ritaburglar

Yes! It just arrives.

I received my SSN within a few days of landing in the US. I'm still waiting on my greencard however.

Update: Received passport this morning and cleared customs at Pearson in only 30 minutes. My interview was on November 14th and was approved pending medical which was received the morning of the 15th. Took a full 4 weeks to resolve. Good luck to all of you still waiting! It's a painful process especially for those of us separated from our loved ones.

No, if you send a request to the state (where your spouse lives) congressperson they can put in a request for you to see what the status is on your file. This is highly effective as it gets your file at least looked at. It worked for me! If you go to the state website you will find this info. It is something they do often and it can expedite the process for you.

Hi! So sorry to hear it! It was an unbelievable delay for me at the Montreal consulate! I just received my tracking # for my passport yesterday and should receive it tomorrow. My interview was November 14th and my medical was received on the 15th. My suggestion is to get in contact with your petitioners congressperson if it goes over 1 week. I waited until week 3 to do that. One business day after I submitted my request to the congressperson, my status changed to "issued". It then took another week to get my tracking information. I sincerely hope you don't have a similar delay. This has been BRUTAL! Best of luck!!

Wow! That's crazy! My lawyer warned me that it's completely up to the particular customs officer. The one time I was given a hassle was crossing the land border by car. They are so busy at Pearson that I have never had more than the typical "Where are you going?" "When are you back?" I'm back and forth monthly. Only ever had that one issue.

If it helps...I was back and forth at least 5 times during my process. The only time I was pulled into secondary was when I told them I was visiting my husband for Christmas. Every other time, I was going for meetings and they didn't ask anything further. If you just say you're going for vacation and give a definite return date...you won't have any issues. I never mention that I'm in the process unless they ask - they only asked that one time. I was brought into secondary and I explained that we were so far into the process at that point that there would be no way I'd overstay my visa. He believed me and I went on my way. ALWAYS have a return date. Hope this helps....

UPDATE: Received tracking today at 3pm! One week after I was "issued" in the system. I also found out that the consulate hands over the passports to Canada Post the day you get "issued" so from that point any delay is due to Canada Post. They are so busy this time of year so it took a full 5 business days for me to get my tracking #!!

Awesome! Thank you and best wishes for your new life in the US!

Wow! That was fast! Do you mind me asking where you live? I'm in Toronto so wondering how long it will take. Waiting for the tracking # before I book my flight to the US

CONGRATS!! I'm still waiting for mine. I was "issued" last Tuesday so I'm hoping today or tomorrow at latest. Did you get your passport yet?

Oooooh! Congratulations!!! Hope you're right!

I was changed to "issued" on the 6th and still don't have tracking for my passport...

I'm not sure...there are only two statuses for CR1/2 (spousal visas) so I went directly from "refused' to "issued" final processing with the same verbiage you have. I haven't received a tracking number as of yet! Good luck! This is absolutely ridiculous!! I hope they process you quickly!! I'm still waiting on a tracking # for my passport.

Dr. Randall Lee in Scarborough, ON. I DO NOT recommend. The doctor was nice but the admin staff were extremely rude when I was inquiring about the delay and evan after I was promised that it would be done in plenty of time.

My status changed to "ISSUED" this morning!! 3 weeks + 1 day from my interview and 1 business day after we put in a request with our congressperson. I will update you all when I receive my tracking # and passport as I couldn't find many threads about medicals delaying this process. My medical was received by the consulate the morning after my interview. I was completely dumbfounded by how long this took.

Yes, you are absolutely correct. Anyone can contact their congressperson and fill out the paperwork to get this done. I was just lucky to not have to do any digging for this info since we had the contact. I filled out the paperwork on Friday to have them inquire on my behalf. Best it will do is get my file out of the bottom of a pile somewhere, or picked up from behind the desk that it fell. My lawyer said this is very helpful in his experience so I suggest anyone in my situation pursue this. You don't want to sit back and wait while weeks pass that are un-necessary.

I'm so sorry you are going through this! I wouldn't wish any of this on my worst enemy! Hope you get a resolution soon. Here is the reply from my lawyer who used to work for the state dept. in case it helps anyone get any clarity. Apparently Montreal is ridiculous right now: " Congressional inquires are actually super helpful most of the times. (From my own experience with the State Department.) I’m having problems myself contacting Montreal for other files that are taking longer than expected. (though the circumstances of those files are very different from yours). Your file should have been a simple one for them to mail out quickly. I’m sorry you are experiencing this delay but hopefully it can continue to move along. Please let me know if the Consulate reaches out to you. I continue to monitor your file everyday on CEAC."

