rumour). Unfortunately we have no known date for the consulate (or any of them for that matter) resuming visa services. Vietnam is resuming some regular American Citizen Services (passports, etc) on June 1st, so I'm wondering if that is something that we should be looking for in Montreal too as a sign that things are starting to move again. 

There is also a rumour that some consulates may be considering what video interviews would look like, but until we hear something official, it is nothing more than a rumour so I wouldn't get your hopes up. 

[bojek 15]

I think the land border would probably need to be opened again for the visas to start getting processed again, right? I know a lot of temporary workers time-sensitive things are happening in my province too with the fisheries and the farming industry (need those workers or crops will just rot in the fields/fish harvests won't get processed which would hurt the economy even more) so if it's the same situation South of the border, I imagine getting these people here ASAP that would be a higher priority too aside from the citizen services and repatriation types of issues. Understandable as long as our turns come. 

 

On the flip side, with Montreal and USCIS opening back up and hopefully* the border opening in late June, I imagine the consulate and immigrant visas will eventually follow. There's really nothing we can do but keep on waiting. I don't want to be either too optimistic or pessimistic, but I'm allowing myself to think that at least we're hopefully at least halfway through this whole mess...Your mileage may vary. Stay strong. 😷🤞 

 

*I say hopefully because I'm eager for all of our cases to move forward again, but I understand it's a sensitive issue and I wouldn't want it to open prematurely either if the risk is too big. My province hasn't had any cases in weeks now but we are bordered by Quebec and New-England so it's especially delicate. Wouldn't want to undo all the prevention the lockdowns did. So I'm hopeful it'll be ASAP within respect for health expert advices, etc. 

Edited May 26, 2020 by bojek