IR-1/CR-1 Montreal DQ'd private message group goes public part 3

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

53 minutes ago, Shumai84 said:

https://twitter.com/usconsmontreal/status/1400846054111674368

Here is the link to the second video.

Thank you very much.

 

Yes, the second video makes things a lot more clearer.

 

It sounds to me like the Consulate is sending a definitive message (repeatedly) that with the direction from DoS to treat IR1/CR1 and K1 with equal priority, the consulate is now working on bringing the proportionate backlog of all categories in tier 2 to the same level. K1 had more backlog than IR1/CR1 before, so they stopped scheduling those and focused on K1. (Reference to this is when she said it doesn’t always align perfectly). Going forward (August onwards), I think, thé consulate will schedule K1 interviews and CR1/IR1 (and parental and child) interviews concurrently to maintain equal proportion of Backlogs in all categories. In the process of achieving equal proportion of backlog of all categories, the backlog for CR1/IR1 may increase, atleast in the short term. However, I believe they will strive to reduce that backlog in all categories once they are able to interview more applicants per day with COVID measures easing up.

 

 

The good news is - with more cases of CR1/IR1, going forward, there will be more interviews for CR1/IR1 than for K1 per month...

 

 

Edited June 6, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[YYZ&MIA 117]

1 hour ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

I flew to thé US, quarantined for 14 days, got married on the 15th day and drove back to Canada on the 17th day.

 

At first we thought that marrying in the US with a visitor/ tourist visa is illegal, so were waiting for the border to open so he could come to Canada and we get married here in Toronto. When that didn’t happen after waiting several months, we started looking at other options. We came up with some wild ideas such as marrying at the border, marrying at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House at the border, marrying on a boat on the waters at Niagara Falls. None of these were workable because they didn’t meet the laws to make the marriage legal or weren’t in operation due to COVID.

 

We hatched a plan to fly across the country and get married at the Peace Arch Park, which was something many couples were/ are doing during the pandemic, but at that point we consulted a lawyer and he advised us that we were mistaken. As Long as the intent was for me not to stay in thé US and AOS after the marriage, it was perfectly legal to enter thé US on a visitor visa, marry a USC,  then return and apply for CR1.

 

After a lot of Meetings and back and forth with my employer to convince them to approve my time off (took 2-3 months) I finally got approval to take a little more than 2 weeks off to make the marriage happen at City Hall with my mother-in-law as the sole attendee.

 

We planned the entire wedding - ordering dress, rings, supplies and all the attire etc while I was in quarantine. Makeup, hair, flowers and even wedding cake was all DIY. It was PERFECT 😊

 

FYI we looked into Zoom weddings. From what we found out it for marriages in the United States, it wouldn’t be a legal marriage unless bride and groom were Physically present in the same state. The officiant Doesn’t havé to be in the same location as the bride and/groom. Maybe different for marriages conducted in other countries.

That makes sense! Thank you so much for sharing and of course congratulations!!! 

[YYZ&MIA 117]

On 6/5/2021 at 1:02 AM, Nikasalts said:

Hi guys

Do you know what I'll need to get US drivers license?

Am I going to need to have my Canadian license renewed? I have over 20 years of driving and insurance history but ICBC is becoming such a nuisance that I'm wondering if I have to renew my license in order to get an American one later on this year? Any info? 

Many thanks 

 

Since the topic of drivers license came up!
I just realized that my Canadian drivers license expired in 2019... (Ontario) 🤦‍♀️
I am assuming that will be a problem when applying for a US drivers license (Florida)
Can anyone offer their experience or advice on this? Thank you in advance 

[DMV 18]

2 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

Thank you very much.

 

Yes, the second video makes things a lot more clearer.

 

It sounds to me like the Consulate is sending a definitive message (repeatedly) that with the direction from DoS to treat IR1/CR1 and K1 with equal priority, the consulate is now working on bringing the proportionate backlog of all categories in tier 2 to the same level. K1 had more backlog than IR1/CR1 before, so they stopped scheduling those and focused on K1. (Reference to this is when she said it doesn’t always align perfectly). Going forward (August onwards), I think, thé consulate will schedule K1 interviews and CR1/IR1 (and parental and child) interviews concurrently to maintain equal proportion of Backlogs in all categories. In the process of achieving equal proportion of backlog of all categories, the backlog for CR1/IR1 may increase, atleast in the short term. However, I believe they will strive to reduce that backlog in all categories once they are able to interview more applicants per day with COVID measures easing up.