Wow! That is unbelievable! It is just plain disrespectful TBH. Good news on my end is I already received a response from our congressperson in the US and they are officially inquiring about my file. Hoping it speeds it along. My lawyer says that it typically helps. Did you end up getting your visa approved? It really is inhumane how they handle this. I'm in shock and disbelief that there has been zero movement on my file.

Thank you! We have an email into the senator as of this am! Fingers crossed....worth a shot!

Still trying to navigate this forum...hopefully this is posting correctly? My interview was on November 14th at 8:00am - I was approved pending medical. I had my medical appointment over a week in advance but there was an issue with getting the X-Ray back so my medical wasn't received by the consulate until November 15th am. The consulate officer told me that if my medical was received in short order that it wouldn't put me behind at all and that my passport should be mailed on that Friday. I now know from reading these forums that it was a blatant lie. There was an update to my file on November 15th and November 22nd. It is now December 2nd and I'm still 'refused' in the CEAC portal which means at best my passport will go out next Friday (4 weeks post interview). I am posting this because this forum has been so helpful for me trying to get answers since the consulate seems to have a problem giving people any information while their lives hang in the balance. When I went for my interview there were 15 windows and only 3 seemed operational. Obviously there is a staffing problem! This is beyond infuriating knowing that if the doctor's office hadn't messed up, I would probably be with my hubby in the US by now! This is my story and I will update regularly in hopes of helping some other poor soul in this situation find peace. My in laws are pretty heavily involved in politics in VA. I have my father in law reaching out to his congress person today and he will escalate this to the Governor if need be. This is not acceptable to hold onto people's passports (from another country - in my case Canada) for this length of time with no communication. I have clients in the US and my hubby and I are seeing a fertility specialist in NYC so this is beyond maddening as I'm sure it is for all of us here in this situation. My lawyer doesn't at all seemed phased by this and told me that I should be getting my passport back soon since they haven't asked for any additional info. I have been in this process since late 2019 and to have this delay at the end is maddening. I will update here as Montreal updates me at their glacial pace!

My interview was on November 14th at 8:00am - I was approved pending medical. I had my medical appointment over a week in advance but there was an issue with getting the X-Ray back so my medical wasn't received by the consulate until November 15th am. The consulate officer told me that if my medical was received in short order that it wouldn't put me behind at all and that my passport should be mailed on that Friday. I now know from reading these forums that it was a blatant lie. There was an update to my file on November 15th and November 22nd. It is now December 2nd and I'm still 'refused' in the CEAC portal which means at best my passport will go out next Friday (4 weeks post interview). I am posting this because this forum has been so helpful for me trying to get answers since the consulate seems to have a problem giving people any information while their lives hang in the balance. When I went for my interview there were 15 windows and only 3 seemed operational. Obviously there is a staffing problem! This is beyond infuriating knowing that if the doctor's office hadn't messed up, I would probably be with my hubby in the US by now! This is my story and I will update regularly in hopes of helping some other poor soul in this situation find peace. My in laws are pretty heavily involved in politics in VA. I have my father in law reaching out to his congress person today and he will escalate this to the Governor if need be. This is not acceptable to hold onto people's passports (from another country - in my case Canada) for this length of time with no communication. I have clients in the US and my hubby and I are seeing a fertility specialist in NYC so this is beyond maddening as I'm sure it is for all of us here in this situation. I have been in this process since late 2019 and to have this delay at the end is maddening. I will update here as Montreal updates me at their glacial pace!

Oh, wow! Thank you for the info! This is beyond infuriating....

Hi, I'm new to this forum so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot... I had my interview at the Montreal consulate on November 14th, 2022 and was told I was approved pending medical receipt (there was a major screw up at the clinic and it caused a delay). They received my medical on Tuesday November 15th (confirmed via email). My status still says "refused" today, November 30th. The consular officer told me they ship passports with visas on Fridays and they reviewed my file last week (November 22) but no change and no passport return (it was Thanksgiving so maybe that delayed things?). Can anyone tell me their outcome with a similar situation? I was not expecting to be without my passport for this long and it's a bit unnerving as I have to regularly travel to the US for meetings with clients. How long did you have to wait if you were in a similar situation? Thank you all. This forum has helped so much!