Third Country National (TCN) at Montreal Consulate

[SteveG290 0]

Hi all,

I am a UK citizen living in Canada (Vancouver), 1.5 months into a 2 year work permit. My wife is a US citizen (living in the US), she is my petitioner for my IR-1/CR-1 Spouse Visa. We have been compiling all our documents and are planning to submit our I-130 online soon.

 

I'm looking for any advice/warnings/requirements that anyone has regarding my interview being done in Montreal as a third country national.

 

Is this likely to be a problem?

With our supporting documents I thought we should submit my Canadian Work Permit as proof of status in Canada.

In the worrying event that the whole process could take longer than 2 years, beyond the duration of my work permit, what is the feasibility of changing the Consulate (to my home country of the UK) if needs be?

 

Many thanks in advance!

[Coco8 1,042]

You can change consulate later in the process. Once USCIS approved it. 

 

I've only heard bad things about Quebec, like it's very slow. I personally would do it in London. You can schedule the interview yourself and it doesn't have to be right away. You can quit your job in Canada, get rid of things, send whatever you need to your wife, then go to London and take a holiday with your family and do the interview. Then move to the US. 

[pushbrk 12,876]

1 hour ago, Coco8 said:

You can change consulate later in the process. Once USCIS approved it. 

 

I've only heard bad things about Quebec, like it's very slow. I personally would do it in London. You can schedule the interview yourself and it doesn't have to be right away. You can quit your job in Canada, get rid of things, send whatever you need to your wife, then go to London and take a holiday with your family and do the interview. Then move to the US. 

The Consulate in question is Montreal, a City in Quebec Province.  Apparently their backlog is currently cleared but that can change.

 

No problem at all entering Montreal as the place you'll "apply for a visa".  If you need to change to London, it's not a problem.  You can submit a copy of your work permit but it is not really necessary at the petition stage.

[Wuozopo 4,293]

11 hours ago, Coco8 said:

I personally would do it in London. You can schedule the interview yourself

The interview will be scheduled by NVC at whichever consulate they put on their petition. They can’t schedule their own interview.

[SteveG290 0]

Thanks very much for your input everyone.

 

@Coco8 I had also seen that Montreal is typically one of the slower consulates - so doing it in London would be a safe approach.

 

@pushbrk very interesting to hear however that Montreal's backlog might currently be cleared, can I ask where you are hearing that from? Obviously it can still change like you say. Plus, very reassuring to hear that it is perfectly feasible to change to London if required.

 

With that in mind, I think we will stick with Montreal for our application for the moment, if the worst comes to the worst we can change later.

 

Thanks again!

[pushbrk 12,876]

3 hours ago, SteveG290 said:

Thanks very much for your input everyone.

 

@Coco8 I had also seen that Montreal is typically one of the slower consulates - so doing it in London would be a safe approach.

 

@pushbrk very interesting to hear however that Montreal's backlog might currently be cleared, can I ask where you are hearing that from? Obviously it can still change like you say. Plus, very reassuring to hear that it is perfectly feasible to change to London if required.

 

With that in mind, I think we will stick with Montreal for our application for the moment, if the worst comes to the worst we can change later.

 

Thanks again!

Actually, if your current address on the I-130 is in Canada, NVC will automatically assign the case to Montreal, no matter what you enter as where you will apply.  There was a recent discussion where I was informed of Montreal's current lack of backlog.  Somewhere on the site, there is data on backlogs. I don't really look at it, so don't know exactly where.

 

[Chancy 6,241]

4 hours ago, SteveG290 said:

very interesting to hear however that Montreal's backlog might currently be cleared, can I ask where you are hearing that from? Obviously it can still change like you say.

 

You may track other VJ members' CR1/IR1 interview wait times by following the threads below --

• Montreal -- https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/772877-part-iv-the-big-ir1cr1-dqd-message-group/
• London -- https://www.visajourney.com/forums/topic/750816-london-cr1-ir1-appointment-updates/

[Wuozopo 4,293]

5 hours ago, SteveG290 said:

very interesting to hear however that Montreal's backlog might currently be cleared

I looked briefly at the two links above at two January interviews. From petition start to interview

London- 1 year, 2 months

Montreal - 1 year, 9 months

 

But those are 2 isolated cases and there are so many variables. Could speed up or slow down in the coming year. We never know. Best to just carry on with life and forget about timeline obsession because anything you count on may be way off by your time to interview. 

 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Wuozopo

[SteveG290 0]

On 1/24/2023 at 1:54 PM, pushbrk said:

Actually, if your current address on the I-130 is in Canada, NVC will automatically assign the case to Montreal, no matter what you enter as where you will apply.  There was a recent discussion where I was informed of Montreal's current lack of backlog.  Somewhere on the site, there is data on backlogs. I don't really look at it, so don't know exactly where.

 

Oh OK, well that certainly simplifies things - if choosing isn't really valid anyway.

 

Thanks for sharing those links @Chancy. I know there are heaps of resources on this site with people's past experiences.

But yes @Wuozopo, ultimately we just need to get things submitted as soon as possible and then stop worrying about it.

 

Thanks for all your input everyone!