 

 

The good news is - with more cases of CR1/IR1, going forward, there will be more interviews for CR1/IR1 than for K1 per month...

 

 

 

I'm confused. Aren't they trying to match the NVC dates for IR1/CR1 (DQ) and K1 (NVC left date)? From the K1 spreadsheet it seems like the NVC left date for K1 is up to April (MTL-K1 2020 Backlog (ONLY FOR K1 APPLICANTS) - Google Sheets). Also just to clarify the interview dates (for IR-1) are based on the DQ date and not the I-130 NOA-2, right?

[Shumai84 157]

2 hours ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

Thank you very much.

 

Yes, the second video makes things a lot more clearer.

 

It sounds to me like the Consulate is sending a definitive message (repeatedly) that with the direction from DoS to treat IR1/CR1 and K1 with equal priority, the consulate is now working on bringing the proportionate backlog of all categories in tier 2 to the same level. K1 had more backlog than IR1/CR1 before, so they stopped scheduling those and focused on K1. (Reference to this is when she said it doesn’t always align perfectly). Going forward (August onwards), I think, thé consulate will schedule K1 interviews and CR1/IR1 (and parental and child) interviews concurrently to maintain equal proportion of Backlogs in all categories. In the process of achieving equal proportion of backlog of all categories, the backlog for CR1/IR1 may increase, atleast in the short term. However, I believe they will strive to reduce that backlog in all categories once they are able to interview more applicants per day with COVID measures easing up.

 

 

The good news is - with more cases of CR1/IR1, going forward, there will be more interviews for CR1/IR1 than for K1 per month...

 

 

It's only our speculation and we never know what's happening inside the consulate, but if they are suspending spousal all together just to catch up with K1, I think it's an unjust and poor approach to follow the guideline from DoS. If they are suspending spousal till August, it means there is no interview for spousal almost for THREE MONTHS, and our wait time since our DQ dates will reach almost A YEAR. 

Prior to the 4/30 announcement, they were instructed to prioritize on spousal over K1, but they were still processing K1 in a smaller volume. 

 

I'm not 100% sure of what date is considered as "DQ" date in K1, but if NOA2 date is considered as DQ, it looks like NVC is the process of scheduling K1 interviews for those with DQ dates from June to all the way to December 2020. I'm Sep DQ for IR1 and still left in the dark. This is beyond frustrating. 

[Kai G. Llewellyn 837]

God, I'ma be so frigging annoyed if our cases are delayed to August/September. I mean honestly, I wish they would give us some idea, because if it's gonna be a few more months I'd rather fly down to the US for awhile and at least see some of my friends that I haven't seen in two years now. But it's awkward because it's possible to be called back for an interview with just two weeks notice and that meaning it's impossible to quarantine and fly out to Montreal in time...not to mention the medical. x.x

 

I feel quite sick about it, had Montreal kept up the numbers, I would've been interviewed in May, but noooooo...just as our numbers were about to be called up they had to play games.

Edited June 6, 2021 by Kai (CanadaDude)

[Mintaftertaste 25]

1 hour ago, Kai (CanadaDude) said:

 I mean honestly, I wish they would give us some idea, because if it's gonna be a few more months I'd rather fly down to the US for awhile and at least see some of my friends that I haven't seen in two years now. 

So ...just looked up the prices for airplane tickets

-400-2000 USD-Plus a 8hr travel time with stops

(for a 45 minute one way flight-that cost less than 200USD pre-covid)

-this from yyz-phl-for ex

Quote

 

I feel quite sick about it, had Montreal kept up the numbers, I would've been interviewed in May, but noooooo...just as our numbers were about to be called up they had to play games.

I will be very pissed if there is NONE CR-1/IR-1 interviews for 3 months.

I don't recall NO K-1 interviews for the months that they were prioritizing us. They always did a handful-so do a handful of us now. 

Do some. Not none.

We need a balance.

 

Also by what date can we be certain that they won't schedule us for next month either?

The third week of this month?

Edited June 6, 2021 by Mintaftertaste

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

3 hours ago, DMV said:

 

I'm confused. Aren't they trying to match the NVC dates for IR1/CR1 (DQ) and K1 (NVC left date)? From the K1 spreadsheet it seems like the NVC left date for K1 is up to April (MTL-K1 2020 Backlog (ONLY FOR K1 APPLICANTS) - Google Sheets). Also just to clarify the interview dates (for IR-1) are based on the DQ date and not the I-130 NOA-2, right?

