Hi everyone, my wife and I had our interview last month and we finally got approved... Just sharing our journey from getting the interview letter to getting the visa endorsed. This forum has been extremely helpful in getting us prepared for the interview (and even later with crossing the border/importing car etc.). This is a long post but I wanted to cover some of the stuff that was unique to us but will be helpful to others who may find themselves in similar scenarios (e.g. change of citizenships, pregnant during medical exam, request for additional docs etc.).
INTERVIEW LETTER:
We got the interview letter around 45 days before the scheduled interview. 6-7 days after we got our interview letters, we started gathering all required docs and called Dr. Lee’s medical center for appointment and asked a few questions about what documents to bring in, x-ray process etc.
MEDICAL EXAM:
Dr. Lee and his staff were great to deal with. We called for appointment a week after getting the interview letter and we were able to get an appointment on our preferred day of the week. Neither of us had the vaccine records (both of us had gotten the vaccine shots as kids but we didn’t have any records…didn’t grow up in Canada).
1) What do if you don’t have any vaccination record: TITRES TEST
We asked our primary doctor to get this test done and the turnaround for the results was around a week. Highly recommend getting the titres test report BEFORE your medical. Will make your and the Medical Examiner’s life easier.
2) Tetnus
I got the tetnus shot from my primary doctor and got the record of that shot from his office. My wife was given the shot 2 years ago which isn’t valid for this medical exam. So, she had to take another one with me.
3) Covid Vaccine: If you took your Covid vaccine in Canada, get your certificates from here
How to get your COVID-19 vaccine certificate | Ontario.ca
Ontario COVID-19 vaccination service (ontariohealth.ca)
4) X-Ray (during pregnancy)
My wife was 14 weeks pregnant at the time of our Medical exam. You cannot not have the X-ray done. It was pretty clear that this was a requirement to clear the medical. At first, we almost decided to reschedule the interview (so that we could delay the X-ray until after the delivery). But after weeks of research, and talking to our Primary physician and couple of other doctors , we found out that the chest x-rays are safe and does not impact the baby (they provided shields during the x-ray).
Few days after our medical exam was completed (Apr 29), the date on our CEAC status changed to May 2. I checked with Dr. Lee’s office and they confirmed that the report was sent to the consulate a few days ago.
MONTREAL CONSULATE:
- LOCATION: We reached Montreal a day prior to our interview and checked into a hotel nearby. Drove around the consulate in the evening to make sure that we know where we needed to go the next morning. I’ve been to numerous US Consulates (its been a long journey lol) and was expecting to see the typical US stuff (flag etc) marking the US consulate. But I couldn’t see any of that and it took me a while to realize that the consulate was sort of inside the RBC building.
- PARKING: We reached the consulate 30 mins before our interview and parked the car behind the consulate building. There is a parking lot behind the building and at ~7:45 AM it only had a few cars parked there.
- PHONES: At the main entrance, the security asked for our passports/interview letter and then let us in (not many people were there at that time). They do a airport type security scan at the ground level. You are not allowed to take anything with you except your file. Lockers are available to store cellphones near the security thing. Lockers are small but enough to store wallets and phones (someone had not turned off their phone and it kept ringing in the locker… better to shut down your phones).
- Restrooms and water fountains are available in the main waiting area.
- FIRST WINDOW: First you will be called by your number where they will check your original civil documents. They asked my wife to sit back in the waiting area and it was me who went through the original documents for both of us. If you are going with your spouse, make sure both of you are familiar with each other’s documents/file.
- CHANGE OF CITIZENSHIP: Both me and my wife had applied and gotten our Canadian citizenships (and passports) AFTER getting DQ’d. In the original DS260 submitted in 2020 there was no mention of Canadian passports and we had given the passport details from our country of origin. (Our country of origin doesn’t recognize multiple citizenships which rendered our original passports sort of invalid). For this reason, I was a bit nervous. I checked multiple forums but couldn’t find an answer. I wasn’t clear if I was supposed to call the consulate and get the passport info updated… would that push my DQ date? What if they decide to use the original passport... which was no longer “valid” to travel…Well we just decided that we will use our new Canadian passports at the interview…
When the lady at the first window asked for our passports I told her that we recently became Canadian citizens and handed both passports (Canadian and country of origin)… she straight away took the Canadian passport and said “I don’t need the old passport now”. I was relieved BUT this would almost cost me a new job offer from the US that I would get 2 hours after this interview (will come back to that later).
After getting our original Civil Docs (she made copies and returned everything except the passports) she took our fingerprints. She then asked us to wait in the main area.
- INTERVIEW: We were called in for the interview about 15 mins later. The visa officer was super nice and very easy to talk to. Questions she asked:
- What is your area of specialization? (applied thru EB1A)
- Do you have a PhD in that field? ( I did…told her about the school)
- What do you plan to do? (told her that I interviewed for a job in the US a few days ago and was expecting to get an answer very soon… she wished me luck and said “I hope you get the job”).
- Asked me where that job was and then small-talked about that place
- Where did we travel outside US and Canada in the last 5 years?
That was it…she said she had no other questions and that she intends to approve our visas. We were out of the consulate in 45 mins.
CEAC STATUS: We reached our hotel and started checking the CEAC status. While I was fixated on refreshing the CEAC status, I got an email from the company I had interviewed for. They sent me an offer letter with numbers higher than what I was expecting and a start date which was 4 weeks later (that was the max they could wait before I get my GC and move there). I was ecstatic… But 5 minutes after I got that email, the CEAC status finally changed…. And it had changed from “READY” to “REFUSED” !
- EMAIL (DOS FOLLOW UP): Soon after the status change, we both got emails from the consulate asking for additional documents. And the document asked was “the original passport” which had all previous US visa stamps. It was frustrating as 1) we had the passports with us at the time of interview 2) we presented it to the lady…but she said she didn’t need it.
- SENDING ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS: We were probably sitting less than 500m from the consulate but we couldn’t just go and give the documents to them. You are expected to log in to the AISUSVISA.info website account and download a return label and then ship the requested documents to the consulate through Canada Post. We went to one of the CP’s offices listed in the return label instructions page and shipped the additional docs. CP will give you tracking number to see if the packet has been rcvd.
- STATUS CHANGES AND WAIT: After that all we could do was wait. Our CEAC status changed the day our packet was delivered to the consulate, then the day after that and then 4 days after that. With my joining date approaching fast I was getting restless day by day…It remained REFUSED until it finally changed to “ISSUED” on the 18th day after our interview. Finally!
- GETTING THE PASSPORTS: 3 days later we got the tracking number and then a day later we got texts that the passports were delivered to our selected CP location. You are supposed to take one ID with you which has the same address on it which you had used for passport delivery. If it doesn’t match the address, then CP will most likely not handover the packet to you.
- ACTIVATING AND MOVING: After getting the passports, we couldn’t wait long and decided to get the visas activated a few days later… We went to the Lewiston bridge and got the visas activated and also imported our car before doing the final move… We then returned back to Canada the next day. I used the endorsed visa to start my new job remotely while we finish packing and prepare for a long road trip across the border.
