Montreal embassy EB-2 interview wait time-Part 2

[sophie22 29]

17 hours ago, VRG said:

Hello Everyone,

 

I've received a surprise email from NVC today morning with Interview Letter at US Consulate at Mumbai, India. I was not expecting an interview from Mumbai as we are Canadian Citizens and currently reside in Canada. We have renounced our Indian citizenship when we become Canadian citizens.

I'm pleasantly surprised as well as confused as we are not residing in India and why it was scheduled at Mumbai vs Montreal. The interview is on August 20 and we need to get the medicals done in India.

 

When we applied DS-260 and sent the documents to NVC, we've sent the PCC only from Canada as there is no need for Indian PCC for Canadian citizens. Also, my son do not have an OCI (rest of us have OCI) and he have only visitor visa to India. Will this cause any issues/delays if we go for interview at Mumbai on a visitor visa for my son.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has gone through this scenario. Please provide your guidance on getting the EB2 Interview from the country of chargeability where you don't reside currently.

 

Category: EB-2

Country of Chargeability: India

Priority Date: Apr 2012

DQ: Jun 2023

 

Thank you.

 

You should contact NVC (via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html ) to tell them about your situation and change your interview location from India to Canada. 

[canadian85 24]

20 hours ago, VRG said:

Hello Everyone,

 

I've received a surprise email from NVC today morning with Interview Letter at US Consulate at Mumbai, India. I was not expecting an interview from Mumbai as we are Canadian Citizens and currently reside in Canada. We have renounced our Indian citizenship when we become Canadian citizens.

I'm pleasantly surprised as well as confused as we are not residing in India and why it was scheduled at Mumbai vs Montreal. The interview is on August 20 and we need to get the medicals done in India.

 

When we applied DS-260 and sent the documents to NVC, we've sent the PCC only from Canada as there is no need for Indian PCC for Canadian citizens. Also, my son do not have an OCI (rest of us have OCI) and he have only visitor visa to India. Will this cause any issues/delays if we go for interview at Mumbai on a visitor visa for my son.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has gone through this scenario. Please provide your guidance on getting the EB2 Interview from the country of chargeability where you don't reside currently.

 

Category: EB-2

Country of Chargeability: India

Priority Date: Apr 2012

DQ: Jun 2023

 

Thank you.

That's interesting. Does your case ID start with MTL or BMB?

[AJSin1 21]

20 hours ago, VRG said:

Hello Everyone,

 

I've received a surprise email from NVC today morning with Interview Letter at US Consulate at Mumbai, India. I was not expecting an interview from Mumbai as we are Canadian Citizens and currently reside in Canada. We have renounced our Indian citizenship when we become Canadian citizens.

I'm pleasantly surprised as well as confused as we are not residing in India and why it was scheduled at Mumbai vs Montreal. The interview is on August 20 and we need to get the medicals done in India.

 

When we applied DS-260 and sent the documents to NVC, we've sent the PCC only from Canada as there is no need for Indian PCC for Canadian citizens. Also, my son do not have an OCI (rest of us have OCI) and he have only visitor visa to India. Will this cause any issues/delays if we go for interview at Mumbai on a visitor visa for my son.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has gone through this scenario. Please provide your guidance on getting the EB2 Interview from the country of chargeability where you don't reside currently.

 

Category: EB-2

Country of Chargeability: India

Priority Date: Apr 2012

DQ: Jun 2023

 

Thank you.

Congrats on receiving your IL! Not sure why your case is in Mumbai and not Montreal but it is likely because of your citizenship/residence at the time of the initial application. I'm also planning to transfer my case to Mumbai since cases are being processed much faster there than Montreal when it comes to EB applicants. 

 

Please note that you do require Indian police certificate to enter the Mumbai consulate for your interview. It is stated on the website. See link below. You can get your police certificate from India or from the Indian consulate in Canada but the latter takes several weeks so I'm not sure if it'll come through in time for your interview in August.

 

Also, you have to book a biometrics appointment separately in India as they are not done at the consulate during your interview.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/BMB-Mumbai.html

 

Let's connect. Would love to learn from each others experience.

[Wincity 14]

Question about travel into US while waiting for IL.

 

some context: I have not travelled into the US for many months since I was on a TN Visa while in process of green card application...this was recommended by lawyer due to single purpose intent of TN Visa. The risk was having my TN Visa cancelled since its not dual intent. I live in a border city and would typically cross the CAN-US border daily for work...I have done this for about 20 years.

 

Now that my TN Visa has expired, would there be any issue travelling into the US?

More specifically, is there a risk of rejection due to my green card status and history of not crossing for many months(18 months)?

 

Thanks

 

[VRG 1]

5 hours ago, sophie22 said:

 

You should contact NVC (via https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/visa-information-resources/ask-nvc.html ) to tell them about your situation and change your interview location from India to Canada. 

Thanks. I have reached out to them.

2 hours ago, canadian85 said:

That's interesting. Does your case ID start with MTL or BMB?

My case ID starts with BMB. I didn't know the significance of that until you mentioned.

[VRG 1]

2 hours ago, AJSin1 said:

Congrats on receiving your IL! Not sure why your case is in Mumbai and not Montreal but it is likely because of your citizenship/residence at the time of the initial application. I'm also planning to transfer my case to Mumbai since cases are being processed much faster there than Montreal when it comes to EB applicants. 

 

Please note that you do require Indian police certificate to enter the Mumbai consulate for your interview. It is stated on the website. See link below. You can get your police certificate from India or from the Indian consulate in Canada but the latter takes several weeks so I'm not sure if it'll come through in time for your interview in August.

