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

[affy 35]

1 hour ago, mam521 said:

This has been discussed at length, many times.  

 

Credit isn't hard to build, once you start.  However, getting started is the difficult part.  See if you can set up a TD cross border banking package and get a US credit card based off of your Canadian credit.  Then, add your Social.  It should allow you to have a much higher credit limit based on your Canadian credit, but will allow you to build US credit.  

 

I've had no issues with Chase bank in the US.  I find them easy to deal with and they are practically everywhere.  My friend banks with Bank of America and seems to have no issues there.  My former mortgage was services through WellsFargo and it was a farce.  Not a huge fan and they've had data breach issues in the past.  

 

Did your lawyer state why your petition was filed as a DCF?  What is the exceptional circumstance for needing the immigrant visa ASAP?  

Hello! I'm very new so I apologize for not knowing all of the acronyms, but not sure what "DCF" stands for? Our lawyers filed us under what they called "exceptional circumstances" as my husband (American Citizen) had a new job beginning in October in USA. That said, I'm not even entirely sure if that is a real thing that exists, or just something our lawyers said to make us feel like there was some urgency.  

[Hawk Riders 814]

55 minutes ago, affy said:

Hello! I'm very new so I apologize for not knowing all of the acronyms, but not sure what "DCF" stands for? 

Direct consular filing, which is not actually on offer via Montreal. Your attorneys may have submitted an expedite request, which seems more likely. New employment is rarely grounds for expedite though, FYI.

[Sharma Ali 36]

1 hour ago, canuckchic said:

Hopping on a plane to Montreal tomorrow morning for my interview on the 7th!

All the best! 

[MJ & FEK 44]

Is there anyone here who was approved for a visa after their interview who is originally from a MENA country and was NOT handed ds5535? My husband and I are trying to remain optimistic for the interview next week, but we are terrified we will recieve this because of his ethnicity. Looking for some optimism if anyone can share.

Edited January 6, 2022 by MJ & FEK

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

3 hours ago, canuckchic said:

Hopping on a plane to Montreal tomorrow morning for my interview on the 7th!

Yay! Good luck. Sending positive vibes for you to get approved on the spot!

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

37 minutes ago, MJ & FEK said:

Is there anyone here who was approved for a visa after their interview who is originally from a MENA country and was NOT handed ds5535? My husband and I are trying to remain optimistic for the interview next week, but we are terrified we will recieve this because of his ethnicity. Looking for some optimism if anyone can share.

I am not a citizen of a MENA country (and never have been), but spent the first 15 years of my life in Bahrain. I also have a Muslim name. I was terrified of the DS-5535, but to my relief, I was approved on the spot.

 

I know it is hard, but try your best to be positive. Prepare, prepare and Over prepare. Do all that is in your power to do and don’t fret over things you can’t control.

 

Best of luck and hope your husband will be approved on the spot.

[DGF 730]

3 hours ago, affy said:

Hello! I'm very new so I apologize for not knowing all of the acronyms, but not sure what "DCF" stands for? Our lawyers filed us under what they called "exceptional circumstances" as my husband (American Citizen) had a new job beginning in October in USA. That said, I'm not even entirely sure if that is a real thing that exists, or just something our lawyers said to make us feel like there was some urgency.  

If your timeline is correct and your I-130 was processed by the Texas Service Center, then you did not file DCF. The other "exceptional circumstance" filing is an expedite, which needs to be requested at every step and each step has different requirements. Considering your I-130 was approved in a month, I fully believe that your lawyers did request an expedite with USCIS that was approved. However, that expedite no longer applies unless they request another expedite, and a new job (unless it is with the military), isn't going to fly as a reason for an expedite for the remaining stages. 

 

Do you have access to CEAC? (The NVC website where the DS-260 was submitted). If so, check if the civil documents have been submitted. Both those AND the DS-260 need to be submitted before the NVC will start reviewing your case. They are currently reviewing cases submitted late September, so you might have a bit of a wait to go still. 

[mam521 2,062]

14 hours ago, affy said:

Hello! I'm very new so I apologize for not knowing all of the acronyms, but not sure what "DCF" stands for? Our lawyers filed us under what they called "exceptional circumstances" as my husband (American Citizen) had a new job beginning in October in USA. That said, I'm not even entirely sure if that is a real thing that exists, or just something our lawyers said to make us feel like there was some urgency.  

