Tweet from the Department of State - potential Montreal Embassy Reopening?

[Hamlet 122]

They should switch some of the interviews to the Vancouver consulate. We’re doing much better on this side. 

[Tristan&Whit 7]

We got our DQ on July 10. Impossible to reach Montreal embassy to get info on reopening. We have a house rented and my wife has a job lined up. If she moves can I fly down as a visitor and stay with her for up to 6 months. This is my impression. 

[Ver&S 10]

Sincerely it's so weird why the consulate does not provide any updates. I don't see how it's dependent on the local situation, other consulates in Montreal are open (have been for months) as long as you schedule your meeting in advance. But somehow the US consulate is not even able to state when they will resume services? It's like all their personnel went on vacation or something.  

[pooj97 89]

7 minutes ago, Ver&S said:

Sincerely it's so weird why the consulate does not provide any updates. I don't see how it's dependent on the local situation, other consulates in Montreal are open (have been for months) as long as you schedule your meeting in advance. But somehow the US consulate is not even able to state when they will resume services? It's like all their personnel went on vacation or something.  

Other consulates have been open?? That makes me even more upset. Consulates should be considered an essential business especially if all other consulates are open. I don’t understand 

[Ver&S 10]

14 minutes ago, pooj97 said:

Other consulates have been open?? That makes me even more upset. Consulates should be considered an essential business especially if all other consulates are open. I don’t understand 

With a quick search, consulates that appear open in Montreal: Egypt, Spain, Japan, Poland, Belgium, France; then I got tired of searching...

 

Of course I cannot tell if they are only taking only some of the appointments, as I assume they are operating with less employees, but at least they are working and all of them have pertinent updated info on their webpages... The situation with the US consulate is just so frustrating =(

Edited July 15, 2020 by Ver&S

[AlexaC 28]

9 minutes ago, Ver&S said:

With a quick search, consulates that appear open in Montreal: Egypt, Spain, Japan, Poland, Belgium, France; then I got tired of searching...

 

Of course I cannot tell if they are only taking only some of the appointments, as I assume they are operating with less employees, but at least they are working and all of them have pertinent updated info on their webpages... The situation with the US consulate is just so frustrating =(

I wonder what's keeping them from reopening 

[theworldawaits 0]

I noticed this website just posted an update.
https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/phased-resumption-routine-visa-services.html

 

[Dobbie 6]

Erm, no updates as of yet? Why?

 

Is it the government not wanting travel to the US? The consulate needs employees?

Edited July 16, 2020 by Dobbie

[JacobP 185]

Apparently Montreal may be doing something. Someone on Reddit posted they had a CR-1/IR-1 interview in January but had to give additional documents afterwards, delaying their visa. Then COVID hit, delaying their case even more until yesterday morning when the embassy emailed them stating:

 

"Although routine consular services remain suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local conditions now permit renewed processing of expedited, mission-critical immigrant visa cases, including your case"

 

Then asked for another police report and medical exam. No word on any interviews being scheduled as of yet, however.

[pooj97 89]

10 minutes ago, JacobP said:

Apparently Montreal may be doing something. Someone on Reddit posted they had a CR-1/IR-1 interview in January but had to give additional documents afterwards, delaying their visa. Then COVID hit, delaying their case even more until yesterday morning when the embassy emailed them stating:

 

"Although routine consular services remain suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local conditions now permit renewed processing of expedited, mission-critical immigrant visa cases, including your case"

 

Then asked for another police report and medical exam. No word on any interviews being scheduled as of yet, however.

I saw that on Reddit too! I was actually the commenter who initially asked for more info. Hopefully they can start K1 processing soon

[travusb 69]

1 hour ago, JacobP said:

Apparently Montreal may be doing something. Someone on Reddit posted they had a CR-1/IR-1 interview in January but had to give additional documents afterwards, delaying their visa. Then COVID hit, delaying their case even more until yesterday morning when the embassy emailed them stating:

 

"Although routine consular services remain suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, local conditions now permit renewed processing of expedited, mission-critical immigrant visa cases, including your case"

 

Then asked for another police report and medical exam. No word on any interviews being scheduled as of yet, however.

 

1 hour ago, pooj97 said:

I saw that on Reddit too! I was actually the commenter who initially asked for more info. Hopefully they can start K1 processing soon

Can one of you provide a link please? Thanks!

[DGF 730]

 

7 minutes ago, travusb said:

Can one of you provide a link please? Thanks!

This might get removed because mods sometimes remove social media links, but here it is:

https://www.reddit.com/r/immigration/comments/hs9sws/montréal_embassy_now_starting_starting_to_process/

 

[Ver&S 10]

I guess I got the angry person answering my emails, instead. I asked since the State Department had stated that consulates could potentially start resuming services on the 15th if Montreal would post announcements on their website regarding what they were processing (i.e. mission critical only, etc.) since the State dept. indicated we should contact the consulate for further details. This is what I got:

Quote

We are currently still unable to predict when we will resume routine visa services. For further information about suspension of routine visa services, applicants should visit the Department of State website at: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/News/visas-news/suspension-of-routine-visa-services.html  

You could tell from the rest of the email the tone wasn't exactly 'polite'. This is the last time I will bother contacting them, I'm not going to waste my time anymore. I'm glad we are hearing from others that they may be processing some emergencies at least? There weren't any CR1s issued from Montreal in May, they haven't posted their June stats yet.

Edited July 18, 2020 by Ver&S

[NikLR 13,227]

Yea the consulate is open for US emergency services ONLY. It's just not open for routine visa services. So If a USC was stuck in Canada and they couldn't cross the border due to zero ID or something like that, the US consulate in Montreal could help them, but that's it. 

 

Considering the jump in cases right now down in the the USA and even in Canada, (which I predicted would happen with all the protesting) the border will remain closed and thus visa services will remain closed.  I think they should start doing IR1/CR1 (and IR2/CR2) and the backlogged and cancelled K1.  Maybe any cancelled immigrant visa whose medical may expire? But child and spousal visas seem important.  I dunno, I wouldnt want my family to come into this hole right now though.  You'd definitely need medical insurance asap! 

[pooj97 89]

10 minutes ago, NikLR said:

Yea the consulate is open for US emergency services ONLY. It's just not open for routine visa services. So If a USC was stuck in Canada and they couldn't cross the border due to zero ID or something like that, the US consulate in Montreal could help them, but that's it. 

 

Considering the jump in cases right now down in the the USA and even in Canada, (which I predicted would happen with all the protesting) the border will remain closed and thus visa services will remain closed.  I think they should start doing IR1/CR1 (and IR2/CR2) and the backlogged and cancelled K1.  Maybe any cancelled immigrant visa whose medical may expire? But child and spousal visas seem important.  I dunno, I wouldnt want my family to come into this hole right now though.  You'd definitely need medical insurance asap! 

I feel like they should be doing something about it though to start up interviews. They can’t stay closed forever! They can easily just require masks, put up plexiglass (which I’ve heard they already have), and enforce social distancing. I just don’t understand what the holdup is. I definitely am scared about a spike in cases but they can’t remain closed forever because of that