IR1 / CR1 - Montreal Timeline to Interview

[kimberlyk21 1]

Another week has come and gone and still no interviews scheduled?? Man, the whole embassy must be on holidays... Looks like it's gonna be October for us now... Boo!

[Canadiandggal 49]

Yes the weeks just keep passing by Time is ticking away and we are not hearing anything. The sad part is that Its not just one person Its us all. Not to mention that the line keeps building up with more people case completing. to think that we are now looking at October, that will be 5 months from case complete, that's just as long as it took from filing to case completing with nvc. I knew that we would be waiting a good two months till interview but having to wait 3 months just to hear really is starting to suck. I am seriously thinking that I will make a football team of children and raise them to be Montreal "interview officers" and Border officers. On a positive note, Our dates have to be coming soon Hang in there Guys

[mtlgato 2]

Like the rest of you, I'm sad and angry about the continued delays. I'd also like to point out that, yet again, the "second week of the month" thing (this is the week in which the NVC operators always *say* interviews are scheduled) is proved to be BS.

I had a feeling that Mtl wasn't going to be working at full capacity in August, but I really don't understand why it's *this* bad--and why it's specifically our visa category getting screwed over???????

C.

[astronaut 3]

What about contacting Senators and Congressmen in the states where you have residency or roots in? The K3 Visa was eliminated because the NVC said IR1/CR1 was just as fast. Someone needs to tell them the system is getting bogged down again. Will it be you? Believe me I've had ongoing discussions with our Senator's office, and they've been receptive, sympathetic and have followed up on a few things.

[kaya541 1]

I wasn't expecing an interview until October, but was at least hoping the date would be assigned this month. It is frustrating that Vancouver is processing the K1 visas so much faster and everytime I see an interview date assigned or interview completed for a K1 visa I just sigh. And the fact that they can just call in to check on their paperwork and get an interview date during the call....I don't even know what to say about that. If Vancouver is so efficient, why don't they take on some of the CR1-IR1 visas? Lighten the load in Montreal and get some visa's processed faster. A rhetorical question I know.

(And yes, we knew beforehand that the K1 visas processed faster, but we had to go this route in order for my husband to pick up and return his kids to Victoria, BC every two weeks. He needs the ability to travel back and forth to Canada straight away after POE and not have to wait for AP.)

[mtlgato 2]

I totally agree with you. We should be writing to elected officials. I have already (well, my USC husband has) written to the congressswoman and one US senator. Sad to say, the response from the congresswoman's aide was terrible ("you made a personal choice to get pregnant while going through immigration...cases can only be expedited for life-and-death reasons...good luck")--and then the response from the senator was along the lines of "we believe you've already had a response from the office of the congresswoman...We hope that response was helpful." Sigh. Belive me, though: We'll be writing again--and maybe to the *other* US senator for the state too.

It does really bother me that our letter specifically asked the congresswoman and senator to look into what's going on at the Montreal consulate. That whole element of our letter was ignored by both elected officials.

I do suspect, though, that senators from less populous states are more helpful. We're talking California here: 30,000,000 people and a whole lot of immigration issues...

C.

What about contacting Senators and Congressmen in the states where you have residency or roots in? The K3 Visa was eliminated because the NVC said IR1/CR1 was just as fast. Someone needs to tell them the system is getting bogged down again. Will it be you? Believe me I've had ongoing discussions with our Senator's office, and they've been receptive, sympathetic and have followed up on a few things.

[astronaut 3]

While we wait and feel somewhat helpless, at least a well worded letter to a politician can maybe do some good. Did you know that Vancouver used to process CR1/IR1 apps? The man at the Vancouver consulate who did our children's register of birth abroad told me he used to do the CR1/IR1's. One day he was notified that department was being closed, so now he works on other things. The point is, they already have someone in Vancouver who knows how to and has experience with processing those apps!

