IR-1/CR-1 Montreal DQ'd private message group goes public

[Hawk Riders 814]

44 minutes ago, jstriders said:

My husband told me that the issue was because the consul at the time just didn’t care about doing her job. She is a socialite and was spending more time away from the office and Canada altogether.

She was under investigation last summer and resigned shortly thereafter.

He read something about it somewhere...

Robert W. Thomas had the post before Ana--it's a 3-yr appointment.

https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-consul-general-robert-w-thomas-begins-posting-montreal/

Edited October 7, 2020 by Hawk Riders

[betzzymathew 20]

6 hours ago, Hawk Riders said:

Robert W. Thomas had the post before Ana--it's a 3-yr appointment.

https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-consul-general-robert-w-thomas-begins-posting-montreal/

I think Op is speaking about ambassador Kelly

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/22/kelly-craft-ambassador-canada-absence-1426702

[jstriders 70]

7 hours ago, Hawk Riders said:

Robert W. Thomas had the post before Ana--it's a 3-yr appointment.

https://ca.usembassy.gov/u-s-consul-general-robert-w-thomas-begins-posting-montreal/

Sorry, my bad. Not the consul, but ambassador.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly_Craft

[US-EH 43]

Does anyone on here know how long the Green Card is taking to arrive after entering US? Will the social security card come around that time or do we have to take green card to ss office in order to get?

[kburbasaur 60]

I'm approved!!!

 

The whole process only took about 75 minutes. They asked for:

-birth certificate

-passport photos

-divorce decree

-marriage certificate

-police certificates (I had them for Canada, UK and UAE)

 

After the first window and taking biometrics, I was told to wait until I was called for the 'interview' portion.

 

Questions I was asked was:

-Where did you meet and when?

-How often did you see each other?  (since he was in the US and you in Dubai?)

-When did you get married?

-What husband does for a living?

-Is this both of your first marriages?

-Current US address 

 

Because my medical expires on October 16, he strongly advised me to pick up my visa in-person at the consulate, so I'll do that as soon as it's ready.

 

It was streamlined process all in all.

 

[ONtoHOU 228]

6 minutes ago, kburbasaur said:

I'm approved!!!

 

The whole process only took about 75 minutes. They asked for:

-birth certificate

-passport photos

-divorce decree

-marriage certificate

-police certificates (I had them for Canada, UK and UAE)

 

After the first window and taking biometrics, I was told to wait until I was called for the 'interview' portion.

 

Questions I was asked was:

-Where did you meet and when?

-How often did you see each other?  (since he was in the US and you in Dubai?)

-When did you get married?

-What husband does for a living?

-Is this both of your first marriages?

-Current US address 

 

Because my medical expires on October 16, he strongly advised me to pick up my visa in-person at the consulate, so I'll do that as soon as it's ready.

 

It was streamlined process all in all.

 

Congrats!!!  

[jackanddeona 310]

13 hours ago, Todd@Alya said:

I’m glad people are starting to talk about suing the Consulate here, since they are running way behind from staying closed longer than reasonable and now are prioritizing K1s over spousal interviews, which just doesn’t seem right. Not to mention the financial and emotional damage they are doing. I would consider joining a class action if others are interested.  I don’t really know where to start, but perhaps others have investigated the process?

This is in fact false. They scheduled cancelled spousal visas before cancelled k1. We will know in the next week or two whats happening in November.

[DGF 730]

2 hours ago, US-EH said:

Does anyone on here know how long the Green Card is taking to arrive after entering US? Will the social security card come around that time or do we have to take green card to ss office in order to get?

The green card will take quite a while to arrive (I believe they say to contact them if you haven't got it in 120 days) but the stamped visa in your passport is effectively your green card for a year (or until your actual green card arrives, whichever is first) and will be sufficient to show as proof of status for the SSA, DMV, bank, etc. Social security card should come within the first month if they process it correctly.

[murrv 8]

Thank you everyone for your advice about the passport photos. I am going to get them redone this weekend!

 

I have one more question: I made a photobook of our pictures together for proof of our relationship. It is a leather bound printed photo album. Does anyone know if I'll have any trouble bringing that into the embassy? 

[Kimchi 190]

2 minutes ago, murrv said:

Thank you everyone for your advice about the passport photos. I am going to get them redone this weekend!

 

I have one more question: I made a photobook of our pictures together for proof of our relationship. It is a leather bound printed photo album. Does anyone know if I'll have any trouble bringing that into the embassy? 

No it’s just electronics you can’t bring (they have to be locked up)

[Rose__ 303]

19 minutes ago, DGF said:

The green card will take quite a while to arrive (I believe they say to contact them if you haven't got it in 120 days) but the stamped visa in your passport is effectively your green card for a year (or until your actual green card arrives, whichever is first) and will be sufficient to show as proof of status for the SSA, DMV, bank, etc. Social security card should come within the first month if they process it correctly.

Do you guys know if the DMV typically agrees to issuing your licence in your married name, if your visa is in your maiden name but you bring a marriage certificate? USC can show up with their marriage certificate and have their names changed so hopefully we can too...

