part IV, the big IR1/CR1 DQ'd message group...

[ClemsonC 62]

Can we submit the Ontario  “Certified Copy of the Birth Registration” ?

[Ontarkie 14,226]

43 minutes ago, ClemsonC said:

Can we submit the Ontario  “Certified Copy of the Birth Registration” ?

Yes, that is what they want 

[krzz 5]

12 hours ago, JSmith15 said:

Is the entrance to the Montreal Consulate on Saint-Catherine St.? Anything we need to know other than walk in thru the entrance on Saint-Catherine St.?

I believe so.

Good luck for your interview today, My mum has hers as well! 

 

 

[Ayc610 10]

Hi all,

 

I had my interview this morning (June 1) and was approved. The VJ forum has been immensely helpful to me throughout this journey and I thought I would share my experience in case it would benefit anyone else. Please let me know if I should post this in a different forum instead.

 

For the most part, my interview experience was quite similar to what other VJers have shared. Here's a rough order of events:

• Arrive ~5 min prior to your appointment time. They would not let you in before that. My interview was at 7:45am; I got there at 7:40 and there were a bunch of people lining up in front of me with appointment times at 8 or later. They let me in and the rest had to wait outside until it's almost their scheduled time.
• Check in and security check - they issue you a ticket number at check in and put a sticker at the back of your passport (I believe for shipping purposes). They have tiny lockers to store things like cellphone, car keys, smart watches, etc. Do not bring any big electronics or big purses. 
• 1st call to the window: provide documentation (see more below) and answer some basic questions
• 2nd call to the window: oath, Q&A, return of documents and next steps

Documents requested:

• Ticket number (that you received at check in)
• Interview letter 
• Passport 
• Marriage certificate
• Birth certificate 
• Police certificate (note: the officer asked whether I had an updated police certificate for Canada as mine was done in March 2021. I said no as my understanding is it is valid for 2 years. He did not make any comment to my statement, but he did step away to speak to someone else, presumably about this. It made me super nervous while I was waiting for them to review my documents!! But this never came up when I was called back for the second time for the actual interview so I guess it was not an issue)
• Updated tax forms for the petitioner (my husband has not yet received his 2021 tax transcript, so I gave them his 2021 tax return and 2021 W2 and there were no issues)
• 1 passport photo, which they returned to me after scanning

Q&A

• Your name / DOB 
• Your petitioner's name, what he does for work, status in the US
• Address where you will be staying in the US 
• When/where did you get married (anniversary date), how did you meet and how long have you known each other 
• Is this you / your husband's first marriage
• Do you / your husband have any children
• What do you do for work
• Where have you travelled to in the last 5 years 
• What is the longest period (approximately) you've stayed in the US 
• Have you ever been arrested / denied for entry / turned around at the border 
• Any questions about the pamphlet

At the end of the interview, the officer said they would be issuing me a visa and I should expect to get my passport back within 2 weeks. They kept my passport and the original police certificates and gave me back my marriage/birth certificates. The officer told me it would take about 2 weeks to get my passport back but I already received a tracking number at noon ET today with ETA of June 3, what a pleasant surprise! It was such a relief to get this over with!

 

Final thoughts: I was extremely anxious (couldn't sleep much leading up to the interview) and kept worrying about whether I've missed anything. Turns out that things will eventually work out as long as you do your homework (which you definitely are if you are in this forum). Good luck all!! 

 

P.S. I have not provided my timeline as mine was a bit distorted given I was initially in the F2A category and was only upgraded to IR1 recently when my husband became a US citizen. Happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful though.

[krzz 5]

6 hours ago, Ayc610 said:

Hi all,

 

I had my interview this morning (June 1) and was approved. The VJ forum has been immensely helpful to me throughout this journey and I thought I would share my experience in case it would benefit anyone else. Please let me know if I should post this in a different forum instead.