Echoing Hawk Riders and DGF, an expedite request at the consular level for Montreal is extremely rare. I believe the only ones we've seen expedited in recent times were health care workers. 

 

We're not trying to be negative, but rather realistic.  The immigration process is rather arduous in nature and we don't want people to have false expectations because the disappointment is often a real killer.  This thread started because people needed support and we worked together to build the spreadsheet and attempt to find patterns and sense in the data we managed to collect.  Everyone here is trying to make it to the final play of the game and are supporting one another and those of us that have managed to make it to the other side try to keep hopes alive while managing expectations.   

 

That said, at least you aren't trying to adjust status in the US - man oh man, the delays there are killer!  Work authorizations are taking forever, even with extensions on renewals.  Once you get through the process, consular processing allows you to move and get on with living life, for the most part! 

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

34 minutes ago, mam521 said:

Echoing Hawk Riders and DGF, an expedite request at the consular level for Montreal is extremely rare. I believe the only ones we've seen expedited in recent times were health care workers. 

The ones that were expedited in the last 9 months, were cases where the US citizen spouse living in the US was having medical issues and needed their Canadian spouse to be with them for support and care. One of the applicants happened to be a healthcare worker, but the expedite was not based on their job.

 

I don’t think we have seen any expedites applied with the reason of US spouse relocating from Canada to US for a job in the last 9 months (I might be mistaken)… I always thought that was a good reason, but yeah Montreal is extra strict, so not sure if they think the same. 

[mam521 2,062]

24 minutes ago, From_CAN_2_US said:

The ones that were expedited in the last 9 months, were cases where the US citizen spouse living in the US was having medical issues and needed their Canadian spouse to be with them for support and care. One of the applicants happened to be a healthcare worker, but the expedite was not based on their job.

 

I don’t think we have seen any expedites applied with the reason of US spouse relocating from Canada to US for a job in the last 9 months (I might be mistaken)… I always thought that was a good reason, but yeah Montreal is extra strict, so not sure if they think the same. 

It's extremely rare for Montreal to expedite.  Period.  At the beginning of the pandemic, there were a couple that were health care workers.  I know one of the more recent ones was a nurse and headed to assist her wife who was dealing with mental health crisis. 

 

I tried to expedite on the basis of my job needed me back in the US (my agreed Canadian contract was 9-12 months...it took over 18!), Kid2 really needed the learning team back that helped manage a mood disorder and learning disability (we were in the US on a work visa before I met my husband, so I had to leave to prevent visa overstay while consular processing took place), both kids are GT/AP and were falling behind and, of course, financial hardship of maintaining 2 households in 2 countries.  They said nope, moving along.  It was frustrating because my kids suffered the most.  Kid1 basically had a free year of doing nothing but socializing, being a year ahead of peers.  Kid2 didn't have learning supports in place, despite attempting to have the school in Canada work with the school in the States.  I spent a lot of time fighting with the school district until they got a new behavioral consultant in and she was able to renew my faith that someone cared for a second and despite being resource stricken, finally got Kid2 in line for some help...3 weeks before we moved!  Unfortunately, it didn't come until the beginning of Covid, so Kid2 had support for 1 week before everything moved online, so really, 1 week. Until then, I got phone calls almost daily and called into the principal's office to pick up Kid2 who'd been doing no class work and essentially camping out in the sensory room at school.   

 

To this day, I thank my lucky starts that the consulate didn't close until 4 days after our interview and we still received our passports.  Trying to manage online school for 2 kids as well as pivoting to online work full time while not at home and without having hubs support readily available would have probably sent me into a mental breakdown.  The kids were so relieved to finally get home and back to their own beds after the seemingly endless 18 month hiatus.  I can't imagine being stuck apart longer.  As it was, hubs and I spent a lot of time with the kids playing catch up for school since they ended up behind, all while attempting to manage our own work.  PTSD is real, folks!  

Edited January 6, 2022 by mam521

[affy 35]

1 hour ago, mam521 said:

Echoing Hawk Riders and DGF, an expedite request at the consular level for Montreal is extremely rare. I believe the only ones we've seen expedited in recent times were health care workers. 

 

We're not trying to be negative, but rather realistic.  The immigration process is rather arduous in nature and we don't want people to have false expectations because the disappointment is often a real killer.  This thread started because people needed support and we worked together to build the spreadsheet and attempt to find patterns and sense in the data we managed to collect.  Everyone here is trying to make it to the final play of the game and are supporting one another and those of us that have managed to make it to the other side try to keep hopes alive while managing expectations.   