 

Also, you have to book a biometrics appointment separately in India as they are not done at the consulate during your interview.

 

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/us-visas/Supplements/Supplements_by_Post/BMB-Mumbai.html

 

Let's connect. Would love to learn from each others experience.

Thank you. I have sent you a personal message.

[canadian85 24]

15 hours ago, VRG said:

Thanks. I have reached out to them.

My case ID starts with BMB. I didn't know the significance of that until you mentioned.

In the initial email they sent you about being DQed, they would have mentioned the name of the consulate the processing will happen. BMB is for Bombay. 

You can send a request to NVC to change it to MTL but last update was they were still processing Jan 2023 EB DQed cases. So better to go with Bombay if you can still make it work - travel and documents etc.

 

All the best for your interview. Please keep us all posted.

[Froozion 168]

As of July 8, 2024, most Immediate Relative and fiancé(e) visa cases being scheduled for interview in Montreal were documentarily complete at the National Visa Center in March 2024; most Family Preference cases with visa numbers available that are being scheduled for interview were documentarily qualified in March 2024; and most Employment cases scheduled for interview were documentarily complete in January 2023.

[Froozion 168]

The good news is they have cleared the family backlog. It's now also March 2024. I believe it was Aug 2023 last month? 

 

I think this means they have been prioritizing back log as I follow a lot of IR and CR groups and they have been frustrated at the lack of progress...

 

So we can only hope their plan is to clear employment and at least get all groups to March 2024 and just do first in first out for all groups. Rather than having IR and CR always be the priority over family and employment. 

 

We shall see! I did see some family interviews go out this morning. But still not seen any employment. 

[Texasbound1 72]

24 minutes ago, Froozion said:

The good news is they have cleared the family backlog. It's now also March 2024. I believe it was Aug 2023 last month? 

 

I think this means they have been prioritizing back log as I follow a lot of IR and CR groups and they have been frustrated at the lack of progress...

 

So we can only hope their plan is to clear employment and at least get all groups to March 2024 and just do first in first out for all groups. Rather than having IR and CR always be the priority over family and employment. 

 

We shall see! I did see some family interviews go out this morning. But still not seen any employment. 

You must be refreshing the Montreal page every 5 minutes lol - thanks for the update

[TheMaverick 50]

On 7/7/2024 at 12:17 PM, Wincity said:

Question about travel into US while waiting for IL.

 

some context: I have not travelled into the US for many months since I was on a TN Visa while in process of green card application...this was recommended by lawyer due to single purpose intent of TN Visa. The risk was having my TN Visa cancelled since its not dual intent. I live in a border city and would typically cross the CAN-US border daily for work...I have done this for about 20 years.

 

Now that my TN Visa has expired, would there be any issue travelling into the US?

More specifically, is there a risk of rejection due to my green card status and history of not crossing for many months(18 months)?

 

Thanks

 

Unfortunately most of the lawyers are risk averse and will always advise the least risky approach so that it does not come back hitting them if something goes wrong. I was in a similar situation like you. I was ON TN and I travelled daily. There was never an issue. Towards the end my travels reduced to once in 5 months. Basically TN like any other non immigrant visa has single intent. Which means when you enter the country you need to show intent to leave the country and not change status. The most important thing is you can have a future intent to immigrate as long as the immediate intent is temporary. So on the 140 when you select consular processing and not adjustment of status that is an indication of future intent and the current entry is limited to the point of IL at which point you would leave the country and go back to canada to attend the interview. Also a lot of folks in the DS5535 group are stuck in admin processing and have had no issues to enter on visitor visa even after attending the interview which is clear intent to immigrate. In case of consular processing intent to immigrate is established only when you attend the interview. You should be good to travel as long as you have enough documentation to prove your travel is time bound and that you have sufficient ties back home. Note: I renewed my TN from within US when the GC process was on and my file was with NVC

[canadian85 24]

On 7/8/2024 at 1:51 PM, Froozion said:

The good news is they have cleared the family backlog. It's now also March 2024. I believe it was Aug 2023 last month? 

 

I think this means they have been prioritizing back log as I follow a lot of IR and CR groups and they have been frustrated at the lack of progress...

 

So we can only hope their plan is to clear employment and at least get all groups to March 2024 and just do first in first out for all groups. Rather than having IR and CR always be the priority over family and employment. 

 

We shall see! I did see some family interviews go out this morning. But still not seen any employment. 

I really hope that they send out some invites for EB now that they have cleared the IR/CR category. Or do we wait for the new fiscal yr to begin in October to see any movements? We are still at Jan 2023 since last 3-4 months. 

[Texasbound1 72]

Based on what I have read on some other forums, ILs should go out for July in the next couple of days after the Montreal website update. Fingers crossed that EB will be included in this batch...

[mam521 2,062]

On 7/7/2024 at 11:17 AM, Wincity said:

Now that my TN Visa has expired, would there be any issue travelling into the US?

More specifically, is there a risk of rejection due to my green card status and history of not crossing for many months(18 months)?

 

Simply as a visitor?  B status visitor?  Not likely an issue.  Just be ready to show proof of ties to home.  

 

On 7/8/2024 at 12:51 PM, Froozion said:

So we can only hope their plan is to clear employment and at least get all groups to March 2024 and just do first in first out for all groups. Rather than having IR and CR always be the priority over family and employment. 

IR/CR are family reunification visas.  The reason they appear to be prioritized is they have no numerical limit and aren't subject to the visa bulletin like other categories are.  

[Texasbound1 72]

Just noticed the spreadsheet is inaccurate again. My username no longer lines up to my dates.