K1 Visa Montreal Appointment Booking Non-availability

[Liam H. 1]

Hi!

I can't seem to find any information on this specifically, its all mainly just information on timelines between stages. I was wondering if anyone has any information on the average expected wait time for the Montreal consulate to open new appointments. I have been checking the website several times a day since July 3rd, and continue to see the same message:

"There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments."

This is at the stage of paying the MRV fee on the ais.usvisa-info site. I have inquired and apparently I cannot pay until an appointment is available, but no new appointments have been opened for over a month as far as I can tell. Is this normal, or is something wrong? Do I need to hire someone to constantly refresh the page hundreds of times a day because I am just missing the few minutes each week they release new availability? Does anyone know if there are specific dates/ times that they tend to make new appointments available? 

I am just beginning to get a bit concerned as this wait time seems excessive just for the chance to book an appointment that I will have to wait again for. 

 

Any experience with this or similar situations would help.

 

Thank you!

[JeanneAdil 6,511]

check early in the day /like right after midnight

 

checking too often will freeze u out for the day

[Liam H. 1]

1 hour ago, JeanneAdil said:

check early in the day /like right after midnight

 

checking too often will freeze u out for the day

Thank you, I'll try that timing. I've been trying to check right at 8 & 9am EST, since I figured they would open appointments when their offices open, but if its automatic, midnight makes sense. Fingers crossed!

[mbodwams 55]

I’m in the same boat and I wish that I had some kind of answer! I received my P4 on July 6th and have been obsessively checking during business hours ever since. It seems ridiculous that there’s been no new appointments for over a month. 

 

I’m in a Facebook group for Montreal K1 filers and it seems like everyone is having the same experience, so we haven’t missed any appointments randomly being released. I can’t imagine why anyone would be cancelling or rescheduling with no new dates available. Someone recently mentioned that the embassy seems to release new appointments for the first and second Tuesday of the month, as well as the first Thursday. I can’t attest to how true this information is, but it’s been giving me something to hope for. 

[Liam H. 1]

42 minutes ago, mbodwams said:

I’m in the same boat and I wish that I had some kind of answer! I received my P4 on July 6th and have been obsessively checking during business hours ever since. It seems ridiculous that there’s been no new appointments for over a month. 

 

I’m in a Facebook group for Montreal K1 filers and it seems like everyone is having the same experience, so we haven’t missed any appointments randomly being released. I can’t imagine why anyone would be cancelling or rescheduling with no new dates available. Someone recently mentioned that the embassy seems to release new appointments for the first and second Tuesday of the month, as well as the first Thursday. I can’t attest to how true this information is, but it’s been giving me something to hope for. 

Right? Its especially weird considering for most other visas, THEY tell US when we are going to come in for the interview. Its odd that this one seems to just kind of leave to chance who is able to check the website most often. Its definitely discriminatory against petitioners who don't have reliable internet access or are not able to check a website multiple times a day. 

I definitely hope there is something to the timelines you mentioned, but given that we have already passed the first tuesday of this month and are well through the first thursday with 0 new appointments added, I am not hopeful.  Can you link that Facebook group though? I would like to join as info on the Montreal consulate operations is thin online. 

[Liam H. 1]

3 hours ago, Liam H. said:

Hi!

I can't seem to find any information on this specifically, its all mainly just information on timelines between stages. I was wondering if anyone has any information on the average expected wait time for the Montreal consulate to open new appointments. I have been checking the website several times a day since July 3rd, and continue to see the same message:

"There are no available appointments at this time. Please check back in a few days as the Consular Section will open more appointments."

This is at the stage of paying the MRV fee on the ais.usvisa-info site. I have inquired and apparently I cannot pay until an appointment is available, but no new appointments have been opened for over a month as far as I can tell. Is this normal, or is something wrong? Do I need to hire someone to constantly refresh the page hundreds of times a day because I am just missing the few minutes each week they release new availability? Does anyone know if there are specific dates/ times that they tend to make new appointments available? 

I am just beginning to get a bit concerned as this wait time seems excessive just for the chance to book an appointment that I will have to wait again for. 

 

Any experience with this or similar situations would help.

 

Thank you!

I had reached out to the help desk a couple days back, and just received this response back to my inquiry about wait times:

"

Dear Applicant,

 

The message "No available appointments" does unfortunately mean that there are no available appointments for the chosen visa category at the chosen Embassy/Consulate.

Please be aware that certain visa categories are very popular and the available slots fill rapidly. As the amount of appointments made available are at the sole discretion of the Embassy and the consulates the only advice we can provide is to keep trying to find an available appointment.

 

Thank you,

The Contact Desk Support Team."

 

Now I'm not a lawyer, so my ability to read between the lines isn't great, but I think I just got told to "Sit down, shut up, and wait to get lucky like everyone else" in the most professional way possible lol.

 

But yeah, what I basically get from this is waiting over a month for an appointment opening that may or may not come is totally normal for this consulate, and they have no plans to change this or help in any way.

