Jeremy&Kathy's US Immigration Timeline

Petitioner's Name: Jeremy Beneficiary's Name: Katayoun VJ Member: Jeremy&Kathy Country: Canada Last Updated: 2010-12-13 Add Comment to Timeline Register or log in to follow this timeline

Immigration Checklist for Jeremy & Katayoun:

USCIS I-130 Petition:       Dept of State IR-1/CR-1 Visa:     USCIS I-751 Petition:   USCIS N-400 Petition:

IR-1/CR-1 Visa Event Date Service Center : Vermont Service Center Transferred? No Consulate : Vancouver, Canada Marriage (if applicable): I-130 Sent : 2009-09-18 I-130 NOA1 : 2009-09-30 I-130 RFE : I-130 RFE Sent : I-130 Approved : 2009-10-22 NVC Received : 2009-11-02 Received DS-261 / AOS Bill : 2010-03-01 Pay AOS Bill : 2010-03-05 Receive I-864 Package : 2010-03-17 Send AOS Package : 2010-04-10 Submit DS-261 : 2010-04-11 Receive IV Bill : 2010-03-25 Pay IV Bill : 2010-03-27 Send IV Package : Receive Instruction and Interview appointment letter : 2010-03-29 Case Completed at NVC : 2010-06-04 NVC Left : Consulate Received : Packet 3 Received : Packet 3 Sent : Packet 4 Received : Interview Date : 2010-11-12 Interview Result : Denied Second Interview (If Required): Second Interview Result: Visa Received : 2010-12-06 US Entry : 2010-12-11 Comments : RFE issued by NVC on April 26, 2010. Medical exam results were late, so we were denied at interview and instructed to mail results in afterwards. Processing Estimates/Stats : Your I-130 was approved in 22 days from your NOA1 date. Your interview took 408 days from your I-130 NOA1 date.

Port of Entry Review Event Date Port of Entry : Toronto POE Date : 2010-12-11 Got EAD Stamp : Yes,Passport Stamp Biometrics Taken : Yes Harassment Level : 0 Comments : The U.S. Customs Preclearance location at Toronto's Pearson Intl Airport (terminal 1) was VERY, VERY BACKED UP on the Saturday of our flight. After talking to the initial customs officer and being instructed to wait in a separate area, it was over 2 hours before we were called up. We missed our flight because of this and were forced to reschedule for the next day.

Member Reviews:

Consulate Review: Montreal, Canada Review Topic: IR-1/CR-1 Visa Event Description Review Date : November 19, 2010 Embassy Review : First, a bit of context. I (Jeremy) am the sponsor and my Canadian wife Kathy and son Adam had their interview on November 12, 2010. On the day of our interview we decided to take the advice of others and we showed up at the Montreal consulate at 6:30am. TOTALLY UNNECESSARY! There was nobody else there until 7:00 and by the time that they opened the doors at 7:30 there were only 2 other groups in line. I could have been asleep an extra hour! That being said, it was very busy by 9:15am when we left. When the guards opened the doors, the first thing he told me is that I couldn't bring in my small briefcase (containing all our files) and I had to take it back to my car. So the two other groups in line went in ahead of us anyways!! Once inside, we went through security screening without any problems. The guards were very rude and it was unpleasant the way they treated people during the screening. Within 5 minutes we were up the elevator to the main consulate waiting room with the nice view of Montreal. During the 10 minute wait before they called our name, we had to struggle to keep our 2 yr old son Adam from climbing up on the window sill and annoying the waiting area staff. We were called to Window #9 where a nice man with French accent took our papers. I think these people must be permanent staff, but the consular officers (who interview you) are not local and get moved around intermittently. We had done electronic processing so he had empty folders to start with. He only took about half our papers and then sent us back to the waiting room to go over what he had collected so far. Then 15 minutes later called us back again and we provided the rest of our papers. It was important that we had photocopies of all important documents that were sent in with the DS-230, as well as the originals. For the I-864 papers, which I had submitted 6 months earlier, everything was out of date. I brought copies of the exact package that I had sent in at the time, and then in a separate folder I brought all the new, updated information to prove domicile and income. He scanned through them all and selected certain ones for the file and disregarded other ones. Here's a list of the ones that he took which were necessary/helpful toward proving domicile: - Letter from employer verifying employment & salary - Original job offer contract - copies of 3 most recent pay stubs - copies of tax returns from last 3 years - copies of 2 most recent bank statements - copy of vehicle registration & insurance - copy of voter registration card - copy of drivers license Unfortunately, the one thing we were missing was Kathy's medical exam results from Dr. Sieden's office in Toronto. Our medical exam was on Monday November 8th, only 4 days before the interview. Kathy's chest x-ray showed a possible nodule that would need to be further analyzed and this delayed our results. Kathy had no previous x-rays to show that the nodule was there previously and not growing, so Dr. Sieden wanted a CT scan. Argghhh!! It was very stressful finding out about this at the last minute. We were very fortunate to find a walk-in clinic doctor who was very helpful. She had her assistant call all the local medical imaging labs, and was able to find a lab that could do the CT scan the same day. This was very lucky... CT scans can take weeks to schedule! Unfortunately the CT scan results weren't available in time for Dr. Sieden to see them and give us our results before the interview. Dr. Sieden did, however, give us a letter to bring to the interview that shows Kathy did the exam, and we did have Adam's results. Adam, by the way was missing 3 shots and we had to run around Toronto getting those done... also very stressful. SO... if there's one thing I would strongly recommend to others, it is to schedule your medical exam as far in advance of the interview as you possibly can. We did get the CT scan results the following Monday and Kathy was fine (phew!). If our medical exam was only 1 or 2 days earlier we would have had time to deal with everything in time for the interview. When we discussed this with the man at the consulate who was collecting our documents, he told us that we would need to send the results DHL courier as soon as we have them, and that they have a backlog of mail so it will be another few weeks of waiting before the visa is issued. This really sucks! I wish we had been better prepared! Actually, one other thing I would strongly recommend is that you get your own family doctor to do a chest x-ray of you as soon as you begin applying for immigration. If it turns out you have abnormalities, get a full diagnosis (and if necessary, treatment) ahead of time, and you can bring all that proof to the medical exam. We were back in the waiting room again for another 10 minutes before we were called to a private room for the actual interview. The consular officer doing the interview was a very nice, younger man who was well dressed and had a nice smile. It was very easy going as he asked us the same questions that we've read about in other people's reviews. How did we meet? What is my new job in the US? etc. It was all over in about 10 minutes and he said that our case looked great and as soon as the medical results were recieved, he couldn't see us having any problem getting the visas issued. Downtown Montreal is gorgeous by the water. If you can, leave time for a tour there during your stay! Rating : Good

Timeline Comments: None yet, be the first!



*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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