 

That said, at least you aren't trying to adjust status in the US - man oh man, the delays there are killer!  Work authorizations are taking forever, even with extensions on renewals.  Once you get through the process, consular processing allows you to move and get on with living life, for the most part! 

I just want to thank everyone for sharing their experiences here. My intent for the question was truly just to get an idea if our lawyers were being accurate with what they've done for us. I also just want to clarify that we didn't submit anything in America, everything has been done in Canada - not sure how (or if) that changes things at all but we attempted to file our 1-130 directly with Mtl to no avail, starting from July 2021 - Sept 2021 when we decided to reach out to Calgary and Vancouver. Vancouver finally responded and gave us a week turnaround and my husband finished his I-130 in Vancouver by Sept 27th and then we received access to CEAC with a case number by Oct. 28th. We submitted all of our civil documents (DS-260) and it currently reads "Completed" under "IV Application." On ~Nov 11th we received a response via email basically saying something to the tune of "We have everything we need from you right now" and that they couldn't give us any timeline for how long this might take. 

 

From what I am now understanding in this thread, this means that we are waiting to be deemed "documentarily qualified" which I assume we will be getting after our DS-260 is reviewed at some point and we will get an email saying something about being "DQ'd" ?

 

I'm going to be following up with our lawyers as the main reason we pursued this route (as opposed to K1) is that they told us filing under "exceptional circumstances" would have our time apart be lessened (which is obviously everyone's hope!!) but I don't like the idea that we've been lied to or led astray. Thank you to everyone again who has responded to me, I am very glad that I found this group. 

[mam521 2,062]

36 minutes ago, affy said:

I just want to thank everyone for sharing their experiences here. My intent for the question was truly just to get an idea if our lawyers were being accurate with what they've done for us. I also just want to clarify that we didn't submit anything in America, everything has been done in Canada - not sure how (or if) that changes things at all but we attempted to file our 1-130 directly with Mtl to no avail, starting from July 2021 - Sept 2021 when we decided to reach out to Calgary and Vancouver. Vancouver finally responded and gave us a week turnaround and my husband finished his I-130 in Vancouver by Sept 27th and then we received access to CEAC with a case number by Oct. 28th. We submitted all of our civil documents (DS-260) and it currently reads "Completed" under "IV Application." On ~Nov 11th we received a response via email basically saying something to the tune of "We have everything we need from you right now" and that they couldn't give us any timeline for how long this might take. 

 

From what I am now understanding in this thread, this means that we are waiting to be deemed "documentarily qualified" which I assume we will be getting after our DS-260 is reviewed at some point and we will get an email saying something about being "DQ'd" ?

 

I'm going to be following up with our lawyers as the main reason we pursued this route (as opposed to K1) is that they told us filing under "exceptional circumstances" would have our time apart be lessened (which is obviously everyone's hope!!) but I don't like the idea that we've been lied to or led astray. Thank you to everyone again who has responded to me, I am very glad that I found this group. 

All marriage visas are handled through Montreal.  Calgary and Vancouver don't handle them any longer, much to everyone's dismay!  

 

The initial filing of the I-130 is to USCIS, not the consulate or embassy.  The USCIS approval basically means USCIS has vetted the application and the supporting evidence.  They believe the marriage is legal, the relationship is bonafied and there aren't any immediate outstanding criminal issues that should impede the process.  Once they've approved, the application gets sent to the Department of State. 

 

When you file the DS-260, that is through the Department of State.  At this point, they vet the financials - are IRS filings up to date?  Does the petitioner make sufficient income to prevent the beneficiary from becoming a ward of the country?  Those types of things.  The e-mail saying we have everything is basically them saying your application looks good, you're in line for an interview, so sit tight.  If they were missing anything, they'd have issued you a RFE, requesting further information.  

 

The application now sits at the DoS until your interview slot becomes available.  At this time, the file gets sent to the consulate in Montreal. 

 

Even though you reside in Canada, or filed from Canada, it's all gone through the US.  If you look at your NOA's, you'll see your case or receipt number.  It will be around 13 digits and have letters in combination with numbers.  The letters indicate the service center that originally handled your case.  For example, VSC-01-12345 it was handled through the Vermont Service Center.  I think the ones coming from out of country default to the Texas Service Center (TSC) and are often then shuffled off to other centers like Nebraska or Vermont.  I believe my initial USCIS processing was handled through NSC and the DoS stuff is MTL. 

