I'm still nervous to call and doubtful that my interview will be scheduled until early September (which is only 2 weeks from now already!) I just sent them an email and if they don't write back and answer my questions sufficiently then I will definitely be calling next week; probably Monday or Tuesday.

When they told me I had my interview it came as a shock. I called on a Fri and was told nothing was scheduled Then sent an e-mail the following Wed and was told my letter for an interview was mailed the week before

I'm very curious to see what their response to my email is (if they even bother answering!) I'll be SO happy if they respond to it with a date, but am not getting my hopes up just yet!

If they don't answer after a couple days just keep resending it to em. That's what I did, if no return mail I kept sending till they did reply. Eventually they'll reply

Melyssa, I am sorry for being such a pain to you but when it come to inquiring about your interview date I would call, as I said before my e-mails to them were only regarding information not associated with the interview date. When I wanted to now if I was scheduled I would always get on the phone and ask.
Does it really matter if they get nasty, it only lasts as long as they are on the other end and beleive me they don't want to talk with anyone very long. It may seem like you are talking a long time but in reality the conversation rarely goes beyond one minute if that long and I am sure that you can handle that much time with someone who just may have the answer you are looking for.
Read the messages being posted, to me it seems like more and more people are getting telephone confirmations and more are getting their letters closer to the interview date than the desired 4 weeks.
I am sorry to push you but I rather you get the date than have to reschedule because the letter was late or never arrived.

I have to agree 100%. You don't want to be caught off guard Melyssa. So my girl, call until your ears fall off. - Like Ron/Sharon say: they may/will get nasty and obnoxious (they have perfected it into an art) but it's your future baby, so CALL THEM!!!!

I agree with the others. The nastiness only lasts for the length of the call. Just continue to be super nice to them... "please and thank you". I'm sure with the backlog they are getting some very nasty phone calls from people (remember VJ is only a small percentage of people going through the consulate) which might be why they're nasty right away but if you keep your cool and be nice to them, there's a better possibility that they'll be helpful.

meant no developments.. =(

Melyssa, If I had your packet 3, I'd be calling them like every second or third day..

YOU ALL NEED TO MAKE SURE I GET BACK IN ONE PIECE!

I'M STAYING IN GULF SHORES, ALABAMA ALL NEXT WEEK..!!!!

HURRICANE DEAN APPROACHING!

WooooooHOOOOOOO , you'll be fine. Better a hurricane I think than a tornado and no storm cellar OH but wait, there's one about 1 1/2 down the road


Melyssa.........Melyssa......I know I carried on about them being nasty, but like they said 1 minute and your off. When I called and she told me I had an interview she was nice. Guess if you call earlier in the day, she's not so grumpy Liz can't call now, she's in the middle of a hurricane, I'll do it oh wait, it's Friday night.....

Ugh, horrible timing! Try and have fun anyway and STAY SAFE!

Galatica....have you heard anything about a new interview yet?

Hmm. Am I missing something? I called Montreal today and they say to stay on the line. I sat there for 35minutes listening to dead air. No hold music, nobody ever picked up. I called 514-398-9695, hit option 4 at 2:30pm today.

Am I calling the wrong number?

That's the number, and I didn't get music either

At this time I'm on hold with them with music, the two previous calls were dead air, been waiting for 24 minutes now. They are doing a very good job at ignoring us today. It is Monday so they are probably still hung-over from the weekend.

Sometimes you do get dead air, and then a bit o'music, then dead air again. Hang in there you guys.

Well I have placed them on hands free and took a 15minute break and I am still on hold with the music, I don't think they are taking any calls todays, I've been waiting for 49 minutes. Has anyone getten through to them today.

Says "first quarter" on the calender. Must be a holiday for them

45 minutes - man this is crazy. I was once on hold for circa 58 minutes before I:
1.- Cursed in Croatian (in case they were listening in he he)
2.- Threw my notebook in the floor and cursed a bit mor
3.- hung up... (trying to bring a smile to you my friend)

Have they answered yet? Or even better.... can you call the DoS? They were way quicker in answering the phone....

Well folks I never got through!!!!

Yah, I gave up. I'll try again tomorrow.

Alan called today also, was on the phone for an hour then gave up maybe tomorrow
hugs
Sharon

Ugh, you guys got me to call today so you can't be upset with me today - I tried 4 times. I tried just after 3 and was on hold for half an hour (worked out b/c the child I am taking care of was taking her nap during that time.) After half an hour I finally gave up. Classical music the whole half hour. Tried again ten minutes later and like some of you all I got was dead air. Tried again around 3:15 and 7 minutes of classical music. Finally tried again 5 minutes before 4 and all I got was again dead air. I don't feel like wasting my calling card anymore lol. I was hoping they'd email me back but no response either... There isn't any holiday in Canada or the U.S. that I knew of... I was thinking of calling tomorrow but if you guys are all on hold too I don't know that I'll ever get through lol.

Hey all. What is the correct email address to ask Montreal about an interview date? The one I see listed in the Embassy Info is : Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov I just want to make sure this is correct.

Thanks so much.

Oops I meant I tried a couple of minutes after 2 when they start taking calls.

What's with their recorded message talking about calling to schedule your non-immigrant visa interview and providing a 900 number. Is this a trick?

