Trista&Nick's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Nicholas Beneficiary's Name: Trista VJ Member: Trista&Nick Country: Canada Last Updated: 2013-03-05 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Nicholas & Trista:

USCIS I-129F Petition:       Dept of State K1 Visa:     USCIS I-485 Petition:   USCIS I-765 Petition:       USCIS I-131 Petition:       USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

K1 Visa Event Date Service Center : Vermont Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Montreal, Canada I-129F Sent : 2012-02-08 I-129F NOA1 : 2012-02-13 I-129F RFE(s) : RFE Reply(s) : I-129F NOA2 : 2012-09-13 NVC Received : 2012-09-26 Date Case #, IIN, and BIN assigned : NVC Left : 2012-09-28 Consulate Received : 2012-10-18 Packet 3 Received : 2012-10-26 Packet 3 Sent : 2012-11-15 Packet 4 Received : 2012-12-07 Interview Date : 2013-03-04 Interview Result : Approved Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : US Entry : Marriage : Comments : Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-129f was approved in 213 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 385 days from your I-129F NOA1 date.

Member Reviews:

Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada Review Topic: K1 Visa Event Description Review Date : March 6, 2013 Embassy Review : Being the worrier that I am, this site has helped me so much. I thought it was time to give something back. This is a review of my experience in Montreal at my K1 Visa interview. My interview was scheduled for March 4th, 2013. My fiance flew from Washington, DC to accompany me to the interview. He wasn't needed for the interview but the support definitely helped calm my nerves. We arrived on the sunday before (march 3rd) and stayed at the Delta Montreal. The hotel was really nice, newly renovated and the costs were reasonable. It was $98.00 for the night and only about an 8 minute walk to the consulate. The concierges at the front of the hotel was extremely helpful and friendly with us. They assisted us in photocopying quite a few documents and provided us a map of the area marking off the consulate and great places for us to get beer if we wanted We went out for dinner at this restaurant called Firegrill, it was very tasty and their wine selection was pretty impressive. The morning of the interview we left our hotel at 7:20 and arrived at the consulate a couple of minutes before 7:30. There were 3 people and 3 couples ahead of us in line. I looked around to see if anyone had brought large purses, briefcases, etc so I could try and warn them about stashing them somewhere before the guard came out but everyone looked good. The security guard opened the door at 7:45 and let in the first two, a few minutes later we were let in with a few others. There was a woman standing in the corner by the door who took my passport and asked for my reference number for loomis from the email confirmation. While we were in line waiting there were two people sent away because they did not have this reference, one of them actually didn't even know what loomis was or that was she was required to register to a location. After that we were sent off to security a few steps away. The security guards were okay, not overly friendly but it was efficient. After that we were sent down a staircase on the left side down into a waiting room with an elevator that was blocked off. We waited in that room until about 8:10 then a guard came down and opened the elevator. We packed in there like sardines and were sent up. Standing at the back left of the elevator ensures that you get out first. We got out on our floor (not sure what number it was) and there was a sign that asked to line up for a ticket number but there was nobody to line up to, all the wickets were closed at this time. The group of us started wandering around looking for signs of life then finally a wicket opened and everyone quickly got in line. We ended up getting C8, not bad but we did lose a few spots in line from the confusion and running around. After we had our number, we weren't sure where to sit (this entire room was full of instructions but none of them made much sense). The interview wickets of 1-4 opened but the waiting area for immigrant visas was not beside these wickets. We decided to sit in the middle and waited. By 8:35 our number was called and we went to wicket number 4. The first thing she asked for was my passport, we did the fingerprinting next, the fingerprinting machine was filthy - I couldn't help myself from wiping it down with a tissue and hand sanitizer, she didn't seem to mind. The lady then asked for my medical, police certificate, original and photocopy of birth certificate, the evidence of support form, the letter of intent to marry, tax return from 2011 (which we somehow forgot but provided them with his W2 instead.) She also asked for my passport photos which I had already sent in with packet 3, she went looking and found them. I got my medical result disc back and she verified my address and then my fiance's address. She then told me to go sit back down and wait for our number to be called again. About 15 minutes after we sat back down, we were called to C9, this was straight around the corner from the other wickets and over to another wicket inside a small room so there was a bit more privacy. I was handed a paper to read which promised that I swore to tell the truth, afterward I had to hold my left hand fingertips on another copy machine to officially be sworn in. Bibles are a thing of the past I suppose. The officer at this wicket was another woman and she was very nice and friendly. She asked us if we had ever been married before - we both said no. She asked where my fiance was from he told her Washington, DC - turns out she was also from DC so they had a quick bonding moment over that. So far everything felt like it was going really well. She was typing for a moment then asked me how we met, when we first saw each other in person, how many times I visited and what we did. We took turns answering these questions. I mistakenly said the wrong year on one of the questions and my fiance quickly corrected me. I looked at him and said "its a good thing I brought you". The consular officer chuckled. She typed a bit more then asked us about our wedding plans. We said we were going to have a civil ceremony within the 90 days but had plans to invite friends and family to a personal ceremony in Jamaica when we could. She typed for another few seconds then closed our folder and slid a paper over to us and said Welcome to The United States. The paper had some loomis information and different links for assistance with our next steps. She said I would receive my visa in approximately 5 business days and congratulated us. It didn't feel real. I think we both just stood there for a second with huge grins on our faces then began thanking her profusely. We walked out back to the waiting area and gave a thumbs up to the people we had been talking to earlier who were still waiting and we walked back to the elevator. I can't explain the relief we felt having this burden we had been carrying for over a year finally lifted from our shoulders. We hugged in the elevator, bundled up and left the consulate to head back to our hotel. I have to say that as intimidating as the interview stage seems because of the finality it represents, it really was one of the easiest parts of this entire process. The people working at the consulate have a real humanity to them in the ways they interact with you. They make you feel like they understand the importance of what their job is and what their decisions mean to the people they deal with on a daily basis. When we got back to our hotel, the concierge stopped to ask us how everything went which I thought was nice though I'm sure he could tell by our expressions before we even answered. Good luck to everyone who is reading this and worried about the outcome of their interview. If you have gotten to this stage, I can confidently say that the difficult part is over and try and breathe a little Rating : Very Good

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*Notice about estimates: The estimates are based off averages of other members recent experiences
(documented in their timelines) for the same benefit/petition/application at the same filing location.
Individual results may vary as every case is not always 'average'. Past performance does not necessarily
predict future results. The 'as early as date' may change over time based on current reported processing
times from members. There have historically been cases where a benefit/petition/application processing
briefly slows down or stops and this can not be predicted. Use these dates as reference only and do not
rely on them for planning. As always you should check the USCIS processing times to see if your application
is past due.

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