[mtlgato 2]

Yes! The next time my husband and I write to his congresswoman, we are going to make a point about the K3 visa! That relevant rule change happened the month after I got pregnant. We *had* filed an I-129F in order to keep that visa option open precisely *because* we were trying to get pregnant, and the option of: a) having the visa processed in Vancouver, where I live; and, b) having a new child travel *on* my visa seemed to make sense. Then, when I did get pregnant, our K3 application was closed. This detail is particularly relevant considering that the congresswoman's aide actually scolded me for "making the personal decision to get pregnant while going through immigration." Um...it all would have been fine if they hadn't changed the rules on us!!!!!

C.

What about contacting Senators and Congressmen in the states where you have residency or roots in? The K3 Visa was eliminated because the NVC said IR1/CR1 was just as fast. Someone needs to tell them the system is getting bogged down again. Will it be you? Believe me I've had ongoing discussions with our Senator's office, and they've been receptive, sympathetic and have followed up on a few things.

[mtlgato 2]

I think if you ask about this issue, you'll be told that Vancouver is no longer "authorized" to process immigrant visas. You are right, though: it's NOT that nobody there knows how to do the work. It's that, for reasons totally unclear to me, Vancouver lost its authorization. Why? Why? Why? It might make sense if Montreal could handle the workload, but evidently it CAN'T. Montreal *obviously* can't keep up with everything they're supposed to be handling.

C.

While we wait and feel somewhat helpless, at least a well worded letter to a politician can maybe do some good. Did you know that Vancouver used to process CR1/IR1 apps? The man at the Vancouver consulate who did our children's register of birth abroad told me he used to do the CR1/IR1's. One day he was notified that department was being closed, so now he works on other things. The point is, they already have someone in Vancouver who knows how to and has experience with processing those apps!

[CanAmBride 5]

I contacted my senator's office to inquire about the hold-up with interviews in Montreal. They checked into my case with the DOS and the answer I got was "you are in the cue, once an interview date opens up, you will be assigned one."

So basically a big fat "there's nothing we can do".

[mtlgato 2]

Or, more like: We can't be bothered.

Are you willing to persist a little bit and ask the senator's office to inquire into the reasons for the extraordinary wait times for Montreal?

C.

I contacted my senator's office to inquire about the hold-up with interviews in Montreal. They checked into my case with the DOS and the answer I got was "you are in the cue, once an interview date opens up, you will be assigned one."

So basically a big fat "there's nothing we can do".

[CanAmBride 5]

Yes, I will try to find out more information.

[mtlgato 2]

Good. I will too. It's so insulting to be told "you're in the cue, etc." We obviously KNOW that we're in the cue. The question is: Why isn't the cue MOVING, like, AT ALL? When I asked that question explicitly to the operator at DoS he said, "Well, we make no guarantees when it comes to processing times. Some people wait 10 years for a visa." VERY discouraging. Honestly: I'm starting to regret ever embarking on this process.

C.

Yes, I will try to find out more information.

[Jeremy&Kathy 4]

Good. I will too. It's so insulting to be told "you're in the cue, etc." We obviously KNOW that we're in the cue. The question is: Why isn't the cue MOVING, like, AT ALL? When I asked that question explicitly to the operator at DoS he said, "Well, we make no guarantees when it comes to processing times. Some people wait 10 years for a visa." VERY discouraging. Honestly: I'm starting to regret ever embarking on this process.

C.

I may do this soon too. If we all call our senators, perhaps immigration will pay more attention, and do something about the Montreal bottleneck.

Jeremy

[Jeremy&Kathy 4]

I just called NVC this morning to ask about interview scheduling. We haven't had ours scheduled yet, but the operator told me that they aren't yet finished scheduling for September interviews. She said that the September interview scheduling would be completed within the next few days, possibly even by tomorrow. She said I should check back again at end of week.

This sounds promising. I'm now feeling optimistic that a bunch of us (especially those with NVC case complete in May) should get their September interviews any day now. My case complete was June 4th so I'm not sure about our case, but for many of you there is hope!

Jeremy