Hello, I am new to this forum and hope someone can help me. I am a German citizen, Canadian PR married to an American citizen (also Canadian PR). My husband got a job in the US and moved back there end of August 2023. He had an appointment with the US consulate in Calgary on August 3rd and dropped off the I-130 and nearly all civil documents including certified translations (the only document which was missing was the German police certificate) and paid the fee. Everything was mailed to Montreal and I was instructed (Packet 3) to fill out the DS-260 form which I did on August 22, 2023. On August 29, 2023 I sent the DS-260 confirmation page, copy of my passport and the copy of the checklist of documents for the interview back to the consulate in Montreal. The CEAC Visa Status Check says "Case Created: August 1, 2023" "Case is currently at Montreal" and Case Last Updated: September 5, 2023 - which update says READY your case is ready for you to schedule an interview at the US Consulate General Montreal. ...... Otherwise, please wait until you have been notified of your interview appointment."
We assumed that this means our DQ date is September 5, 2023. We have seen on this Forum and on Reddit that applicants with later DQ dates have received their interview already while we are still waiting. We understand that our PD is only August 1, 2023. We reached out to the Consulate in Montreal on December 21, 2023 and received a response on January 8 saying that our "case is currently pending review by a consular officer. As soon as the review is complete, the Visa Unit will advise of the next steps if anything else is needed to continue processing the case". We also contacted NVC and were told that our case number (MTL2023XXXXXX) is not a NVC case number and need to contact the Consulate directly. We also never uploaded any documents to NVC and never received an email from them other than the DS-260 confirmation.
When reading the steps online, we do not seem to fit into the process unless we misunderstand something. Is anyone able to confirm that we have been indeed DQ'd on September 5, 2023 and if there is anything else we should do. Thank you in advance for anyone who can share their experience and expertise.