Review Topic: IR1/CR1 Visa

Arrived Montreal Consulate at 7:10 AM ... second one there.
Beauitful Day 25C

Meet Mat & his Wife in Line they where third.. Nice couple.

Doors Opened 7:30AM ... I was first in .. only let two in at time.
asked for my appointment Letter and passport.

Security gentleman took a second look at the plastic expandable file folder I had full of Information. He looked at the other security and she said it is ok.
He sent it into a xray scan and the third security person said its ok ..

He proceeded to due a typical security entrance process other than they wiped down my passport with a white round pad and took it to a machine ( think snif for explosives..residue)

He asked me to walk thru scanner and then took a hand scanner to finish the job.
he handed me a small white square " A" and said this is for later for window 9, you are first up.

But first go sit down in the chairs down the steps in front of the lower floor elevators.. and wait for a security person to escort you to the elevator..

In a few minutes others joined me " B" & "C" and then a lot of people who where there for travel visa join us . ( PS Mat & his wife was C)

A security guard came in and told us to come up to the elevator door while she called for it , I walked in to the Back (as I knew from VJ the Door opens at back).
when we arrived to the consulate area after exiting the elevator I went directly to window 9. , there a very nice Lady asked and I gave her the documents that I was to bring.. , I was then instructed to go to cashier #14 and Pay $380. US and bring back receipt to window 9 .. done.( she did not ask for Large Chest Xray envelope. but noted I brought it, she did return alot of the extra things she knew they did not need)

I was told to go out to the waiting area where they will call my name for interview..

All good so far..right..

seemed like a long while but about 15 mins.. I was called to Door 7

Inside this small room with one little chair a young man sat behind a glass window. He greeted me and started to ask some questions:
Where did I meet my Wife?
why did I want to live in Tennessee..? etc very easy more like a conversation.

He asked me to raise my right hand and swear that the Inforamtion given him and that I told him was correct and truefull.. I said Yes..


He then asked me to do finger prints on the little electronic machine beside
me. I asked him which finger first and he said left.
I did the left index finger Then I did the right index finger..

He asked me if I had done finger print before, and I told him that many years ago I have, but he said how did you know which fingers to use?
I was going to say because I read it on VJ, But all I said was I was well read.

Being that all of above was done I was feeling very confident all was done and Good....

He then Lowered the boom ! he said we required a co sponcer as all our income
was Canadian ( even tho it would continue in the US and was well, six times above the $17,112. US that was needed) I was shocked as I was under the impression that if the income would continue into the US, it was exceptable.. He said NO ! only US income, I said how about Canadian assets that we would bring into The US..
He said US ONLY!!

He Printed off a couple of sheets of Paper with the instructions of what to do next, and it explained that a Visa could not be given to me Until I completed
a Co sponcer. I 864. from A US Citizen domicle in The US etc..

He explained that I would not have to re interview ...
(Which I was glad to hear as I am from Calgary)
He handed the paper to me and said once we get him the New I 864 in Montreal
then it would be about 10 days before they sent the visa..

That was it.. it was 9:30 AM ish ..
I was in a bit of a daze.. I went directly to Tims and had a extra Large..

I phone My wife and gave her the Bad News.. then I phone My US step-Son in Tennessee, and he said he would Love to Co sponcer us ..
Status of today.. I864 co sponcer paper work in route via UPS


Happy Journey to all who read this ..

Colin

Rooting for you Colin - hope you'll hear back soon.
This is good info for those thinking they do not need a co-sponsor.- Better to be overprepared I guess since this issue keeps popping up at MTL it seems.
Cheers L.

exactly, better to goto the interview with too much paperwork and not enough. Hopefully someone else will learn from this! One cant really make the excuse (at least with Mtl) that they didnt have enough time,lol Lets hope for a speedy turn around!

Im sure this was hard for you to learn that they were not going to issue the visa immidiately, but thanks for the great review and Im sure it will help someone else going through Montreal. Heres praying that you get your visa soon.

Geez, you have me a little worried now. My hubby has a very low personal income b/c he's a farmer. He has investments and we used his farm assest and then sent in my Canadian salary that I would be continuing to receive from working in Canada. I'm really going to have to re-evaluate whether we met the min. guidlines now with just his assest and now that our household size has increased. How dumb is that they don't accept the Canadain income. Why do they give you that option to submit it on the I-864? Or is that something that has changed too - since we filed over a year ago?

Colin,

Another one snagged.....That blows! I'm sorry to hear you have to jump through these hoops too. It's great that your son will co-sponsor you though and it should be a non-issue, just a pain in the a$$ waiting.

Good luck with your co-sponsor and getting the Visa nice and quick!

Darryl

All Requirements (co sponcer I 864) sent over night Fedex to Montreal should be there tommorow
at 10:30AM

Then wait the 7 - 10 days for processing to send Visa..

Colin

wrong thread

Ok it wasn't the wrong thread



Hi Colin,

Sorry to hear you hit this snag, glad you were able to rectify it all so quickly.

Now - this is kind of an important issue for Canadians so I'm hoping you can clarify this for us. You mentioned that no Canadian assets are accepted and Darryl mentioned in his review (same type of scenario at the Consulate) that they went and got print outs of their accounts, so I assume they had cash. Based on the info in his post and the info in yours, it suggests that only cash is acceptable as an asset (outside of U.S. assets).

I understand your asset information is not something you probably want to share with us , however, if you could give us a hint at what wasn't acceptable and Darryl if you can let us know what is, I think that would be really helpful.

Thanks!

Hi There:
Well, I am well read here on VJ, but I made assumtions, that my three Canadian Pentions and my wifes (USC), two Canadian pentions, which of course would continue being paid to us in the USA
would do.
(I checked with the Canadian Pentions suppliers and they said they would send checks to a US Bank..)..

along with my Home business which checks that come from a Canadian Source , but would then come from an American Source once we moved.... Would meet with the rules that I read about...

This Totaled well ...Well in excess of the US $17,112. required..( 2 People)

And as a Back up I prepared an Canadan asset List which well exceeded the 5 times requirements.

Well This proved not to be ... as the Interview Officer said .. " That the income or asset would have to be from the US now" .. I looked at him shocked and said it will be ..

No he said American only.. And I would need an american co sponcer.. which I arranged and supplied an additional I 864 from my Son in the US.. in there hands in five days..

The Letter that he handed me said in 10 Days once I supplied them this new requirement, that they would send my visa..

So that was June 20th that they got it.. it is July 4th today..and I phoned the other day to check on status.. but the lady on the phone said that They have a 2 week backlog mail issue .. and I would have to add 2 weeks to the 10 days, that the letter stated..

You have to love this Process....

enjoy...!!!!

Here waiting in Calgary.......

Grrrrr ... how incredibly frustrating for you!!!!!!! My sympathies for you ....

I wonder now if Montreal isn't backlogged with anything. I gave up emails since now they seem to be backlogged by a day or two on emails so I just call. I suppose in another month or so we would hear that they are backlogged in answering their phone calls too

'am sure that's the next amazing thing from MTL!!