My French passport has both my maiden and married name on it yet they issued my visa in my maiden name only - which they told me they would at the interview, I didn’t want to argue but it’s still a big pain.

[Cath&Claire 150]

29 minutes ago, jackanddeona said:

This is in fact false. They scheduled cancelled spousal visas before cancelled k1. We will know in the next week or two whats happening in November.

The wait time is ridiculous for either category. I was just reading on the Australia/New Zealand forum - people getting expedited for being pregnant, people stating the longest they’ve seen anyone wait for an interview is 3 months, and someone DQ’d in July already has an interview scheduled.  Canadians have been marrying USC’s for decades. This isn’t a new phenomenon.  Staffing and a process in place to move interviews along in a timely manner is required! I will have my wife email her senator’s yet again. The advocacy for family reunification group on Facebook has done a great job being outspoken. So for anyone who has the time, please continue to email your government representatives.   The current delay is beyond reasonable, let alone the 5 months it was pre 🦠.   

[Japples 31]

1 minute ago, Cath&Claire said:

The wait time is ridiculous for either category. I was just reading on the Australia/New Zealand forum - people getting expedited for being pregnant, people stating the longest they’ve seen anyone wait for an interview is 3 months, and someone DQ’d in July already has an interview scheduled.  Canadians have been marrying USC’s for decades. This isn’t a new phenomenon.  Staffing and a process in place to move interviews along in a timely manner is required! I will have my wife email her senator’s yet again. The advocacy for family reunification group on Facebook has done a great job being outspoken. So for anyone who has the time, please continue to email your government representatives.   The current delay is beyond reasonable, let alone the 5 months it was pre 🦠.   

Seems like MTL consulate is one of the slowest. Could be volume but i feel like they are also poorly organized.

[jackanddeona 310]

26 minutes ago, Cath&Claire said:

The wait time is ridiculous for either category. I was just reading on the Australia/New Zealand forum - people getting expedited for being pregnant, people stating the longest they’ve seen anyone wait for an interview is 3 months, and someone DQ’d in July already has an interview scheduled.  Canadians have been marrying USC’s for decades. This isn’t a new phenomenon.  Staffing and a process in place to move interviews along in a timely manner is required! I will have my wife email her senator’s yet again. The advocacy for family reunification group on Facebook has done a great job being outspoken. So for anyone who has the time, please continue to email your government representatives.   The current delay is beyond reasonable, let alone the 5 months it was pre 🦠.   

I was referring to k1's being prioritized. They have not been since reopening. I'll wait to see what happens in November before assuming they are somehow ahead of us. On the legal aspect of all of this I definitely don't know enough about law and what is actually a required service for USC but I have a gut feeling that a quick immigration process isn't one of them. I'm stuck here just like everyone else but I don't really see the logic behind trying to sue them. Also people have been contacting representatives for months and nothing has really changed. 

 

In regards to comparisons with other countries Canada has the closest ties with USA, being physically connected and the visas we have access to are some of the most lenient in the world for visiting each other. It is so much easier being able to see each other for up to 6 months at a time with no visa application. Obviously covid changed that. Is there problems at the montreal consulate in comparison to other ones around the world? Maybe. I don't really see the point in trying to fix it. I highly doubt a court would set a time limit on an immigration timeline and we have already seen that American politicians don't seem to have any way to change things here. 

 

People can do what they want I'm not saying anyone is wrong for trying. If that is something you want to do then by all means you should. What I don't agree with is the narrative that K1 visas were prioritized or that they should be below spousal visas. Getting to the states is the first part of an even longer process for them where the spouse doesn't even have the right to work until they are done. I also believe their relationships are just as important to them as mine is to me. I could have done a K1 just like everyone here but chose not to based on a number of reasons. Maybe if I had known about covid I would have chose differently. Hindsight is 20/20. But, if I had, I vehemently disagree with the people here who are implying that it would make my relationship and immigration application somehow less important 

Edited October 7, 2020 by jackanddeona

[arae 81]

5 minutes ago, jackanddeona said:

People can do what they want I'm not saying anyone is wrong for trying. If that is something you want to do then by all means you should. What I don't agree with is the narrative that K1 visas were prioritized or that they should be below spousal visas. Getting to the states is the first part of an even longer process for them where the spouse doesn't even have the right to work until they are done. I also believe their relationships are just as important to them as mine is to me. I could have done a K1 just like everyone here but chose not to based on a number of reasons. Maybe if I had known about covid I would have chose differently. Hindsight is 20/20. But, if I had, I vehemently disagree with the people here who are implying that it would make my relationship and immigration application somehow less important 

Just commenting to say I appreciate this stance given all of the unnecessary vitriol toward K1 folks. We've all had an absolutely exhausting process. Nothing has been fair about any of this.  To shame one group for getting processed before others, especially when we're all literally in the same exact boat at MTL, is discouraging. We should be cheering each other on as we all work toward our final goal of starting our lives with our partners. All of us had our reasons for choosing the visa route that we chose. We are all still family regardless of which process we're in.