 

For the most part, my interview experience was quite similar to what other VJers have shared. Here's a rough order of events:

• Arrive ~5 min prior to your appointment time. They would not let you in before that. My interview was at 7:45am; I got there at 7:40 and there were a bunch of people lining up in front of me with appointment times at 8 or later. They let me in and the rest had to wait outside until it's almost their scheduled time.
• Check in and security check - they issue you a ticket number at check in and put a sticker at the back of your passport (I believe for shipping purposes). They have tiny lockers to store things like cellphone, car keys, smart watches, etc. Do not bring any big electronics or big purses. 
• 1st call to the window: provide documentation (see more below) and answer some basic questions
• 2nd call to the window: oath, Q&A, return of documents and next steps

Documents requested:

• Ticket number (that you received at check in)
• Interview letter 
• Passport 
• Marriage certificate
• Birth certificate 
• Police certificate (note: the officer asked whether I had an updated police certificate for Canada as mine was done in March 2021. I said no as my understanding is it is valid for 2 years. He did not make any comment to my statement, but he did step away to speak to someone else, presumably about this. It made me super nervous while I was waiting for them to review my documents!! But this never came up when I was called back for the second time for the actual interview so I guess it was not an issue)
• Updated tax forms for the petitioner (my husband has not yet received his 2021 tax transcript, so I gave them his 2021 tax return and 2021 W2 and there were no issues)
• 1 passport photo, which they returned to me after scanning

Q&A

• Your name / DOB 
• Your petitioner's name, what he does for work, status in the US
• Address where you will be staying in the US 
• When/where did you get married (anniversary date), how did you meet and how long have you known each other 
• Is this you / your husband's first marriage
• Do you / your husband have any children
• What do you do for work
• Where have you travelled to in the last 5 years 
• What is the longest period (approximately) you've stayed in the US 
• Have you ever been arrested / denied for entry / turned around at the border 
• Any questions about the pamphlet

At the end of the interview, the officer said they would be issuing me a visa and I should expect to get my passport back within 2 weeks. They kept my passport and the original police certificates and gave me back my marriage/birth certificates. The officer told me it would take about 2 weeks to get my passport back but I already received a tracking number at noon ET today with ETA of June 3, what a pleasant surprise! It was such a relief to get this over with!

 

Final thoughts: I was extremely anxious (couldn't sleep much leading up to the interview) and kept worrying about whether I've missed anything. Turns out that things will eventually work out as long as you do your homework (which you definitely are if you are in this forum). Good luck all!! 

 

P.S. I have not provided my timeline as mine was a bit distorted given I was initially in the F2A category and was only upgraded to IR1 recently when my husband became a US citizen. Happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful though.

congratulations!!

 

How did you get the tracking info? email? text? both?

[Ayc610 10]

2 hours ago, krzz said:

congratulations!!

 

How did you get the tracking info? email? text? both?

Thanks! I got it by email from Canada Post. 

[QCCT 6]

12 hours ago, Ayc610 said:

Hi all,

 

I had my interview this morning (June 1) and was approved. The VJ forum has been immensely helpful to me throughout this journey and I thought I would share my experience in case it would benefit anyone else. Please let me know if I should post this in a different forum instead.

 

For the most part, my interview experience was quite similar to what other VJers have shared. Here's a rough order of events:

• Arrive ~5 min prior to your appointment time. They would not let you in before that. My interview was at 7:45am; I got there at 7:40 and there were a bunch of people lining up in front of me with appointment times at 8 or later. They let me in and the rest had to wait outside until it's almost their scheduled time.
• Check in and security check - they issue you a ticket number at check in and put a sticker at the back of your passport (I believe for shipping purposes). They have tiny lockers to store things like cellphone, car keys, smart watches, etc. Do not bring any big electronics or big purses. 
• 1st call to the window: provide documentation (see more below) and answer some basic questions
• 2nd call to the window: oath, Q&A, return of documents and next steps

Documents requested:

• Ticket number (that you received at check in)
• Interview letter 
• Passport 
• Marriage certificate
• Birth certificate 
• Police certificate (note: the officer asked whether I had an updated police certificate for Canada as mine was done in March 2021. I said no as my understanding is it is valid for 2 years. He did not make any comment to my statement, but he did step away to speak to someone else, presumably about this. It made me super nervous while I was waiting for them to review my documents!! But this never came up when I was called back for the second time for the actual interview so I guess it was not an issue)
• Updated tax forms for the petitioner (my husband has not yet received his 2021 tax transcript, so I gave them his 2021 tax return and 2021 W2 and there were no issues)
• 1 passport photo, which they returned to me after scanning

Q&A

• Your name / DOB 
• Your petitioner's name, what he does for work, status in the US
• Address where you will be staying in the US 
• When/where did you get married (anniversary date), how did you meet and how long have you known each other 
• Is this you / your husband's first marriage
• Do you / your husband have any children
• What do you do for work
• Where have you travelled to in the last 5 years 
• What is the longest period (approximately) you've stayed in the US 
• Have you ever been arrested / denied for entry / turned around at the border 
• Any questions about the pamphlet

At the end of the interview, the officer said they would be issuing me a visa and I should expect to get my passport back within 2 weeks. They kept my passport and the original police certificates and gave me back my marriage/birth certificates. The officer told me it would take about 2 weeks to get my passport back but I already received a tracking number at noon ET today with ETA of June 3, what a pleasant surprise! It was such a relief to get this over with!

 

Final thoughts: I was extremely anxious (couldn't sleep much leading up to the interview) and kept worrying about whether I've missed anything. Turns out that things will eventually work out as long as you do your homework (which you definitely are if you are in this forum). Good luck all!! 

 

P.S. I have not provided my timeline as mine was a bit distorted given I was initially in the F2A category and was only upgraded to IR1 recently when my husband became a US citizen. Happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful though.

Thanks so much for sharing! We are in the exact same process. I just got my husband's petition upgraded from F2A to IR-1. After 3 years of waiting, we are really eager to finally be able to live together as a family. Can you share the time it took between the petition upgrade and the IL? Thank you and huge congrats!!!

[Ayc610 10]

3 hours ago, QCCT said:

Thanks so much for sharing! We are in the exact same process. I just got my husband's petition upgraded from F2A to IR-1. After 3 years of waiting, we are really eager to finally be able to live together as a family. Can you share the time it took between the petition upgrade and the IL? Thank you and huge congrats!!!

Wow that’s so great to hear! We received NVC’s confirmation of the upgrade in mid April, and I got the IL in early May - about 2 weeks time. We were DQ’d in July 2021, so it looks like they put us right onto the top of the pile after we were upgraded. Good luck - you are nearly there!! 

[randy1randerson 15]

Bit of feedback regarding booking the medical in Montreal (Telus Health):

 

It was very difficult to get an appointment. I had to call multiple times to be told there was nothing available. It seems like doctors are giving availabilities about 4 weeks out, and there are very few slots that become available. I was told to keep calling every day in the morning between 8 and 9 to try and get new availabilities or cancellations.

 

Staff is friendly, and used to people calling back again and again. They seem to be aware that their capacity is lower than the demand for medicals. They actually recommended I call up the Toronto-approved physicians to schedule an appointment, which is kinda wild!

 

Finally, earlier this week after a few tries, I was able to get an appointment for the end of June, surprisingly cutting it pretty close with my mid-July interview (apprently takes 5-7 business days to get the results to the consulate).

 

July interviewees seem to be an oddity in that we had about 45 days between IL and actual interview... Can't imagine how tough it'd be to get an appointment with the usual 30 day window between IL and interview. If it takes 7 days to get an appointment within a 28 day timeframe, there's no way one can schedule that medical in time for the interview.

 

Now I don't know if summer vacations are creating an extra reduced capacity...

 

TL;DR: Don't delay in booking your medical, and call back every single day to try and get in a cancellation/new availability

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

6 minutes ago, randy1randerson said:

Bit of feedback regarding booking the medical in Montreal (Telus Health):

 

It was very difficult to get an appointment. I had to call multiple times to be told there was nothing available. It seems like doctors are giving availabilities about 4 weeks out, and there are very few slots that become available. I was told to keep calling every day in the morning between 8 and 9 to try and get new availabilities or cancellations.