I was going by what the lady said in the first video. She said (paraphrasing) that the interviews in May for IR1/CR1 are for those who DQ’d (ready for scheduling) in July/August 2020, and the cases they just requested from NVC for K1 (which I assume are thé interviews they are scheduling now) were ready in the same time frame. 

 

I do not know what K1 DQ milestone is.

[Twiz&Toz 240]

I wouldn’t be surprised if there holding out bc of vaccination rates 

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

3 hours ago, Shumai84 said:

It's only our speculation and we never know what's happening inside the consulate, but if they are suspending spousal all together just to catch up with K1, I think it's an unjust and poor approach to follow the guideline from DoS. If they are suspending spousal till August, it means there is no interview for spousal almost for THREE MONTHS, and our wait time since our DQ dates will reach almost A YEAR. 

Prior to the 4/30 announcement, they were instructed to prioritize on spousal over K1, but they were still processing K1 in a smaller volume. 

 

I'm not 100% sure of what date is considered as "DQ" date in K1, but if NOA2 date is considered as DQ, it looks like NVC is the process of scheduling K1 interviews for those with DQ dates from June to all the way to December 2020. I'm Sep DQ for IR1 and still left in the dark. This is beyond frustrating. 

Yes, unfortunately, there is no 100% clarity. But again, I don’t think IR1/CR1 interviews will necessarily not be scheduled in July. I am just saying that I think the latest they will push it is August. Because they appear to be caught up with K1 back log by then from what she said on the video. 

 

Thé lady said the cases they recently requested from NVC were ready for scheduling in July/ August 2020. The VJ chart shows that the interviews scheduled until July 26, are for those who received NOA2 in May. That’s a Long ways off from Dec 2020. Is it possible that this particular person was expedited and is an anomaly, or are there many with NOA2 after August 2020? 

Edited June 6, 2021 by From_CAN_2_US

[Kai G. Llewellyn 837]

2 hours ago, Mintaftertaste said:

So ...just looked up the prices for airplane tickets

-400-2000 USD-Plus a 8hr travel time with stops

(for a 45 minute one way flight-that cost less than 200USD pre-covid)

-this from yyz-phl-for ex

 

Yeah, I recognize it's not gonna be very affordable for all. Alaska Air has around $150-300 one-way from YVR-SEA, so a bit more reasonable over here...still, who knows the US may unilaterally reopen the border to us which'll allow a visit. We shall see..

 

In respect to the latest that we may know, I would say no more than two weeks to the day before the first day of the following month, so for this month that would be June 17th, after that day...IL's would be issued in July.

Edited June 7, 2021 by Kai (CanadaDude)

[Mintaftertaste 25]

1 hour ago, Kai (CanadaDude) said:

Yeah, I recognize it's not gonna be very affordable for all. Alaska Air has around $150-300 one-way from YVR-SEA, so a bit more reasonable over here...still, who knows the US may unilaterally reopen the border to us which'll allow a visit. We shall see..

In order to prove ties to your country-Border officer will expect proof of return ticket. Plus you will get pulled to the side, and go in for secondary screening.

Quote

 

In respect to the latest that we may know, I would say no more than two weeks to the day before the first day of the following month, so for this month that would be June 17th, after that day...IL's would be issued in July.

So there is STILL a chance of anything this upcoming week?

Edited June 7, 2021 by Mintaftertaste

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

1 hour ago, Kai (CanadaDude) said:

Yeah, I recognize it's not gonna be very affordable for all. Alaska Air has around $150-300 one-way from YVR-SEA, so a bit more reasonable over here...still, who knows the US may unilaterally reopen the border to us which'll allow a visit. We shall see..

Governor of New Hampshire announced a few days ago that he would be willing to send vaccines to Canada in exchange for a border reopening, since their supply of vaccines far outweigh the demand. I hope such negotiations will help speed up lifting of border restrictions...

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

9 minutes ago, Mintaftertaste said:

So there is STILL a chance of anything this upcoming week?

I think @Kai (CanadaDude) meant 17th June was the latest date to expect ILs for July... so yes, there is definitely a chance for the coming week.

[Shumai84 157]

45 minutes ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

Governor of New Hampshire announced a few days ago that he would be willing to send vaccines to Canada in exchange for a border reopening, since their supply of vaccines far outweigh the demand. I hope such negotiations will help speed up lifting of border restrictions...

There is no shortage of vaccines in Canada either at this point. That governor is too late in the game to use that as a leverage.