GretaRSB

Hi and yes, but only for a specific short list of "exceptional circumstances". Do you need to return to the US on short notice for a job? If you have an offer in hand, andit shows you must start in less than 6 months, you can use direct consular filing. You email your US Consulate (ultimately all US immigrant visa processing in Canada is through Montreal, but other consulates can do your I-130 intake as a courtesy). First step would be to email the closest consulate with your situation. If they confirm eligibility they give you a date to show up in person with originals of all documents, a set of copies, your I-130 application and I-130a, and the fee, plus an ExpressPost envelope to send it everything but original docs to Montreal. Can apparently be as quick as 2 months, but ours took 10. Still way faster than applying in the US.

It went really fast! We didn't actually get Packet 4, which is an invitation to schedule with the Consulate. They just sent us a date. That's where we ran into a bit of a problem as it didn't work, and they don't reschedule until after it's missed. I hope they actually send you a Packet 4 and you can choose a date that works. I submitted the Packet 3 on a Sunday and heard back from them within a week with an initial interview date of two weeks later; it's also possible that it went that quickly because at that point we had a senator's office intervening. In any case, congratulations on getting to the Packet 3 stage!

Update to my original post: So it took the involvement of a US senator to get the DS260 process figured out (tech glitch) so we could access it. That went really quickly and then we got a US Consulate appointment two weeks later--too fast to do given that my wife was out of the country and needed to get a medical exam prior to that. We got the next available appointment, and the interview is in two days. If this goes well and we are able to officially move in a month, then it will have been 10 months from initial Consular intake in Toronto to spousal immigration. I have to say I wouldn't have taken this job if I knew we'd be apart for over half a year. Glad it's moving and appears to be almost done now though. It will be so good to have us and our things all in one place. It's going to take a while to recover financially with all the travel and two homes for so long.

Still not moving much. We heard back from Montreal, asking us to send screen shots of the error messages. I sent those, and then followed up 10 days later but didn't hear back. it's been 10 more days. So, we are stuck in tech support limbo with no communication. I know things are slow moving there. FYI, the intake in Toronto went really smoothly, then things are slow with Montreal. My US job has now started and I'm commuting from Canada to a rented apartment in the US (17 hour drive or two flights). Yeah, so not ideal. I'm thankful for DCF process as a faster alternative, but have no idea how long it will be before I can officially move back to the US and bring my spouse. I would love to hear how your process goes. I will try and post updates as we move through our process as well.

Thank you, this is what I expected. How did you complete the DS260 then (or did you)? It seems to involve supplying a lot of documents that I already supplied to the Consulate.

Has anyone completed Direct Consular Filing through Canada recently? This is not going smoothly. I completed DCF intake at the US Consulate in Toronto on Sept 22, with document copies express mailed to Montreal, and was told I would hear from Montreal in 4-6 weeks. I finally contacted them after 10 weeks of not hearing, and was given a case number (beginning with MTL) and Packet 3. Here's where we are stuck. I'm instructed to complete the DS260 through the CEAC website, but cannot login. It doesn't recognize the combination of our case number and my spouse's date of birth. When I use the NVC inquiry form to try to get access, I'm told we are missing a NVC case number or USCIS recept number. We don't have these as we filed through DCF. I'm getting copy/paste answers from Montreal. Questions: 1. Are we supposed to have received a NVC case number or USCIS receipt number, even though we used DCF? 2. Is there an alternate DS260 process with DCF? We have all the documents together and are ready to go, but can't log in. 3. Would it be helpful to get a lawyer at this point? We couldn't find anyone who had done this recently. Thanks in advance for any advice or sharing your experiences. I expected we would be through this process in a matter of 2-4 months, but it's been four months and we are hung up. I've already had to start my job in the US, which was the basis for the exception.