 

Staff is friendly, and used to people calling back again and again. They seem to be aware that their capacity is lower than the demand for medicals. They actually recommended I call up the Toronto-approved physicians to schedule an appointment, which is kinda wild!

 

Finally, earlier this week after a few tries, I was able to get an appointment for the end of June, surprisingly cutting it pretty close with my mid-July interview (apprently takes 5-7 business days to get the results to the consulate).

 

July interviewees seem to be an oddity in that we had about 45 days between IL and actual interview... Can't imagine how tough it'd be to get an appointment with the usual 30 day window between IL and interview. If it takes 7 days to get an appointment within a 28 day timeframe, there's no way one can schedule that medical in time for the interview.

 

Now I don't know if summer vacations are creating an extra reduced capacity...

 

TL;DR: Don't delay in booking your medical, and call back every single day to try and get in a cancellation/new availability

Sounds like a nightmare getting an appointment at Telus Montreal.

 

When I called to book an appointment for a medical at Dr Mascaranhes in Toronto, I got one within the same week of my call on the very first try.

 

Note - they say it takes 5 -7 business days, and sometimes it’s true, but it has been known in the past to take longer, as much as 3 weeks.

[mam521 2,062]

On 6/1/2022 at 4:17 PM, Ayc610 said:

P.S. I have not provided my timeline as mine was a bit distorted given I was initially in the F2A category and was only upgraded to IR1 recently when my husband became a US citizen. Happy to answer any questions if it would be helpful though.

 

On 6/2/2022 at 5:02 AM, QCCT said:

Thanks so much for sharing! We are in the exact same process. I just got my husband's petition upgraded from F2A to IR-1. After 3 years of waiting, we are really eager to finally be able to live together as a family. Can you share the time it took between the petition upgrade and the IL? Thank you and huge congrats!!!

 

Our case was similar - hubs got his citizenship while in the process.  Just fill out the timeline as IR/CR-1 and put a note in the comments.  I think it helps to know there are a few people that "upgrade" petitions and it would be nice to know if they were upgraded at USCIS stage or NVC.  In my case, we were still at the USCIS stage.  Regardless, I had Kid1 and Kid2 to contend with, so the "upgrade" meant having to fill in I-130's for each child because they were initially derivatives on the F2 application and request expedites to catch their petitions up to mine.  

 

[Dawgydawgworld 20]

CR1 category DQ’d April 15th. I noticed there was IL’s sent out to other categories yesterday. Has there been any IL’s sent yesterday or today for CR1’s DQ’d in April? I’m waiting with great anticipation!! 🙂

[ThisIsHell 15]

Does the interview letter come through physical mail or email? 

thanks 

[mam521 2,062]

4 hours ago, Dawgydawgworld said:

CR1 category DQ’d April 15th. I noticed there was IL’s sent out to other categories yesterday. Has there been any IL’s sent yesterday or today for CR1’s DQ’d in April? I’m waiting with great anticipation!! 🙂

I think the last ones went out May 24, so probably a bit early for the IR/CR category. 

 

31 minutes ago, SamuelR said:

Does the interview letter come through physical mail or email? 

thanks 

E-mail.  

[X_P 6]

On 6/3/2022 at 6:04 AM, From_CAN_2_US said:

Sounds like a nightmare getting an appointment at Telus Montreal.

 

When I called to book an appointment for a medical at Dr Mascaranhes in Toronto, I got one within the same week of my call on the very first try.

 

Note - they say it takes 5 -7 business days, and sometimes it’s true, but it has been known in the past to take longer, as much as 3 weeks.

would it make sense to book our medical appointment even though we haven't received our IL yet? expecting to receive by the end of this month or early next month. my husband travels for work so scheduling to fly to montreal or toronto for both the interview and the medical is already going to be tricky.