Hi everyone,
Thanks for your stories so far. This forum is really useful.
I am a US citizen and filed a I-130 at the US Consulate General in Toronto for my Canadian wife and baby on January 4, 2023. They accepted our documents and said they would be sent to Montreal for further processing, so we have been waiting for our Packet 3 and Packet 4 (IL?) - see below. I thought we would have been considered DQ'd on January 4, but it looks like people who DQ'd January 11 have received ILs. We have not received any information from Montreal (not for lack of trying...) and are very stressed about the situation now as I am in the US for work and my wife/baby had to go back to Canada. So a few questions:
1. How do we know if we are DQ'd? When I left the Consulate in Toronto on January 4, they just gave me a piece of paper saying what the next steps are (but I don't have a case number or USCIS receipt number)
2. Has anyone been able to get information from the Consulate in Montreal pre-IL (and how)?
3. Is anyone else going through this process of Packet 3 and Packet 4 (see below)? Are we not DQ'd yet?
The paper Toronto gave me says the following:
- "It might take 1-2 months, depending on the case, before the I-130 is fully approved"
- "The consular staff in Montreal will create an IV case file 4-6 weeks after receiving your I-130 petition, and assign a case number beginning with "MTL." Montreal will then send a packet of IV information (Packet 3) to the beneficiary's home (or e-mail address if there is one) listed on the I-130 petition. The Packet 3 can only be sent after the petition is approved. The beneficiary should complete and email back to Montreal the checklist and DS260 confirmation pages in Packet 3 as soon as possible."
- "Once Montreal has received the forms and checklist requested in Packet 3, the case is ready for interview scheduling. Montreal will sent the beneficiary or his/her designated representative another letter (Packet 4) with instructions to obtain photographs, complete a medical examination from one of our approved panel physicians, and schedule a visa interview appointment."