 

K1 (fiancé) and CR/IR (spouse) visas are currently taking about the same amount of time.  The advantage to a spousal visa is that the beneficiary will enter the US, able to work and travel unrestricted. When you apply for a fiance visa, you have 90 days to marry, then have to adjust status before work authorization and travel authorization can be granted.  

 

If you are married 2 years and 1 day or longer before entering the US on a spousal visa, you will be issued a 10 year green card and will not have to remove conditions.  

 

If you are married less than 2 years, you will be issued a conditional green card in which you will have to apply to remove the conditions 90 days before the 2 years is up.  There is an associated cost with this.  

 

Make sure you check out the FAQ's and the spreadsheet of timelines.  If you were indeed DQ'd in November, you might actually be receiving an interview letter soon!  

Edited January 6, 2022 by mam521

[mam521 2,062]

If you get this email, you're DQ'd and waiting for an interview and CEAC will say "Ready"

 

Dear Jane Doe,

The National Visa Center (NVC) received all of the fees, forms, and documents that are required prior to attending an immigrant visa interview at a U.S. Embassy/Consulate General overseas.

NVC will work with the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General in MONTREAL, CAN to schedule an interview appointment for you. Once we have confirmed an interview date, we will send a notice to you, your petitioner and attorney (if applicable).

Please do NOT make any travel arrangements, sell property, or give up employment until you have received an immigrant visa from the U.S. Embassy/Consulate General.

The U.S. Embassy/Consulate General may require additional documentation at the time of the interview. Please visit https://nvc.state.gov/interview for information about immigrant visa interviews.

Regards,
National Visa Center,
U.S. Department of State
https://nvc.state.gov/ask

Case ID:	MTL0000000000
Invoice ID:	IVSCA00000000000

 

If this is the e-mail you received, then you're in the interview line.  

[From_CAN_2_US 1,106]

3 hours ago, mam521 said:

It's extremely rare for Montreal to expedite.  Period.  At the beginning of the pandemic, there were a couple that were health care workers.  I know one of the more recent ones was a nurse and headed to assist her wife who was dealing with mental health crisis. 

 

I tried to expedite on the basis of my job needed me back in the US (my agreed Canadian contract was 9-12 months...it took over 18!), Kid2 really needed the learning team back that helped manage a mood disorder and learning disability (we were in the US on a work visa before I met my husband, so I had to leave to prevent visa overstay while consular processing took place), both kids are GT/AP and were falling behind and, of course, financial hardship of maintaining 2 households in 2 countries.  They said nope, moving along.  It was frustrating because my kids suffered the most.  Kid1 basically had a free year of doing nothing but socializing, being a year ahead of peers.  Kid2 didn't have learning supports in place, despite attempting to have the school in Canada work with the school in the States.  I spent a lot of time fighting with the school district until they got a new behavioral consultant in and she was able to renew my faith that someone cared for a second and despite being resource stricken, finally got Kid2 in line for some help...3 weeks before we moved!  Unfortunately, it didn't come until the beginning of Covid, so Kid2 had support for 1 week before everything moved online, so really, 1 week. Until then, I got phone calls almost daily and called into the principal's office to pick up Kid2 who'd been doing no class work and essentially camping out in the sensory room at school.   

 

To this day, I thank my lucky starts that the consulate didn't close until 4 days after our interview and we still received our passports.  Trying to manage online school for 2 kids as well as pivoting to online work full time while not at home and without having hubs support readily available would have probably sent me into a mental breakdown.  The kids were so relieved to finally get home and back to their own beds after the seemingly endless 18 month hiatus.  I can't imagine being stuck apart longer.  As it was, hubs and I spent a lot of time with the kids playing catch up for school since they ended up behind, all while attempting to manage our own work.  PTSD is real, folks!  

Wow! Sorry you had to go through that, and yes you were really lucky to interview just before the pandemic.

 

I understand you are the Canadian. I believe the expedite due to job offer in US is only granted when the person getting hired/ transferred is the American and living in Canada with their spouse.

 

I suppose where your story demonstrates Montreal being extra strict with expedites, is that your kids are presumably American citizens and were facing hardship with school, yet Montreal denied the expedite.

Edited January 6, 2022 by From_CAN_2_US

[ME_RHEDZ77 269]

20 hours ago, MJ & FEK said:

awesome, let us know how it goes!! Ours is the 12th. So happy they havent been canceled.

what time will be your interview?