[Ontarkie 14,227]

~~Moved to the Canada forum, from K1 P&P - Please check out the Canada forum from ongoing threads and steps to take. Also FB links are not permitted on VJ, they are not secure or private.~~

[mbodwams 55]

20 minutes ago, Liam H. said:

Right? Its especially weird considering for most other visas, THEY tell US when we are going to come in for the interview. Its odd that this one seems to just kind of leave to chance who is able to check the website most often. Its definitely discriminatory against petitioners who don't have reliable internet access or are not able to check a website multiple times a day. 

I definitely hope there is something to the timelines you mentioned, but given that we have already passed the first tuesday of this month and are well through the first thursday with 0 new appointments added, I am not hopeful.  Can you link that Facebook group though? I would like to join as info on the Montreal consulate operations is thin online. 

I don’t understand it either. From what I can see the extended wait time is unusual — someone in the FB group said that they had to wait 4 weeks for appointments to open up during the holiday season, but I haven’t seen anything else about random long waits. I’m crossing my fingers for next Tuesday but I’m also going to keep checking every day regardless. Since I can’t link it directly, just search “Montreal K1 Visa Applicants” on FB. 
 

I also reached out to the Help Desk a few days ago and received a response that they can only answer questions about technical difficulties, so it’s funny that you got a real answer. Maybe they’re tired of people contacting them, I imagine they’ve been getting a lot of emails over the past few weeks.

 

But you’re right, there’s no real answer and they won’t be providing any further insight. We’re just going to have to keep waiting. 

[Liam H. 1]

9 minutes ago, mbodwams said:

I don’t understand it either. From what I can see the extended wait time is unusual — someone in the FB group said that they had to wait 4 weeks for appointments to open up during the holiday season, but I haven’t seen anything else about random long waits. I’m crossing my fingers for next Tuesday but I’m also going to keep checking every day regardless. Since I can’t link it directly, just search “Montreal K1 Visa Applicants” on FB. 
 

I also reached out to the Help Desk a few days ago and received a response that they can only answer questions about technical difficulties, so it’s funny that you got a real answer. Maybe they’re tired of people contacting them, I imagine they’ve been getting a lot of emails over the past few weeks.

 

But you’re right, there’s no real answer and they won’t be providing any further insight. We’re just going to have to keep waiting. 

I'll definitely check out the group, thank you.

I also got a similar BS answer about technical issues that didn't answer my question at first. I replied directly back and said thanks, but that wasn't my question and rephrased it. That's when I got the real, if somewhat snarky, answer.

[CoralMermaid0009 0]

I explained how the interview appointments are done to my American fiancé and he was extremely unimpressed. We were also under the impression that we’d receive a date in the Packet 4, but this first come first serve based on luck of signing in at the right time is really ridiculous. It was heartbreaking after all the wait we’ve had, and I’m sure you and everyone else has had since submitting the original petition that this is the way to get an appointment for an interview for K1’s. 
 

Hopefully they release new appointments soon, but every time I check and there isn’t any it’s also disheartening but we all have to keep checking anyway. 
 

Here is hoping that we all get an interview appointment soon because clearly from what you received as a response they aren’t going to change the way this works for K1 visas. 

[CoralMermaid0009 0]

On 8/3/2023 at 4:38 PM, mbodwams said:

I don’t understand it either. From what I can see the extended wait time is unusual — someone in the FB group said that they had to wait 4 weeks for appointments to open up during the holiday season, but I haven’t seen anything else about random long waits. I’m crossing my fingers for next Tuesday but I’m also going to keep checking every day regardless. Since I can’t link it directly, just search “Montreal K1 Visa Applicants” on FB. 
 

I also reached out to the Help Desk a few days ago and received a response that they can only answer questions about technical difficulties, so it’s funny that you got a real answer. Maybe they’re tired of people contacting them, I imagine they’ve been getting a lot of emails over the past few weeks.

 

But you’re right, there’s no real answer and they won’t be providing any further insight. We’re just going to have to keep waiting. 

 

Just an FYI for you both if you have not seen it, when I logged in today there were appointments available for Montreal for August 15, 2023. I am not sure how many or how long it lasts, but it is up there as of 20 minutes ago! 🙂

[Liam H. 1]

2 hours ago, CoralMermaid0009 said:

 

Just an FYI for you both if you have not seen it, when I logged in today there were appointments available for Montreal for August 15, 2023. I am not sure how many or how long it lasts, but it is up there as of 20 minutes ago! 🙂

Dang, must have been a cancellation. I checked around noon, and just now again 5pm CST, and saw nothing. Probably got snapped up quick.

[mbodwams 55]

17 minutes ago, Liam H. said:

Dang, must have been a cancellation. I checked around noon, and just now again 5pm CST, and saw nothing. Probably got snapped up quick.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they opened up appointments for the 6th and the 15th and both were gone within 45 minutes. I missed them too and now I’m spiralling thinking that I’ll have to wait another month because I wasn’t fast enough. 

[Chancy 6,241]

*** Off-topic post & replies split off to another thread ***

 

[L. Jones 23]

Did you all ever get your appointments? I've been checking twice a day everyday since end of July. From the thread looks like I will have to check around midnight everyday for a better chance at an appointment.