I got confused by that too... They are probably referring to other visas (like work and student visas.)

Montreal, IV (Montreal-IV-DV@state.gov) You got it.

PS. I was teasing about the 'upset' thing - I know you all weren't upset with me - just looking out for me to make sure I know when my interview is if they've scheduled it!!!

For what it's worth, I got 4 bounce backs trying to use that address. When I tried Montreal-IV/DV@state.gov (someone here guided me that way) it went through and I got an answer.

Peace ~
Mary

Melyssa, if ever your card runs out or you want to save your minutes or you just want to call Montreal drop by my office. The calls are free and you can stay on the line as long as you wish, just bring your MTL-----------.

I've used that one everytime from 2 different emails and I've never had a problem. Guess try the first and if it comes back try the other.

She GOT IT! Sharon got her Visa in the mail first thing this morning, and I got the call 2 1/2 seconds later So she'll be on the bus by this evening and in my arms tomorrow! FINALLY! It's DONE! (well, at least the FIRST part of this Visa Journey). Man, what a weight off of us! We will keep ya posted and get some pictures up on this as soon as we can.

Love ALL OF YA, and keep the faith! It took us a lot longer than we would have liked, but it's FINALLY OVER!

Great news, I'm happy for you two, tell Sharon to have a safe and very quick trip. All the best to you for the next part and your life together.

wooohoooooooooooo!!!! Happy happy happy for you guys!!!!
L&B



Now, if Ron is not the nicest guy in here, I don't know who is. You are amazing my friend!
L.

Lena, Thank you but don't let the smoke and mirrors fool you, I'm just offering a solution if one is needed after all we are all here to help any way we can and if 2 or more or less hours of long distance is necessary so be it, with advance notice I can be in the office on weekends to cut the cost of calls to the fiance.

Ron - NEVER sell yourself short or I'll have to slap you (or send you to Off Topic LOL). Not all people would offer such help - you deserve the best. I mean that.

Congratulations!!!!

Congratulations!!

Congratulations!!! What a relief!

I will have more time to write later but I just quickly tried and they said they can no longer take calls for immigrant visas due to staff shortage...

Ron thanks so much for offering! I do actually have free long distance, but from home...

I wouldn't mind meeting you sometime though!

That sucks! Are they going to stop responding with email updates now too???

That's incredibly frustrating. They keep saying that the reason for these long waits and delays in customer service is due to staff shortages for over 6 months. They even told my Congresswoman that too.

Isn't that enough time to hire more people to accommodate the queue? Maybe hiring government workers is a lot longer process than that, but one would think that the shortage of workers there could be relieved somewhat by now - atleast enough to answer the phones. It just seems they were in a bad spot before, but now they are worse instead of better.

Congratulations!!!

The Government basically has to wait to hire new employees after the new fiscal year, which is October 1st. I don't know if the State Department used up all their money on Condoleeza Rice's trips to all those countries to reassure everyone that the US was doing so well in Iraq and at home, but something sure is strange. Her assistant actually took the blame for not hiring enough staff to handle the huge mess with Passports (That's where most of the help has gone is my opinion) and the Consulates got the short end of the stick. So they won't have any additional staff to handle this mess until after the October 1st new Fiscal Year. (This is what MY Senator's aide told me)

Sux. I just hope everyone gets through as fast as possible!

Alan & Sharon

I'm curious how any of us will know about our interview date - especially with the mail system being incredibly slow - as evidenced by some folks who never did get a letter even though they've been for the interview or got th letter after the interview date?

We phoned last Thurs - expecting that they might be able to tell us since we know of some other VJ'ers who are relatively close timewise who have a date...but no luck. How the heck are we going to know?


Very frustrated

It's sad just how horrible this process has become. CSC slowed down about the time I started. Now Montreal has gotten even worse. What should have taken me 6 months in 2006 is going to take me at least 12 now. I'm really regretting following the law.

I needed to call Montreal today to warn them my fiance had moved and to tell them where to mail packet 3. But due to their inability to even answer phones, there's no telling what'll happen. Ideally they'll mail it in the next day or two so it arrives Before we lose access to the old mailbox, but maybe that's giving Montreal too much credit. I wouldn't be so worried if Canadian Post wasn't so unreliable.

*screams*

I sincerely hope that Montreal does catch up on their backlog ASAP so that you guys aren't sitting in the dark worrying you may have missed your interview date.
Hopefully if Alan/Sharon was correct, they will be hiring more people in October and making some progress on these interviews. Well they better start making progress...I think I can speak for us all when I say our sanity depends on it.

In the mean time, you can always spam them with emails. I don't think we should let them off so easy, they can turn off their phones, but they can't escape our e-harrassing!!

My best advice, Call AND Email them. I did both, called first, was told her new address was in the system, and then due to my paranoia, emailed later. My email reply basically stated that they changed it after having received my email that day. Take NOTHING for granted, especially when they are as understaffed as they are now. You are probably not going to get through on the phones any more, so email will become the method of last resort, but at least you will have a copy of the correspondence to verify that you have done YOUR part in the even that some beaurocrat lets you know that everything is your fault. Yeah, I've grown pessemistic with the system, but sometimes it pays to be that way